Under The Hood- Bugatti EB110

With the reveal of the Centodieci on Saturday, the Bugatti brand has released another new bodystyle on top of the Chiron, following the Divo and La Voiture Noire. But the Centodieci is different- it is a homage to the famous EB110, the car that revitalised the Bugatti brand following sixty years of dormance. But what was the car all about? Why does it deserve the homage?

In 1987, Italian businessman Romano Artioli bought the Bugati naming rights and set about designing a hypercar. The initial design, by Marcello Gandini, was rejected as too radical- which seems odd in a modern world where the flair and difference of a car, such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie, is likely to lead to sales. The car was redesigned by Giampaolo Benedini and while several key concepts of Gandini's design, such as scissor doors, were retained, pop up headlamps were not, which was a shame.

Italian ex-Lamborghini engineer Paolo Stanzani undetook most of the chassis development. He left in 1991 to join Dallara F1, just befor the reveal, and he was replaced in the final stages by Nicola Materazzi. The car was space age; it featured a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, active aerodynamics, and an all-wheel-drive system, which was extremely rare for a car in the early 1990s. It was unveiled exactly 110 years after the birth of Ettore Bugatti on the 15th of September, 1991. It had a 60-valve quad-turbo V12. It used double wishbone suspension, with the aforementioned carbon monocoque built by Aerospatiale, a French aircraft company.

Six months later, the Pista of the lineup (read: lighter, faster), the SuperSport, was unveiled. It could reach 355kmh and hit 60mph in 3.2 seconds. Famous owners of the EB110 included Michael Schumacher, who owned his yellow example for nine years.

In 1995, production stopped. The company ran out of money due to an over-ambitious diversification; the development of the EB112 saloon, the purchase of Lotus, issues with suppliers. However, the end of Bugatti v2.0 wasn't the end for the EB110. Two different companies bought rights to its design. The Dauer racing team sold the remaining semi-complete cars under the Dauer brand. However, B-Engineering bought all the remaining chassis and parts, underwent serious development, and six years later the screaming, angry, scary Edonis was unveiled.

The EB110 was renowned for being a financial failure, but underneath that a true beast of a car was hiding. It really took the fight to the Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1 and Ferrari F50 and was the true forefather to the modern day Chiron, not to mention the Centodieci.