Jean Bugatti

Gianoberto Maria Carlo "Jean" Bugatti (* 15. January 1909 in Cologne , Germany ; † 11. August 1939 near Duppigheim , France , during a test drive) was a French- Italian automobile designer , - fabrikant and test driver .

Life

Memorial stone at the scene of the accident

He was the eldest son of Ettore Bugatti and heir to his Alsatian Bugatti car factory . He spent his youth in Molsheim , Bugatti's headquarters, and experienced the first racing successes of his father's sports cars. Jean, as everyone called him, was just 21 years old when he began designing touring and sports cars with his father in the company's design laboratory. His instinct for proportion, form and flowing contours soon became apparent, in contrast to the principles of his father, whose automobiles were functional and strictly minimalist. From 1931, Jean took over more and more of his father's tasks. At the age of 23, for example, he designed the six-meter-long 2-seater body of the Bugatti Royale roadster Esders for the textile manufacturer Armand Esders . The following Bugatti types also bear Jean Bugatti's signature:

• Bugatti Royale coupe du patron
• Bugatti Type 46 Petite Royale semi-profilée
• Bugatti Type 55 roadster
• Bugatti Aérolithe
• Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic (based on the chassis of the Bugatti Type 57 )

He also designed engines and chassis' and improved the technology of the vehicles produced under his father's direction. Occasionally, Jean also acted as a test driver, although his father forbade him to take part in races, and instead took over the management of the racing team from Bartolomeo Costantini a little later .

Mid-1930s, Ettore Bugatti focused more on the production of car Rail trains on what the company's survival in the global economic crisis secured, and after a strike of workers in Bugatti's factory in 1936 the management of automobile production completely passed to Jean . On August 11, 1939 - shortly before the outbreak of World War II  - was killed Jean Bugatti at the age of 30 years mortally 10 km from the factory located in Duppigheim during a test drive with a Bugatti Type 57 C "Tank", the moments before the 24 Won the Le Mans Hours . At over 200 km / h Jean had to avoid a cyclist who suddenly came out of a field and crashed into a tree. His father Ettore could not recover from this loss. There is a stele at the scene of the accident today . After Ettore's death, Jean Bugatti's brother Roland Bugatti continued to run the business.

Web links

Commons : Jean Bugatti  - collection of images, videos and audio files