The Bugatti Type 51 series succeeded the famous
Type 35 as
Bugatti
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...
's premier racing car for the 1930s. The main distinction is that it uses a
twin cam engine. Unlike the dominant Type 35s of the prior decade, the Type 51 (and later Type 53, Type 54, and Type 59) were unable to compete with the government-supported German and Italian offerings.
Type 51
The first Type 51 went into production in 1931 with
Ettore Bugatti's son
Jean Bugatti taking more responsibility. Its engine was a 160 hp (119 kW)
twin overhead cam evolution of the
supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...
2.3 L (2262 cc/138 in
3, 60 x 100 mm)
single overhead cam
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combusti ...
straight-8
The straight-eight engine or inline-eight engine (often abbreviated as I8) is an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine with all eight cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase. The type has been produced in side-valve, I ...
found in the Type 35B. Inspiration for this new design thinking came from two
Miller
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...
racing cars that Jean Bugatti was testing for power output. The Bugatti Type 51 is sometimes referred to as "the Millerhead".
A victory in the 1931
French Grand Prix was a good start for the type, and it notably won the 1933
Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the wo ...
with
Achille Varzi beating
Tazio Nuvolari in a Homeric struggle against the new challenge of the
Alfa Romeo 8C
The Alfa Romeo 8C was a range of Alfa Romeo road, Auto racing, race and sports cars of the 1930s.
The 8C designates 8 cylinders, and originally a straight-8, straight 8-cylinder engine. The Vittorio Jano designed 8C was Alfa Romeo's primary raci ...
.
About 40 examples of the Type 51 and 51A were produced. The Type 51 is visually very similar to the Type 35. The obvious external differences of a Type 51 are: the supercharger blow-off outlet is lower the bonnet in the louvered section; one piece cast wheels instead of bolted on rims; twin fuel caps behind the driver and finally the magneto being off-set to the left on the dash. However many Type 35 cars have been fitted with later wheels, so that is not a reliable signal.
One Type 51 would be modified into a roadgoing sports car, known as the
Bugatti Type 51 Dubos Coupe.
Type 54
Grand Prix car of 1931, fitted with a twin overhead-cam 4.9-liter (4,972cc, 86 x 107 mm) engine delivering 300 hp (223 kW). Four or five were built.
Chassis number 54201 was the first type 54 built and was the works car for
Achille Varzi, factory number plate 4311-NV1
Type 59
The final Bugatti race car of the 1930s was the Type 59 of 1934. It used an enlarged 3.3 L (3257 cc/198 in
3, 72 x 100 mm) version of the
straight-eight
The straight-eight engine or inline-eight engine (often abbreviated as I8) is an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine with all eight cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase. The type has been produced in side-valve, I ...
Type 57's engine sitting in a modified Type 54 chassis. The engine was lowered for a better
center of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For ...
, and the frame was lightened with a number of holes drilled in the chassis. The signature piano wire wheels used splines between the brake drum and rim, and relied on the radial spokes to handle cornering loads. 250 hp (186 kW) was on tap, and eight were made.
On 5 September 2020 a Bugatti T59, built in 1934, was auctioned for 8,5 million pound by
Gooding & Company. The car had been used by the Bugatti racing team in 1934–1935 and being driven by
René Dreyfus it won the
Belgian Grand Prix in 1934. It was later rebuilt as a sportscar by Bugatti and sold to King
Leopold III of Belgium
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Image:1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix 34.jpg
Image:1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix 34 rear.jpg
File:1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix engine.jpg