Page 1 of 1 When Ettore Bugatti was designing the Type 35 replacement, the Type 51, he designed two odd ball Grand Prix cars, two examples of the four wheel drive Type 53 and this the Type 45. The chassis design was along the Type 35 lines but with parallel rear springs instead of the waisted ones on the Type 35. The engine is what makes the Type 45 special. The 16 cylinder engine is made up of two banks of 8 cylinders,with two crankshafts. This concept was already used by Ettore in his World War I fighterplane engines. Two Roots-Type Superchargers were mounted at the rear of the engine, one for every bank of cylinders. The weaknes of the engine was the gear coupling that coupled the two crankshafts that was needed to allow the two crankshafts to turn in the same direction. Only two cars were built and raced with some succes, but poor reliability killed the project. A road going car was on the drawing boards, designation Type 47, with a similar engine but that project didn't get further than the completion of a bare chassis. Page 1 of 1
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When Ettore Bugatti was designing the Type 35 replacement, the Type 51, he designed two odd ball Grand Prix cars, two examples of the four wheel drive Type 53 and this the Type 45. The chassis design was along the Type 35 lines but with parallel rear springs instead of the waisted ones on the Type 35. The engine is what makes the Type 45 special. The 16 cylinder engine is made up of two banks of 8 cylinders,with two crankshafts. This concept was already used by Ettore in his World War I fighterplane engines. Two Roots-Type Superchargers were mounted at the rear of the engine, one for every bank of cylinders. The weaknes of the engine was the gear coupling that coupled the two crankshafts that was needed to allow the two crankshafts to turn in the same direction. Only two cars were built and raced with some succes, but poor reliability killed the project. A road going car was on the drawing boards, designation Type 47, with a similar engine but that project didn't get further than the completion of a bare chassis.