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    Bugatti Blue: Prescott and the Spirit of Bugatti
    Bugatti Blue: Prescott and the Spirit of Bugatti
    Bugatti Blue: Prescott and the Spirit of Bugatti
    Ebook209 pages58 minutes

    Bugatti Blue: Prescott and the Spirit of Bugatti

    By Lance Cole

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    About this ebook

    The British have had an affair with Bugatti for decades and perhaps Prescott Hill-Climb in Gloucestershire is the place where that relationship has reached its highlights across the decades. This collection of photographic images captures the brilliance of Bugatti design amid Bugatti blue at Prescott's wonderful natural amphitheatre in the Cotswolds to which visitors, Bugatti owners, enthusiasts and addicts have travelled from all over the world to gather and to race up the hill.The author has spent years around old cars, often visiting Prescott and its home to the Bugatti Owners Club which itself celebrates the 80th anniversary of its base at Prescott in 2018 and, the Clubs own 90th anniversary in 2019.In this collection of over 200 photographs, much of the masterworks of Molsheim are captured in action and at rest, at the altar of British Bugatti enthusiasm. Herein are wonderful moments and memories of old Bugatti cars, their owners and drivers, and other vintage and classic cars in VS-CC action at this revered location.This new collection of stunning images, allied to a concise narrative (with assistance from Bugatti experts), should provide the classic car enthusiast with something new to accompany their own memories amid a record of Prescott and the Bugatti Owners Club events and Veteran Sports-Car Club days.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateNov 30, 2018
    ISBN9781526734761
    Bugatti Blue: Prescott and the Spirit of Bugatti
    Author

    Lance Cole

    Lance Cole has been an automotive and aviation writer for over 25 years and is internationally published and syndicated. A former Sir William Lyons Scholar, and national press columnist, Lance is the author of over a dozen books and is also a trained designer, photographer and illustrator.

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      Book preview

      Bugatti Blue - Lance Cole

      INTRODUCTION

      Prescott - The Real Thing

      Although it is sometimes said that Prescott is about cars – principally Bugattis, the reality is that Prescott is about people, as well as their cars. Prescott is home to classic Bugatti metal, but also to Edwardian and 1920s-30s mechanical magic of vintage sporting character and their clan of owners. There is a definite aura at Prescott, a real atmosphere, one that is tangible and, on occasions, of real emotion. Here, on a delightful hillside that has seen mechanical motoring action for many decades, can be found something special; a camaraderie that knows no social limits nor status restrictions. In this book, I have attempted to capture that atmosphere - one that has entranced me, and others, for so long.

      With whirring crankshafts, popping valves, howling superchargers, wailing induction, and the magic of magnetos, here we find a vintage home for the classic car obsession. As blue hues flash by, as fuel and oil vapours mix, as beer and brandy swill, as men and women laugh and share a unique experience, Prescott really does live. I suppose we must not get too esoteric, but Prescott, its Bugatti story, and the chapters of veteran and vintage classic motoring that accompany it, must rank as something special indeed set against a modern world of marketing, ‘celeb’ culture and egotism: Prescott is none of these, for Prescott and its Bugattis are the real thing. Bugatti, its blue, and that badge that captures it all and which some call the ‘Ovale Rouge’, really does come to life on this English hillside. Molsheim’s masterpieces seem to love it at Prescott.

      A different angle on Bugatti starts here.

      Perceived wisdom has it that the Bugatti enthusiasm is an elitist Franco- Italian orientated passion populated by rich people. This may occasionally be true and buying or owning a Bugatti, old or new, does not come cheap. And people, rich or not, tend to spend their money on their Bugattis. However, there is more to Bugatti and to being a Bugatti owner than meets the eye of the conditioned expectation. Not everyone who runs a Bugatti is super-rich; the passion runs deep across all ranks of society. People of many differing personalities and interests share the passion of and for Bugatti, at Prescott.

      At Prescott you can be rich or poor, or somewhere in between and you might never know that the person you are talking to is worth millions, because they do not need to tell you; they are there for the cars and the experience, not the ego trip.

      The British, in particular, have had an affair with Bugatti since the marque’s early days and enjoy a remarkably close association with all things Bugatti. That hillside near the small village of Gotherington in south-west England hosts both the Bugatti Owners Club, and The Bugatti Trust. Both bodies reside at a famous place – Prescott Hill – or more accurately, Prescott Hill Climb. Since 1938, this magical venue has hosted the Bugatti Owners Club – itself first conceived of in 1929. Bugatti owners, enthusiasts and addicts have travelled from all over the world to this shrine for decades. It is a special place with what today’s young would call a ‘unique vibe’. Maybe it is the leylines that run through the place, or the ancient standing stones named Odo and Dodo that once stood in the grounds of Prescott House, but Prescott has a real ‘feel’, a tangible effect upon the person. Odo and Dodo, by the way, were the men who founded nearby Tewkesbury Abbey (we presume they gave their names to the two standing stones), so maybe it is apt that people come to Prescott to worship old cars.

      Prescott remains open to all, cheap to access and offers real action right up close to the cars for everyone. Unlike certain venues, it has not created ‘enhanced’ ticket prices, VIP zones, closed off areas, or elitist enclaves where money and egos run riot. Prescott remains to be about people and cars – principally Bugatti cars and vintage cars that you can see, smell and actually touch, whoever you are, whatever your origins or resources. It is people that are key to Prescott, be they drivers, marshals, or spectators; there is a wonderful camaraderie at Prescott; whether you are a billionaire or a builder, it’s the passion for the cars that counts.

      Prescott provides Bugatti fans with the best days out to be had – probably the best, most open events anywhere in the old car calendar. Through the Bugatti Owners Club, Bugattistes, the Bugatti Trust, and the Vintage Sports- Car Club (VS-CC), we have wonderful events that Prescott hosts. Add in the evocative ‘La Vie en Bleu’ weekends, VS-CC gatherings, and you have a nuclei of Bugatti and motor car experiences that offer a visceral, real, sometimes esoteric, but always gripping collection of experiences that are second to none.

      The sounds, the smells – the wailing of Bugatti engines, the sound of a Scyntilla Vertex magneto, the whiff of the combustion process and of searing exhausts, flashes of bright blue and other blue hues, shimmering alloys and sweating leather, all combine to provide an amazing, timeless experience far beyond fashion, fads, or marketing hype. Drop the baby Brescia into second gear with a wipe of double declutch and the little car snarls and turns into something else. Or grab hold tightly as a supercharged roller-bearing racer pulls you along in a blur of Type 35 supercharged blue. The sensations just keep on coming.

      At Prescott, everyone can get up close and personal to the essence of Bugatti, and

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