20 October 2022
The car designer Ettore Bugatti came from a family of artists and sculptors. He modelled engine components, including crankshafts, in wood to assess them in aesthetic terms before committing them to production.
Apparently, the engine of his Type 35 racing car is almost the perfect definition of a system of mechanics based on Newton’s laws of motion.
The Bugatti Owners’ Club was founded in 1929, just two decades after Ettore launched the automobile company that bore his name. Born out of a shared passion for Bugatti models and the superior design, engineering and driving experience they provided, the Club held its inaugural meeting at one of London’s oldest and most famous restaurants, ‘Simpson’s in the Strand’.
In 1937, Brigadier-General G.M. Giles, who had been present at the first Bugatti Owners’ Club meeting at Simpson’s, and his brother Eric, purchased the Prescott Estate and country house.
When Prescott House was sold, the Bugatti Owners’ Club retained ownership of the 69-acre estate and the Prescott Speed Hill Climb course.
Also located on the Prescott Estate is the Bugatti Trust. The Bugatti Trust is dedicated to studying Ettore Bugatti’s works and preserving the heritage of the marque. It is an independently funded UK-registered charity with educational aims and objectives.
