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Above, from top: Angela Hucke with the Type
35B raced by Hellé Nice; the original Bugatti
Type 59/50B, which came to the UK with
Jean-Pierre Wimille in 1939 (left) makes a
historic return after 80 yearsI
could almost say that I
entered this world in a
Bugatti, as my father dashed
to the nearest hospital with my heavily
pregnant mother in the back of a 1938
Bugatti Type 57C Saloon. Alas, that
would not be true, but I can confirm
that I cannot ski, row or sail as every
single childhood holiday was filled with
driving and looking at vintage Bugattis.
This life-long fascination comes
down to one man: Ettore Bugatti, born
in Milan in 1881. He made his mark on
automotive history when he introduced
the iconic Bugatti Type 35 at the 1924
Grand Prix de Lyon and went on to win
close to 1,800 races with his Ecurie de
Pur Sang painted in blue, the national
racing colour of France.
Just as you never forget how to ride a
bicycle, you never forget how to drive a
Type 35. The car has a near unbearable
lightness of handling and an urgency to
propel forward—I have never felt more
alive than at that steering wheel. A few
years ago, I was invited to drive the
pacey Bugatti Type 35B raced by Hellé
Nice, the legendary female driver of the
1920s and ’30s. An overwhelming rush
of adrenaline reminded me why driving
a vintage car is so addictive. You feel
like you are sitting within the engine
itself, you hear and connect with everyEttore’s eldest son Jean took after his
father, designing successful roadsters,
touring cars and the ultimate car for
Kings: the Type 41 Bugatti Royale. In
1939 Jean Bugatti and star racing driver
Jean-Pierre Wimille came to the UK
with Bugatti’s most powerful racing car
ever: the 4.7-litre Type 59/50B. On loan
from the legendary Cité de
L’Automobile, this historic car is now
back in the UK after 80 years and on
display with the Trust until September.
Caroline Bugatti, granddaughter of
Ettore, runs a racetrack in France and
frequently competes in motoring events
such as the Rallye des Gazelles in
Morocco. She joined us recently with
her family as did Jean-Robert Aumaître,
son of Bugatti’s number one racing
mechanic. As I led them to discover the
Wimille Bugatti, an imaginary
soundtrack of Irving Berlin’s “Blue
Skies” playing in my head, my vie en
bleu was feeling quite complete.tiniest motion of metal on metal. All your
senses are working overtime and the
sixth sense for me kicks in when
reminiscing about those trailblazing
racing drivers of the earliest decades of
motorsport: Elisabeth Junek, Anne Itier
and, of course, Hellé Nice.
For the last three years I have been
curator of the Bugatti Trust Museum in
Prescott, Cheltenham. It is the only
heritage centre in the world dedicated to
the original Bugatti factory and family,
and holds more than 27,000 technical
drawings, 10,000 photographs and
thousands of historic documents. Our
active outreach programme for schools
and universities enthuses the next
generation of designers and engineers so
Bugatti remains relevant, exciting and
inspiring. I write this fresh from La Vie en
Bleu, an event which saw 90 historic
Bugattis assemble to celebrate the 90th
anniversary of the Bugatti Owners’ Club.
At the Bugatti Trust we, too,
celebrated a significant landmark.Blue-eyed Girl The curator of the BugattiTrust Museum shares her love for theFrench marque in its 110th anniversary yearI have never felt moreal ive than at thesteering wheel of aBugatti Type 35Vintage Racing
By Angela HuckeSEPTEMBER 2019 VANITY FAIR EN ROUTE
09-19Essay-Formula-W-Bugatti.indd 35 08/07/19 9:34 PM