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The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale,[1] is a large luxury car built from 1927 to 1933 with a 4.3 m (169.3 in) wheelbase and 6.4 m (21 ft) overall length. It weighs approximately 3,175 kg (7,000 lb) and uses a 12.763 litre (778 cu in) straight-eight engine. For comparison, against the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII (produced from 2003 to 2017), the Royale is about 20% longer, and more than 25% heavier. This makes the Royale one of the largest cars in the world.[2][3]

Bugatti Type 41
Overview
ManufacturerBugatti
Also calledBugatti Royale
Production1927–1933
(7 produced, 6 existing)
Body and chassis
ClassLuxury car
Body styleBerline, coupé, cabriolet, roadster, brougham, coupé de ville
LayoutFront-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Powertrain
Engine12,763 cc (12.8 L; 778.8 cu in) straight-8
Transmission3-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase~4.3 m (169.3 in)
Length~6.4 m (252.0 in)
Width~2.0955 m (82.5 in)
Curb weight~3,175 kg (7,000 lb)

Ettore Bugatti planned to build twenty-five of these cars and sell them to royalty as the most luxurious car ever, but even European royalty were not buying such things during the Great Depression, and Bugatti was able to sell only three of the seven made (six still exist, one destroyed in wreck). Still, the engines were re-used successfully in newly constructed high-speed railcars for the French National Railway (SNCF).


Design


Type 41 radiator cap
Type 41 radiator cap

Crafted by Ettore Bugatti, the Type 41 is said to have come about because he took exception to the comments of an English lady who compared his cars unfavourably with those of Rolls-Royce.[2][4]


Engine


The engine build for the Royale had a displacement of 12.7 litres.[5][6] The engine was built around a single huge block, and at approx. 1.4 m (4.6 ft) long x 1.1 m (3.6 ft) high, is one of the largest engines ever made for passenger automobiles,[5] producing 205–224 kW (275–300 hp) @ 1800 rpm, and 875 lb⋅ft (1,186 N⋅m) of torque.[7][8][9][5][10] Its eight cylinders, bored to 125 mm (4.9 in) and with a stroke length of 130 mm (5.1 in),[5][6] each displaced more than the entire engine of the contemporary Type 40 touring car.[5] It had 3 valves per cylinder (two inlet:one exhaust) driven by a centrally positioned single overhead camshaft.[5][6] Three bearings and only a single custom carburettor was needed. The engine was based on an aero-engine design that had been designed for the French Air Ministry, but never produced in that configuration.[5]

The engine block and cylinder head were cast in one unit. Grinding of the engine valves was a regular maintenance requirement, and removing the engine valves for grinding required removing and disassembling the large cast iron engine.[6]


Chassis


The chassis was understandably substantial, with a conventional semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension arrangement at the front.[5][11] At the rear the forward-facing Bugatti quarter-elliptics were supplemented by a second set facing to the rear.[5]

Strangely for the modern day observer, the aluminium clutch box was attached to the chassis - not to the engine - and the gearbox (also aluminium) was attached to the rear axle which meant it was part of the unsprung mass of the suspension. The clutch and gearbox were placed at odd locations [citation needed] to reduce noise and increase comfort, a difficult problem in those days. The transmission was mounted at the rear to offset the weight of the engine.[12]

Massive brake shoes were mechanically operated via cable controls: the brakes were effective but without servo-assistance required significant muscle power from the driver.[5] The car's light alloy "Roue Royale" wheels measured 610 millimetres (24 in) in diameter and were cast in one piece with the brake drums.[11]


Controls


Reflecting some tradition-based fashions of the time, the driver was confronted by a series of knobs of whalebone, while the steering wheel was covered with walnut.[5]


Performance


A road test performed in 1926 by W. F. Bradley at the request of Ettore Bugatti for the Autocar magazine proved how exquisite chassis construction allowed very good and balanced handling at speed, similar to smaller Bugatti sports cars, despite the car's weight and size.[13]

All Royales were individually bodied. The radiator cap was a posed elephant, a sculpture by Ettore's brother Rembrandt Bugatti.[12]


Production


In 1928, Ettore Bugatti asserted that "this year King Alfonso of Spain will receive his Royale", but the Spanish king was deposed without taking delivery of a Royale, and the first of the cars to find a customer was not delivered until 1932.[5] The Royale with a basic chassis price of $30,000, was launched just as the world economy began to deteriorate into the 1930s Great Depression. Six Royales were built between 1929 and 1933, with just three sold to external customers. Intended for royalty, none was eventually sold to any royals, and Bugatti even refused to sell one to King Zog of Albania, claiming that "the man's table manners are beyond belief!"[10]

Six of seven production Royales still exist, as the prototype was destroyed in an accident in 1931,[14] and each has a different body, some having been rebodied several times.


