Bugatti EB110

Bugatti EB110 at a glance

Sources disagree on the exact count. Bugatti itself gives about 96 GTs and about 32 Super Sports up to 1995, while reference works list 139 cars including those completed after the factory closed. The history of Bugatti explains how the brand passed from Ettore Bugatti's Molsheim works to Artioli and later to Volkswagen.

Romano Artioli and the blue factory in Campogalliano

The Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli, through his company Autoexpo, acquired the rights to the Bugatti name. Bugatti Automobili SpA was founded on 14 October 1987. Instead of Molsheim in Alsace, Artioli chose Campogalliano near Modena, in the heart of Italy's supercar region. The factory, designed by architect Giampaolo Benedini for about 200 employees, was inaugurated on 15 September 1990 after three years of construction.

The engineering team included some of the best-known names of the Italian industry. Paolo Stanzani, formerly of Lamborghini, led engine and chassis development until conflicts with Artioli made him leave. Marcello Gandini drew the original shape, which Benedini later revised at Artioli's request. Nicola Materazzi, the engineer behind the Ferrari F40, served as technical director until December 1992 and changed the torque split between the axles from 40:60 to 27:73. Mauro Forghieri, Ferrari's former racing designer, followed him until mid-1994.

Launch in Paris and Versailles

The EB110 was named for Ettore Bugatti's 110th birthday on 15 September 1991, and its letters stand for his initials. Bugatti presented the GT on 14 September in front of the Grande Arche at La Défense near Paris, followed by a gala at Versailles. The next day the cars drove along the Champs-Élysées, and a launch event took place at Molsheim.

The styling was a sharp wedge with a small horseshoe-shaped grille, scissor-type doors and a glass cover over the engine. The old 1cars review noted that its modern look divided opinion, because it had little in common with the classic Bugattis of the 1930s.

Engine, gearbox and carbon-fibre chassis

The engine is a 3.5-litre V12 with five valves per cylinder, 60 in total, and four small turbochargers that cut lag. The GT version produces 412 kW (560 PS) at 8,000 rpm and 611 Nm at 3,750 rpm. A six-speed manual gearbox drives all four wheels permanently, with most of the torque sent to the rear axle.

The chassis was a major advance. Instead of the aluminium designs of its rivals, the EB110 used carbon-fibre panels bonded to an aluminium honeycomb, a technique taken from aerospace. Stanzani had asked the French aerospace firm Aérospatiale for quotes, and Artioli favoured carbon for its crash strength. The bodywork was made of aluminium panels.

The old 1cars article described the testing programme: engines ran for 300 hours on the dynamometer at 90 per cent of maximum revs. It also quoted fuel use between 11 and 22 l/100 km depending on driving, which matches the car's size and power.

EB110 Super Sport and the speed records

The Super Sport arrived in 1992 as a lighter, more powerful version. Its engine produced 450 kW (612 PS) at 8,250 rpm and 650 Nm. Reference works put the weight saving at about 150 kg, and the official 0–100 km/h time fell to 3.26 seconds.

On 30 May 1993 Jean-Philippe Vittecoq drove a Super Sport at about 351 km/h on the Nardò test track in southern Italy, the fastest speed recorded by a production car at that time. The McLaren F1 later beat it. On 3 July 1994 test driver Loris Bicocchi reached 344.7 km/h at Nardò in a car running on methane. Bugatti counts four records in total, including one for the fastest production car on ice.

With 1,620 kg and 412 kW, the GT carries about 3.9 kg per kW. A Super Sport at about 1,420–1,470 kg needs only about 3.2 kg per kW. That 1cars figure is close to the ratio of the Bugatti Veyron a decade later.

Michael Schumacher, Le Mans and racing

The most famous owner was Michael Schumacher, who bought a yellow Super Sport in early 1994. He later crashed it into a lorry, blaming the brakes, but kept the car until 2003.

Bugatti also raced the EB110. The EB 110 LM entered the 1994 Le Mans 24 Hours, qualified 17th overall and fifth in the GT1 class, but did not finish. Derek Hill's team ran an EB110 at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1996, after the factory had closed.

Collapse, Dauer and the Edonis

The company overreached. In 1993 Artioli bought Lotus Cars, and the EB112 four-door saloon shown in 1993 consumed more money. When the factory could no longer pay its suppliers, production stopped in July 1995, and Bugatti Automobili went bankrupt. The history of Lotus covers what happened to the British firm next.

The German racing company Dauer bought the unfinished cars and parts from the receiver and completed them. Between 2001 and 2002 it built five EB110 Super Sport Lightweights with 481 kW (654 PS) and 230 kg less weight. B Engineering, set up by former Bugatti people, turned the design into the Edonis of 2000, with a 3.76-litre engine, 507 kW and rear-wheel drive only. Volkswagen bought the Bugatti brand in 1998 and moved it back to Molsheim. The blue factory in Campogalliano has stood empty since 1995, though guided visits take place from time to time.

The Centodieci and the EB110 legacy

In 2019 Bugatti presented the Centodieci, a limited series of ten cars based on the Chiron that reinterprets the EB110's shape with modern technology. Its name is Italian for "one hundred and ten". The tribute shows how the brand now sees the Italian period: as the bridge between the original Bugatti and the Veyron era.

Rivals: how the EB110 compares

The EB110 was the most technically complex car of the group, with four turbos, all-wheel drive and a carbon chassis. The McLaren F1 was lighter and faster, while the Diablo and F40 were simpler and cheaper to run. Today the fastest-cars ranking shows how far top speeds have moved since, and the comparison tool sets any two supercars side by side.