Bugatti Centodieci at the Quail HD

Exceptional design and vast power have been the hallmark features of Bugatti vehicles for around 110 years. The French manufacturer of hyper sports cars now consistently pursues this path further with the new special-edition Centodieci. In addition, Bugatti is echoing its recent history with an exclusive and extraordinary small series. It was a crucial interim step for the production facility that was newly founded in Molsheim in 1998, taking Bugatti back to its roots in France, and the first hyper sports car of modern times – the Veyron. The EB110 was built in Campogalliano, Italy, but from the very outset it never denied its French influences. Former owner Romano Artioli opened the factory on Ettore Bugatti’s 109th birthday – 15 September 1990. Artioli made a deliberate choice in opting for Campogalliano, a small town in Emilia Romagna. The location had a key advantage in the 1990s: it was in the catchment area of several Italian sports car brands, so Artioli was easily able to recruit experienced employees for his project. Artioli presented the super sports car EB110 to the public on Ettore Bugatti’s 110th birthday – hence the type designation. New three-dimensional design There are many areas in which the new special-edition Bugatti Centodieci echoes the former super sports car of the 1990s - the EB110. Even sportier and more extreme than the Bugatti Chiron and Divo hyper sports cars, yet elegant and timeless like the La Voiture Noire, it is a one-of-a-kind Bugatti for the enthusiast. The EB110 is a very flat, wedge-shaped and graphically quasi two-dimensional super sports car of the late 1980s. The flat, horseshoe-shaped radiator at the front reveals its depth only from the side view, with the newly developed, deep-seated front spoiler and the three-section air intakes providing a perfect match. The front of the Centodieci drops very low. The iconic Bugatti horseshoe has been reduced accordingly, while the Bugatti logo Macaron sits on the hood, which is interrupted at the centre by a black element. The optimised front section with the extended front splitter and the airflow through the hood further improve the car’s aerodynamics. The front is subordinated to the generally low geometry of the vehicle, despite its original, predominant cooling surface. The newly developed, complex and very narrow headlamps with integrated LED daytime running lights provide the perfect match. Instead of copying the classic Italian wedge in which the muscle runs from the rear to the front wheel, suggesting a dynamic leap forward, Bugatti strikes out on a new path in the Centodieci. The otherwise dominant Bugatti line, the C line on the B pillar, gives way to a new design. Significantly smaller than the Chiron, five round air inserts – positioned in the form of a diamond – ensure sufficient air intake for the iconic 16-cylinder engine. In this way, Bugatti has brought forward the visually leaping wedge of the EB110 SS into a new millennium. Inst