In its original form, Bugatti ceased to exist in the early 50s after a short and tumultuous history that left us a name, an aspiration, and a legacy now carried into the future by another automotive prodigy, Mate Rimac. When the company founded by Ettore in 1909 went bust, its automobiles were speed demons with luxurious apparel and refined manners, front-engined motoring celebrations that heeded to no one.
True, Bugatti was founded before the Second World War, and after the founder's death in 1947, it sunk into oblivion. The name was revived in the late eighties before Volkswagen took over at the dawn of the new millennium. The second coming of the marque also saw the switch to the mid-engine architecture—most suitable for piston-powered Go-Like-Hell machines. For the past seven decades, no Bugatti car (super or hyper) has worn its power heart in front of the driver.
Some concepts hinted at the possibility, but in the last four decades, there hasn’t been a single example of a Bugatti designed, built, marketed, sold, and used that sported the front-engine principle of automotive engineering. At least not in our three-dimensional, physical, real reality, but there’s always the alternate facet of computer-backed imagination.
Car visualists (that’s a fancy name for car designers) have tried, time and time again, to evoke the roots of the Patriarch of Speed. Bugatti themselves have proposed several concepts since the 2000s that coquetted with the idea of a classic Grand Tourer platform. But Bugattis of old have also proudly adorned another emblematic car-making paradigm, the roadster.
Photo: Instagram/futurismo_collective
Roofless, ruthless, restless, reckless—that pretty much sums up the whole idea behind a car with two seats, two doors at most (those could be optional), high on horsepower, low on body weight, and dressed to kill. The alternate-thinking China-based designiacs from Futurism Collective (or F L A V; social media call sign futurismo_collective) have envisioned not one but six variants of a hyper-modern, retro-styled Bugatti roadster.
The fluid lines of the half-dozen piston-powered missiles pledge allegiance to a unified design matter theme, being very Chiron-esque in appearance. The horseshoe grille lavishly spread over the front between the gaping air intakes leaves little to the imagination. These virtual concepts are very piston-centric and boast W16s, the now-decommissioned powerplants that pushed the boundaries of mechanical engineering past 300 mph / 480 kph.
From the 1,000-hp iteration of the sixteen-cylinder engines in the Veyron of 2004 to the 1,600-hp thermonuclear mind-blowers of the Mistral (the modern-day Bugatti roadster), the W16 has come a long way. Apparently, not long enough for some enthusiastic automotive dreamers who wished upon a star for one more spin-off.
Courtesy of the infinity of the pixel realm, these roof-free proposals definitely live up to Ettore’s ethos, ‘If comparable, it is no longer Bugatti.’ In true ‘Speed of Life’ fashion, these hexadecimal phantasms care not for the comfort of the driver and the occasional passenger – they better invest in a headset or at least a pair of goggles. No rest for the wicked and no windshield, either.
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News