The Bugatti Type 53 was a

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

racing car built by

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 ...

in 1932. The Type 53 was one of the first racing cars to attempt to drive all four wheels, though

Ettore Bugatti Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti (15 September 1881 – 21 August 1947) was a Franco-Italian automobile designer and manufacturer. He received French citizenship in 1946 and is remembered as the founder and proprietor of the automobile manufacturing c ...

himself had designed multi-engine all wheel drive vehicles early in his career. The Type 53 used the () engine from the Type 50 road car fitted to the chassis of the Type 51 racer. It was originally conceived by Giulio Cappa, who created a

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

Grand Prix car in 1926. Cappa's associate, Antonio Pichetto, handled the development of the car while working at Bugatti, starting in 1930. The engine output was approximately . As a result of the elaborate front drivetrain, the Type 53 used the only independent front suspension system ever approved for use by Ettore Bugatti. The Type 53 was notoriously difficult to steer. At the Type 53's debut in the 1932 Monaco Grand Prix, Albert Divo, noted for his size and strength, was chosen to drive the car, but he gave up during practice after exhausting himself. In June 1932,

Jean Bugatti Jean Bugatti (''né'' Gianoberto Maria Carlo Bugatti; 15 January 1909 – 11 August 1939) was a French automotive designer and test engineer for Bugatti. He was the son of Bugatti's founder Ettore Bugatti. Biography Born in Cologne, Jean B ...

rolled a Type 53 at the

Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb The Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb is a Hillclimbing, hillclimb in Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire, England, organised by the Midland Automobile Club (MAC). It is one of the oldest motorsport events in the world, and is the oldest to have been s ...

. The hard steering was attributed to not having

constant-velocity joint A constant-velocity joint (also called a CV joint and homokinetic joint) is a mechanical coupling which allows the shafts to rotate freely (without an appreciable increase in friction or Backlash (engineering), backlash) and compensates for the a ...

s for the front halfshafts and to unequal-length halfshafts without matching torsional characteristics. Modern tests, however, have shown the car to be quite tractable at speed.

René Dreyfus René Albert Dreyfus (6 May 1905 – 16 August 1993) was a French racing driver active during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life Dreyfus was born and raised in Nice to a Jewish family. He showed an early interest in automobiles, learning to d ...

won the 1934 La Turbie hillclimb with a record average speed of in a Type 53.

Robert Benoist Robert Marcel Charles Benoist (; 20 March 1895 – 11 September 1944) was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver. He won several Grand Prix racing events and the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1924 and 1937. During World War II, Benoist resiste ...

then won the 1935 Chateau-Thierry hillclimb in a Type 53, after which the type was retired. Two or three were built.

References

{{Bugatti 53

See also

References