Image via Complex Original
Even amidst all the supercar hoopla, Bugatti has had an incredible year. Look no further than hip-hop for proof. The manufacturer has been ubiquitous in lyrics and in real life. There was that one song about waking up that was so infectious we named it the 15th best of the year. Birdman continued to stunt in his candy-red Veyron, and Drake picked one up to (you guys blew up when we called it boring, but we were ready to reconsider when we saw the "Started" vanity plate).
Knowing the link between the supercar and hip-hop is only scratching the surface, though. Bugatti has been around since 1909, and its founder was active years before then. Become a Bugatti aficionado with 25 Things You Didn't Know about Bugatti. The knowledge might help you write the next great Bugatti lyric.
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Founder Ettore Bugatti apprenticed for a Milan-based bicycle and tricycle manufacturer.
In 1898, Ettore began working at Prinetti & Stucchi. It was there he built his first motorycle, which was made with two engines.
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Ettore's first race was on a motorized tricycle.
A year after beginning at Prinetti & Stucchi, Bugatti built a motorized tricycle for his first race. It was a round trip from Verona to Manuta and back to Verona.
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Bugatti's first car was a success.
Ettori's first automobile had a 3.0L, four-cylinder engine and won the Grand Prix of Milan. It also won the "incentive prize" by the French Automobile Club.
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The Veyron is named after Pierre Veyron.
Born in 1903, Veyron raced and drove for Bugatti. He originally had plans to study engineering, but a friend of his Albert Divo convinced him to try motorsport and eventually bought him a Bugatti 37 A. Jean Bugatti, Ettore's son, later gave Veyron the perfect opportunity to be a test driver and a development engineer. Talk about a #dreamjob.
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The first successful Bugatti was launched in 1910.
The Type 13, which sold from 1910 through 1920 (with a hiatus during WWI), featured a 1.4L engine and a 4-valve head that Ettore personally designed. The car took second place in a seven-hour-long race at Le Mans in 1911. See the resemblance between this and the Veyron in the grille?
Ettore's brother, Rembrandt, committed suicide at the age of 31.
Rembrant, a sculptor and Ettore's younger brother, killed himself in 1916. A replica of a dancing elephant he designed was used for the hood ornament of the Bugatti Royale in the 1920s.
The U.S. military commissioned 40 Bugatti engines for planes.
The 16-cylinder, 400hp engines were shipped to America but were never used by the U.S. during or outside World War I.
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Ettore produced railcars for the French national railroad company.
Beginning in 1933, Bugatti began making railcars using the Royale engine and other car parts. A total of 85 railcars were made and were in use through the 1950s.
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The Z-Type in GTA V is modeled after the Bugatti Atlantic.
The Bugatti Type 57 SC "Atlantic" is considered the masterpiece of Ettore's son, Jean. He named the car for his buddy who died in a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1997, British car experts voted it the best car ever made, and it's widely considered one of the most beautiful cars of all time. It recently sold at an auction for $30 million, largely because it is believed only two are still in existence.
Jean Bugatti was killed in a test drive.
At 30 years old, Jean was killed while test driving the Type 57 tank-bodied racer. He crashed into a tree while trying to avoid a drunk cyclist who snuck onto the track.
The Germans forced Ettore to sell his factory to a German entrepreneur.
During WWII, the Germans forced Ettore to sell his manufacturing plant for 150 million francs to Hans Trippel, who designed Mercedes-Benz's gull-wing door.
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Bugatti was sold off in 1963.
The Bugatti factory stopped producing cars in 1956, but it wasn't until seven years later that the company was sold to Hispano-Suiza and renamed "Messier Bugatti." The remaining stock of cars was sold to two car collectors, the Schlumpf brothers.
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Ralph Lauren owns one of two remaining Bugatti Atlantics.
Ralph's Atlantic, which he purchased along with two other cars in 1988 for $15 million, is now estimated to be worth $40 million. The other remaining Atlantic has passed hands a few times and was originally owned by a member of the famous Rothschild family.
VW bought Bugatti in 1998.
Three years after Bugatti declared bankruptcy, VW bought the company name. Dauer Racing GmbH continued selling the EB 110 as the Dauer EB 110. The first car Bugatti debuted under new ownership was the EB 118 concept.
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The first Veyron debuted in 1999 and had nearly half the power.
The car that's now the first thing that comes to mind for Bugatti debuted as a concept car in Tokyo and featured a 6.3-liter, 18-cylinder engine. At 555 horsepower, the car topped out 186 mph and hit 0-60 in 5.3 seconds.
Tires for the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport cost $42,000 a set.
And at top speed, the Michelin tires will only last for 15 minutes. After the third tire replacement, Michelin requires you to swap out the wheels for $69,000.
The 400th Veyron sold was a Grand Sport Vitesse.
As of earlier this month, Bugatti has sold 400 Veyrons. Once that number reaches 450, Veyrons will officially be extinct. 300 of the Bugattis built have been coupes, and another 150 have been convertibles.
The Veyron has 10 radiators.
With 1,200 horsepower, the Veyron gets hot, hot, hot. There are three heat exchangers for the air-to-liquid intercoolers, three engine radiators, and one radiator each for the air conditioning system, a transmission oil radiator, a differential oil radiator, and an engine oil radiator.
At top speed, the Veyron consumes 45,000 liters of air in one minute.
According to James May in an episode of Top Gear, that's how much a human breathes in four days.
This man drove his Veyron into a lake.
Back in 2009, a man in Texas claimed to accidentally drive his Veyron into a lake because he saw a reflection of a low-flying pelican after he dropped his phone. There happened to be a video of the accident, and it didn't match with his story. His insurance company took him to court for fraud. The last heard of the case was that it had been postponed.
VW loses $6.25 million for every Veyron sold.
That's more than any other car. The VW Phaeton comes in second with $28,100 lost for every car sold.