Bugatti EB 110

The **Bugatti EB 110** is a mid-engine sports car produced by Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. from 1991 until 1995, when the company was liquidated. A small number of post-production cars were completed afterwards, with the last one built by Dauer in 2002 and another unfinished example completed in 2019. It was the only production model made by Romano Artioli's Italian incarnation of Bugatti.

## History

Development of the EB 110 started in 1987 on the engine and chassis, with work being carried out by Tecnostile, headed by Tiziano Benedetti, Achille Bevini, and Oliviero Pedrazzi. The trio had worked on the Lamborghini Miura chassis and engine development and had subsequently established their own company which was known to Ferruccio Lamborghini and Paolo Stanzani who were involved in early talks with Romano Artioli. Stanzani was chosen as company Technical Director thanks to his career experience with the Miura, Espada, and Countach.

Several designers received copies of the chassis drawings in order to propose styling for the bodywork: Paolo Martin, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Bertone and Marcello Gandini. Bertone proposed a design prepared by Marc Deschamps (who went on to style the B.Engineering Edonis in 1999) but soon after lost interest in the project. That same design would be presented again as Bertone Lotus Emotion. Giugiaro's ID90 prototype was presented some time later at the 1990 Turin Car Show.

Gandini gained wider acceptance by being well known to Stanzani and having worked on the styling of the Cizeta V16 which was powered by an engine designed by Tecnostile. Hence initial prototypes based on Gandini's design began testing in 1989.

## Restyling

Bugatti's President was not impressed by Gandini's angular design language incorporating a shovel nose and flared rear wheel arches and did not favour the aluminium honeycomb chassis design proposed by Stanzani. Gandini made a second iteration of the design with softer lines, revised front and rear lights, and subtly different proportions for the rear wheel arches – styling cues also visible in the Maserati Chubasco of 1991. Artioli, however, still did not approve and wanted further detail design changes which Gandini refused to make. Artioli thus tasked Gianpaolo Benedini (who had designed the "Blu Factory" prototype) to make the requested changes. The final vehicle design replaced the network of cooling ducts on the bonnet with ducts in the front bumper and at the outer flanks of the two large fixed headlamps which replaced the early prototype's pop-up units. The scissor doors, the large windshield, and the side window design were retained.

## Change of chassis

Conflicts of opinion with Artioli led to the respective departure of Gandini and Stanzani. The role of technical director was filled by Nicola Materazzi, who had a vast experience of working with Lancia, Ferrari and Cagiva, and had been Chief Engineer for the Stratos GR5, GTO Evoluzione, F40 and C589. One of the first tasks for Materazzi was that of improving the chassis torsional stiffness because the aluminium honeycomb prototype chassis were losing a fifth of their torsional stiffness after 30,000 test km and the test drivers were noticing poor vehicle handling. A new carbon fibre chassis was developed and supplied by Aerospatiale, giving the car the stiffness it needed to achieve its performance targets. Materazzi also brought his engines experience to fix the problems which were affecting the engine's durability on the dynamometers (excessive friction between titanium con-rods in contact). He then moved on to re-calculating the front to rear torque distribution. Test drivers Jean-Philippe Vittecoq and Loris Bicocchi stated that the cars were understeering too much so Materazzi altered the torque distribution from 40:60 to 27:73 and the drivers were satisfied with the handling improvement.

The car had many innovative technologies that were scarcely used by the automotive industry at the time of its introduction such as a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, active aerodynamics, quad turbocharging (two per cylinder bank) and an all-wheel-drive system for better handling, the latter two being deemed by chief engineer Materazzi as "to tangle a doddle with a trifle". The design elements of the car paid homage to the distinctive Bugatti automobiles of the past. The name EB 110 is an abbreviation for the company's founder, Ettore Bugatti and his 110th birthday.

## Brabus EB 110

The Brabus EB 110 is a modified version of the EB 110 Super Sports by German automotive tuning company Brabus. The car has not received any exterior modifications by the company with most of the modifications done to the interior and engine. The car has a bi colour blue and black leather interior and a custom made quad pipe exhaust system. Engine modifications of the car along with its performance statistics remain unknown. This is the only EB 110 modified by the company. The car's existence was known after it was put on sale in 2013.

## Motorsport

The EB 110 LM participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1994. The car qualified a very competitive 17th overall and 5th in the GT1 class but did not finish the race. The car is now on display at the Lohéac Automobile Museum. A second car commissioned by wealthy pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martino Finotto also participated in the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona, but suffered a gearbox problem and did not finish.