Bugatti is celebrating. The luxury supercar maker is celebrating the 100th anniversary of one of its most iconic cars: the Type 32, a streamlined vehicle that laid the foundation for motorsport innovations and earned the nickname “tank” not just for its shape, but also for its terminations and visible screws on its bodywork.
This car, shaped like a tank and now strikingly blue, made its debut at the French Grand Prix on July 2, 1923, at the venue in the city of Tours in the beautiful Loire Valley. That day three hundred thousand spectators gathered to enjoy an automobile event that promised great excitement and a variety of cutting-edge racing cars.
To the surprise of the attendees, the Type 32 appeared. From the French manufacturer, they remember that the vehicle soon attracted attention. It was a sports car with a wing-shaped body inspired by an airplane, “the result of Bugatti’s conviction that advanced aerodynamics would have an increasingly important role to play in improving the performance of race cars.”
Beneath that particular design was a 2.0-litre eight-cylinder engine that developed in the region of 90bhp, the unusual fairing (lining), relatively short wheelbase and narrow track.
The journey of the Type 32 did not stop there. According to Bugatti data, five copies were built, a prototype plus the four cars that participated in the Grand Prix, consisting of 35 laps of the 22.83-kilometre circuit on public roads, to complete a total distance of just under 800 kilometers. .
Of these four cars, the most successful was the one driven by Frenchman Ernest Friderich, who finished third, completing the race in seven hours and 22.4 seconds at an average speed of just over 112 km/h.
In subsequent years, the manufacturer improved its presentations, including the introduction of alloy wheels, winning the Grand Prix World Championship in 1926. It would win many other races afterwards.
Today, this Bugatti masterpiece rests in the Musée National de l’Automobile in Mulhous, France. It’s not fully retired yet. According to the manufacturer, he can still be seen in certain historic races.