41100 - Coupé Napoleon


Recreation of the Bugatti Royale Packard Prototype
Recreation of the Bugatti Royale Packard Prototype
Chassis no.41100, known as the Coupé Napoleon, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
Chassis no.41100, known as the Coupé Napoleon, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse

41111 - Coupé de ville Binder


The Royale Coupe De Ville Binder 41111 at the 2004 Goodwood Revival
The Royale Coupe De Ville Binder 41111 at the 2004 Goodwood Revival

41121 - Cabriolet Weinberger


Chassis no.41121, Bugatti Type 41 Royale 'Weinberger Cabriolet' 1931
Chassis no.41121, Bugatti Type 41 Royale 'Weinberger Cabriolet' 1931

41131 - Limousine Park-Ward


Chassis no.41131, known as the Limousine Park-Ward, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
Chassis no.41131, known as the Limousine Park-Ward, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse

41141 - Kellner car



41150 - Berline de Voyage


Chassis no.41150, Bugatti Type 41 Royale Berline de Voyage 1929
Chassis no.41150, Bugatti Type 41 Royale Berline de Voyage 1929
Most of the engines intended for the Royale were derated and found their way into a series of high-speed Bugatti railcars.
Most of the engines intended for the Royale were derated and found their way into a series of high-speed Bugatti railcars.

French National Railway SNCF


To utilize the remaining 23 engines after the final Royale was built, Bugatti built a railcar powered by either two or four of the eight-cylinder units. Seventy-nine were built for the French National Railway SNCF, using a further 186 engines, the last of them remaining in regular use until 1956[5] or 1958 (sources differ). The railcar turned the Royale project from an economic failure into a commercial success for Bugatti. The engines were derated to produce only about 200 hp, but even in this form they provided excellent performance.[5] One of the railcars took a world average speed record of 122 mph (196 km/h) for 43.9 miles (70.7 km).

Media related to Bugatti railcar at Wikimedia Commons


Replica cars


The brothers Schlumpf replica of the Royale Esders Coupe on display at the 2006 Paris Motor Show
The brothers Schlumpf replica of the Royale Esders Coupe on display at the 2006 Paris Motor Show
Replica of Coupe Napoleon, made for the French film Rebus with an American V8 engine, now residing in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum
Replica of Coupe Napoleon, made for the French film Rebus with an American V8 engine, now residing in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum

In light of the rarity of the Type 41 and its associated price, it is unsurprising that some replicas have been made.

The Schlumpf brothers so liked the original Dr Armand Esders coupe body on chassis 41111, using original Bugatti parts they had a replica made of the car. It now resides with the two originals they purchased at the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse.[17]

The late Tom Wheatcroft commissioned Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations (AKVR) to build an exact replica of Bugatti's personal car, the Coupe Napoleon (chassis number 41100), for his Donington Grand Prix Collection in England. It has since been sold and left the collection. So good was the replica, that when the Kellner car needed a replacement piston, its then Japanese owners commissioned South Cerney Engineering, part of AKVR, to provide a replacement.[2]

On May 24, 2008, Prince Joachim of Denmark on the day of his wedding to Princess Marie (formerly Marie Cavallier) had Wheatcroft's replica waiting outside Møgeltønder Church to drive the newly married couple to Schackenborg Castle.

In 2011 a reconstruction of the 41100 Packard prototype by Dutch company Hevec Classics was presented at the Molsheim festival. It claims to use the original prototype chassis frame and other parts and was initially fitted with a replica engine (built by Tom Wheatcroft).[15]

In 2016, the same team that reconstructed the Packard prototype, led by Frank Slopsma, unveiled a new replica of the Royale Esders Roadster at the RETRO CLASSICS show in Stuttgart, Germany.[23]

A year later this same team showed a part-finished replica of the Weymann coach version of the 41100 Royale prototype at the Mondorf Classic Days & Concours d'Elegance. All three replicas built by the team were shown at the show, they were built for an undisclosed Dutch owner.[24]

The Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum has a replica of the 41100 Coupe Napoleon that was built for the 1968 film Rebus.

