Bugatti 35A GP

Year of manufacture: 1927
Power: 70 hp
Displacement: 1991 cm³

Number of cylinders/valves: 8/3
Weight: 750 kg

Condition: functional
Catalogue number: 55

The most famous Bugatti T35 model

For the first fourteen years of its existence, the Bugatti brand was one of many small car manufacturers producing limited numbers of vehicles that achieved promising results on racing tracks. Everything changed in August 1924, when the factory presented the Bugatti T35 racing car at the Grand Prix in Lyon, which later achieved phenomenal success and won more than 2000 races – including twenty-one Grand Prix categories. Among the prominent winners were names like Tazio Nuvolari, Louis Chiron, William Grover-Williams, or René Dreyfus – and of course also our Mrs. Eliška Junková. Her greatest achievement is considered to be the absolute 5th place at the Sicilian Targa Florio in 1928. The sad truth is that her husband Čeněk Junek died at the Nürburgring on July 15, 1928, precisely in a Bugatti T35B. Visually unmistakable “bugattas” got radiators in the shape of a narrow horseshoe, and when they were retired from racing tracks, they were often converted by fitting sports touring bodies and further served as spare or service vehicles. In the former Austro-Hungarian territory, the sale of 22 versions of Bugatti T35 is documented, of which about two T35, three T35B, and a few T35C were in Czechoslovakia. After 1989, two T35A were imported to the Czech Republic.

The blue Bugatti

The Bugatti T35 was born at a time when the two-liter engine rule began to apply for Grand Prix cars. Ettore Bugatti drew an elegant long straight-eight engine on a clean sheet of paper, which first appeared in the T28 prototype (in 1921) and then mainly in the racing T30 (1922–1926). It had an OHC valve train with three valves (two intake, one exhaust) per cylinder. The lightweight engine was a mechanical jewel and its production required precise and meticulous work. Numerous plain bearings needed spray lubrication, thus suffering significant wear with the necessity of frequent replacement. Compared to the mentioned predecessors, the T35 model achieved up to 30% higher RPM. Camshafts, crankshafts, connecting rods, bearings, and lubrication had to be changed. Also characteristic were the factory-supplied eight-spoke aluminum alloy wheels with integrated brake drums, which gave the car its characteristic look forever typical of Bugatti.

Bugatti T35A

In December 1924, the racing Bugatti T35B cost 100,000 francs, which only truly wealthy buyers could afford. Therefore, in May 1925, the factory introduced a cheaper version, the T35A. Although it looked visually like the T35B Grand Prix, some of its components came from the original T30 (for example, the crankshaft bearing with three bearings). The engine blocks and eight smaller cams were somewhat different from the T30. The 35A model was without a supercharger, thus having lower power and greater durability. Cars were delivered with wire-spoke wheels (solid and aluminum wheels were extra). The T35A cost “only” 65,000 francs. It was called a “Course Imitation“, an imitation of a racing car. Between 1925–1927, 124 were sold, compared to 87 purebred T35B in the same period. In total, 139 Bugatti T35A were built. This particular Bugatti T35A is in original condition, comes from 1925, has 75 hp, and was originally delivered to a customer in the Netherlands.

Other versions and supercharger

The “Patron” (= Ettore Bugatti) decided to build the Bugatti T35T (T for Targa) because he wanted his team to succeed in the most demanding race, the Sicilian Targa Florio in 1926. Therefore, he increased the engine stroke by 100 mm, achieving a displacement of 2,262 cm³. The effort succeeded, and three factory T35Ts raced at the front, finishing in the order Costantini, Minoia, and Goux – fifth was Dubonnet in a private car. A total of 12 racers finished, 7 of them in cars built in Molsheim. Bugatti similarly performed well in other years’ Targa until 1930. Only 7 T35T units were built, as the Grand Prix regulations limited engine displacement to two liters. Between 1927-1930, 45 T35B models were produced, which were nothing more than T35Ts additionally equipped with a Roots supercharger, allowing the 2,262 cm³ engine to produce a maximum power of 138 hp. The first supercharger drawings are dated May 1926. The car won the 1929 French Grand Prix. The T35B had, compared to other types, a somewhat larger radiator, whose position was moved forward. Another version was the Bugatti Type 35C from 1927–1930. It was a T35 type with a 1,991 cm³ engine equipped with a Roots supercharger, which produced a maximum power of 127 hp – a total of 50 units of the T35C type were built, and these won the French GP in 1928 and 1930. The truth is that individual versions, as well as related T39 and T43, can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish from each other, because Ettore Bugatti already at that time used the same parts and components for several types of these cars, which reduced production costs and unified parts. In this respect, he was far ahead of his time, as others resorted to similar practices many years later.