Herman at 15:11, 23 May 2008

2008-05-23T15:11:56Z

New page

'''Jean Bugatti''', ([[January 15]], [[1909]] – [[August 11]], [[1939]]), was an Italian French automotive designer and test engineer.

Born '''Gianoberto Maria Carlo Bugatti''' in [[Cologne, Germany]], he was the eldest son of [[Ettore Bugatti]]. Shortly after his birth the family moved to the village of [[Dorlisheim]] near [[Molsheim]] in [[Alsace]] where his father built the new [[Bugatti]] automobile manufacturing plant. Born into a family of brilliantly creative people, from boyhood he was interested in his father's business. His grandfather [[Carlo Bugatti]] had lived in France for several years when he moved from his native [[Milan]] to live in [[Paris, France|Paris]]. His father's factory had clients in [[France]] and had done work for the [[Peugeot]] company. As such, the Bugatti family were multilingual and in France, Gianoberto became known as Jean.

During [[World War I]], the family lived in [[Milan, Italy]]. Following the retaking of [[Alsace]] by [[France]] at the end of the war the company came under French jurisdiction. By the late 1920s, young Jean Bugatti was an integral part of the company and had already demonstrated his vehicle design abilities. In 1932, at the age of twenty-three, he did most of the design for the company's [[Bugatti Type 41|Type 41 Royale]]. His body designs complimented his father's engineering genius, making Bugatti one of the greatest names in automobile manufacturing. In addition, Jean Bugatti designed three bodies for the [[Bugatti Type 57|Type 57]], the Ventoux, Stelvio, and Atalante models. Regarded as the finest of all touring Bugatti models, the supercharged vehicle was launched at the 1936 Paris Salon. Jean Bugatti also showed his engineering skills by working on new independent suspension systems to replace solid front axles and twin-cam engine applications.

A hands-on designer, he frequently tested the company's prototypes. On August 11, 1939, while testing the [[Bugatti Type 57#Type 57S Tank|Type 57 tank-bodied racer]] which had just won at [[24 Hours of Le Mans|Le Mans]], not far from the factory on the road near the village of Duppigheim, 30-year-old Jean Bugatti was killed when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree while trying to avoid a drunken bicyclist, who had slipped on the track through a hole in a treefence. He is interred in the Bugatti family plot at the municipal cemetery in Dorlisheim. There is a monument to him at the site of his accident.

Jean Bugatti - Revision history

Herman at 15:11, 23 May 2008