Bugatti (Formula 1 Team)

After the death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947, his son Roland Stood at the head of the company. In 1952, ^{[~ 1]} Pierre Marco, technical director of Bugatti, hired Gioacchino Colombo , a well-known Italian engineer who was involved in the development of the Bugatti Type 251 , the new Bugatti car for Formula 1. The machine was equipped with an in-line 8-cylinder engine with two camshafts in the cylinder head with a volume of 2486 cm ^{3 [~ 2]} with a capacity of 230 liters. with. at 8000 rpm and 275-280 liters. with. at 9000 rpm ^{[~ 3]} . The engine was located transversely, behind the pilot, which at that time was a new solution. In total, 2 ^{[~ 4]} model 251 cars were produced. 200,000 man-hours and $ 250,000 were invested in the 4-year development of the machine. The pilot of Bugatti was the 39-year-old Frenchman Maurice Trentignan , who left Ferrari to work in the Bugatti ^{[1] [2]} .

After the first tests in the fall of 1955, it became clear that the car was slow. The location of the fuel tanks and the unsuccessful suspension made it unstable and difficult to control, in addition, the engine was not powerful enough for a 750-pound car ^{[1] [3]} . To solve the problems, a second prototype was made, in which the chassis was extended by 10 mm , and the springs were replaced by transverse springs ^[3] . The Bugattis wanted to present their new car at the 1956 French Grand Prix , which was supposed to be held at the Reims Gu race track. A few weeks before the race, the Bugatti tested the new car at Reims Gu. Although after these tests, Maurice Trentignan called the engine “unsurpassed” ^{[~ 5]} , Trentignan’s best lap was a lap driven at an average speed of 180 km / h. For comparison, the winner of the 1956 French Grand Prix Peter Collins at Ferrari passed 61 laps of the race with an average speed of 198 km / h ^[1] .

The French Grand Prix took place on July 1, 1956. Maurice Trentinyan qualified in 18th place out of 20 pilots and did not finish the race, having gone after 18 laps due to problems with the gas pedal ^{[3] [4]} . After this setback, Bugatti completed her participation in the 1956 Formula 1 Season .

The failure was part of the guilt of Roland Bugatti - he forced Gioacchino Colombo to make some non-optimal technical solutions in tribute to tradition ^[3] . Contemporaries spoke of Roland in jest that “he himself is exactly the same as model 251 - low-power and overweight” ^{[~ 6] [5]} .

Comments

• Type 251 Bugatti official website. Archived on April 4, 2012.
• Encyclopedia F1
• Bugatti 251 (Bugatti 251) - 1956 (France) on formula1retro.ru