The much smaller Panther De Ville (produced between 1974 and 1985) consciously resembled the Type 41.


Reunion


In the 1985 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, all six cars appeared together on display.[25]

In 2007, five of the six cars were on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to celebrate the Royale's eightieth anniversary.[26]


In fiction


A Bugatti Royale features in the 2012 book Lucia on Holiday by Guy Fraser-Sampson, an addition to the Mapp and Lucia series of novels by E.F.Benson. In the story Major Mapp-Flint is asked by a maharajah to drive the car from Paris to Bellagio, but he drives so badly and inflicts so much damage that the maharajah has the car driven into Lake Como.

The Bugatti Royale 41150 Berline de Voyage 1931 also features throughout the 2014 book The Eye of Zoltar, book 3 of The Last Dragonslayer series by Jasper Fforde. The car is referenced ten times within the book. The protagonist Jennifer Strange describes her choice of car "After looking at several I'd chosen a massive vintage car called a Bugatti Royale. Inside it was sumptuously comfortable, and outside, the bonnet was so long that in misty weather it was hard to make out the hood ornament."

The Bugatti Royale features in the David Grossman book The Zigzag Kid

A blood-red Bugatti type 41 Royale Coupe de Ville appears in Leslie Charteris' Vendetta For the Saint (Doubleday 1964, ghostwritten by Harry Harrison) as a rental car for Simon Templar.

A Bugatti Royale was featured in the Clive Cussler novel "The Wrecker".

"The Seventh Royale" by Donald Stanwood is about Hitler's attempt to get a Royale and efforts to keep away from him.[27]


See also



Notes


  1. Yost, Mark (26 March 2014). "Bugatti: The Marriage of Art and the Automobile". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  2. Buckley 2002.
  3. Pattinson 2009, pp. 1, 4, 5.
  4. Kimes 1990, p. 640.
  5. Conway 1969, pp. 17–20.
  6. Rogliatti 1973, p. 232.
  7. "1926 Bugatti Type 41 Royale | Top Speed".
  8. "Bugatti Type 41 Royale".
  9. "Bugatti Legends Type 41 La Royale – A royal vehicle |".
  10. Kimes 1990, p. 632.
  11. Rogliatti 1973, p. 233.
  12. Cheetham, Craig (2004). Vintage Cars - The Finest Prewar Automobiles. Rochester, United Kingdom: Grange Books. p. 54. ISBN 1840136359.
  13. "Royale Driving Report". bugatti.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-09. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  14. "car 1 - BugattiRoyale.comBugattiRoyale.com". Archived from the original on 2019-06-30.
  15. "Bugatti: 2011 news". www.bugattipage.com. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  16. "The Most Beautiful Bugatti Royale Ever Made". bugattipage.com. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  17. "Bugatti Type 41 Royale Binder Coupe de Ville". ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  18. "Bugatti Type 41 Royale Weinberger Cabriolet". ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  19. "Bugatti Type 41 Royale Park Ward Limousine". ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  20. "The Cunningham Museum". briggscunningham.com. Archived from the original on September 22, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  21. "Kellner Bugatti T41 Royale". coachbuild.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  22. "Bugatti Type 41 Royale Kellner Coach". ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  23. "Bugatti: 2016 news". www.bugattipage.com. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  24. "Bugatti: 2017 news". www.bugattipage.com. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  25. "All Six Bugatti Royale Cars Displayed Together For First Time". AP News Archive. Associated Press. 27 August 1985.
  26. "2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed: Bugatti Royales". autoblog.com. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  27. Stanwood, Donald A. (1987). The Seventh Royale. ISBN 0689114494.

References





На других языках


[de] Bugatti Royale

Der Bugatti Type 41, auch Bugatti Royale genannt, war ein Oberklassefahrzeug des französischen Automobilherstellers Bugatti.
- [en] Bugatti Royale

[fr] Bugatti Type 41

Bugatti Royale

[it] Bugatti Tipo 41 Royale

La Tipo 41 Royale è un'automobile di gran lusso prodotta dalla casa automobilistica francese Bugatti in soli sei esemplari dal 1929 al 1933.

[ru] Bugatti Type 41 Royale

Bugatti Type 41 Royale — автомобиль класса люкс компании Bugatti. Инженеры называют эту модель вершиной технической мысли 20-х годов, а за свои выдающиеся качества автомобиль получил имя Royale (фр. Королевский). Было построено всего 6 автомобилей, все они дошли до наших дней.



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