The Car on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bugatti brings Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse "Gris Rafale" to Brazil

Bugatti's Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse is downright well-known around these parts. Not only have we reported on the 1,200-horsepower Veyron selling for a pretty penny at Pebble Beach, we've seen a funnyman Leno take one for a pleasure cruise in SoCal.
Apparently, Bugatti believes that the Grand Sport Vitesse is likely to be just as popular in South America as it has been elsewhere in the world, as the company has officially announced that it will be bringing the model to Brazil. Not wanting to merely send out a press release, the French supercar maker has gone and created a one-off Grand Sport Vitesse "Gris Rafale" to mark the occasion.
The new car has been finished in a fetching light shade of gray called Gris Rafale (French for "Gray Burst", with accent pieces done in striking blue carbon fiber. The interior treatment is a reversal of that motif, with blue leather and gray stitching. A special edition that only features a new colorway might seem like a weak effort for any other car, but on one of the most expensive, highest performance road-going vehicles of all time, we'll take it.

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

Sounds like Bugatti is about to debut a 57 SC Atlantic-inspired design

In early February, a rumor popped up that Bugatti was bringing an extremely special multi-million-dollar one-off custom to the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. This week, Bugatti put out a teaser on social media that hinted at a new 57 SC Atlantic-inspired design. Could the two be related, or are automotive enthusiasts in for two major surprises? Maybe we've been watching too much "True Detective" and have the itch to put clues together, but a peculiar timeline has begun to take shape surrounding what's to come next for Bugatti. On Feb. 12, we picked up a report from The Supercar Blog that said ex-VW boss Dr. Ferdinand Piech had ordered a one-off Bugatti that cost about $18 million and would debut in Geneva. On Feb. 18, Bugatti began a social campaign that celebrated the 80th birthday of the famed 57 SC Atlantic, highlighting each of the four examples that were built. The Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic is one of the most mystical cars in automotive history and the star in the Hollywood movie OVERDRIVE. To find out more about its real life story, stay tuned! #Overdrive #Bugatti #BugattiAtlantic #Type57SC #BugattiHistory #Bugatti110Ans pic.twitter.com/RRhttBc6mI — Bugatti (@Bugatti) February 18, 2019 On Feb. 24, Bugatti publicly wondered if the design of the 57 SC Atlantic could be reinterpreted in the modern automotive landscape. Jean Bugatti's 57 SC Atlantic cannot be re-created, but what do you think? Can we translate its design language into the 21st century? #Bugatti #BugattiAtlantic #Type57SC #BugattiHistory #Bugatti110Years #Bugatti110Ans #JeanBugatti #BugattiDesign #BugattiDesignLanguage pic.twitter.com/HUKPQAkCUq — Bugatti (@Bugatti) February 24, 2019 And today, Feb. 25, Bugatti posted an interview with Deputy Design Director Etienne Salome in which he added a couple more hints. He starts by saying, "When the team and myself started to design this car," which suggests the Atlantic-inspired car is indeed real. He goes on, referencing Jean Bugatti: "How would he translate the timeless beauty and the elegance of his own private Atlantic onto a modern-day Bugatti?" Bugatti's Deputy Design Director Etienne Salome tells us, what it would need to revive the 57SC Atlantic in the 21st century. #Bugatti #BugattiAtlantic #Type57SC #BugattiHistory #BugattiStory #Bugatti110Years #Bugatti110Ans #JeanBugatti pic.twitter.com/zoHagIElSP — Bugatti (@Bugatti) February 25, 2019 The second piece of information there could be taken literally or figuratively.