Bugatti 100P/110P

[Ryan]

So pretty much everything about this Bugatti speedster is off topic, but I had to post it. The shape, the color, the textures, just the idea... It's rolling (flying?) art primed to inspire.
...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

[fur biscuit]

Originally Posted by Ryan

So pretty much everything about this Bugatti speedster is off topic, but I had to post it. The shape, the color, the textures, just the idea... It's rolling (flying?) art p...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

Just give in now and do an entire feature on the "Schnieder Cup" planes of the 20's and 30's. The entire series is chocked full of the engineering greats of the time as well great pilots, such as Doolittle.

[Ryan]

It's hard not to fall in love with that stuff isn't it? The shapes alone are just so amazing...

[SinisterCustom]

Hmmmm.....cut the wings and tail off and you've got yerself a Bonneville car.

[zman]

Originally Posted by SinisterCustom

Hmmmm.....cut the wings and tail off and you've got yerself a Bonneville car.

That is exactly what I was thinking....

[zzford]

I just love the styling of the thirties. Be it automotive or the aircraft of that time. It all just reeks of high style.

[Rand Man]

Things like this can put you in the frame of mind of the 1940's hot rodder. The things he must have seen while he was overseas. The spirit of inovation.

[Beach Bum]

Gorgeous piece isn't it! Note that the two engines drive contra-rotating props and the radiators are buried in the in the tail. Totally outside the box thinking for the time. Since the original will never fly, someone needs to build a large scale RC model of it.

Kurt O.

[fiat128]

It never ceases to amaze me how everything he designed was so beautiful. I guess that's what you get when you cross an artist with an engineer.

Thanks for posting this one, I had never seen it before and didn't know Bugatti had designed aircraft as well.

[36couper]

How is the prop driven if the engines appear to be mounted behind the cockpit?

[Iceberg460]

Originally Posted by Ryan

It's hard not to fall in love with that stuff isn't it? The shapes alone are just so amazing...

Agreed...

[Beach Bum]

Originally Posted by 36couper

How is the prop driven if the engines appear to be mounted behind the cockpit?

The engines are each canted to the side, one left, one right. There are driveshafts that run forward each side of the pilot to a reduction gearbox. The contra-rotating props are driven off the gearbox. The Bell P39 and P63 had a similar arrangement but with a single engine behind the pilot. In the Bell, the driveshaft went under the pilot to the reduction gearbox.

Another interesting one is the Dornier Do335.

Kurt O.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Beach Bum

The engines are each canted to the side, one left, one right. There are driveshafts that run forward each side of the pilot to a reduction gearbox. The contra-rotating props are driven off the gearbox. The Bell P39 and P63 had a similar arrangement but with a single engine behind the pilot. In the Bell, the driveshaft went under the pilot to the reduction gearbox.

Another interesting one is the Dornier Do335.

Kurt O.

Man, those shafts must be tiny...

[David Totten]

Bugatti also designed and manufactured bench vices that are considered museam pieces.

[kiwiboy]

Originally Posted by 36couper

How is the prop driven if the engines appear to be mounted behind the cockpit?

Looking at the sketch the drive shaft is at the bottom of the cockpit & then there is a box in the front that transfers the power upwards to the props ... I hope there a scatter shield on that sucker with 800 hp between my legs

[Ole don]

That does not look like a machine built in 1939, it looks like one built in 2009.
It says the plane is at Oshkosh now, I guess that means another trip to Wisconsin. That one alone would be worth the trip.

[fiat128]

Originally Posted by David Totten

Bugatti also designed and manufactured bench vices that are considered museam pieces.

Got a picture of one?

[Ryan]

Pretty fucking cool...

[rixrex]

just Beautiful..rolling,flying,splashing,cycling Art is where its at(for me)..Yes, all the old air racers, some of them on pontoons, Chris-Craft and Haecker,the Italians and Germans had some very racy ,futuristic airplanes..The Flying Wing aircraft, the smaller one restored and flying at Chino..I will hopefully clear the off-topic hurdle and post a picture of the 71 Citroen/Masarati SM I got the other day, four overhead cammed roller V/6 with three Webers and a five speed..13" of hydraulic suspension travel..a rocketship..

[73roundlight]

It is hard to believe how amazingly beautiful the Bugatti designs are. And so far ahead of their time in many ways. I feel the same way about the Miller/Offenhauser stuff, beautifully crafted devices that have a great form as well a function.

My collegue here said it looks like something that should be on the front of a vintage Popular Mechanics.

—MRAK