Despite its small population, Wales, a principality located to the west of the United Kingdom has in recent years taken centre stage in the world of Bugatti cars.

Wales has a rich motor sport heritage. In the twenties, many venues were used for sprints, hill-climbs, race meetings and record breaking. Porthcawl sands were used for sprints with Raymond Mays driving a Brescia Bugatti being one of the most famous and successful participants. The UK Bugatti Owners Club ran its Welsh Trial in the principality for many years and a line-up of sporting Bugattis outside the White Lion Hotel in Bala was a familiar sight. The nearby Palé Hall has also been used for Bugatti events in more recent times. In the thirties one of the most successful competitors was Lindsay Eccles, a South Wales steel magnate whose cars were painted a distinctive black and green. Hill farmer Hamish Moffatt prepared and raced some of the fastest Bugattis in the sixties and seventies and on the hill-climb front the leading competitor was Ian Preston from Llandrillo, near Corwen who won innumerable events at home and abroad in his dark blue type 35B. His coach-bodied type 40, which had been especially built for Ettore Bugatti’s daughter Lydia was a familiar sight on the lanes in the area. The Williams Trophy and other prestigious vintage races have, for many years, been dominated by cars prepared in Wales and driven by Welsh drivers. Bugatti’s reputation was built on the success of his delightful Grand Prix models which won thousands of races in the twenties. One of the most successful drivers was Grover Williams who won the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929 driving a type 35B Bugatti. He was murdered in a German concentration camp but his widow later donated the trophy he won to the UK Bugatti Owners Club. In recent years Lord Fitzroy Raglan from Usk in Monmouthshire has prepared one of the fastest and most successful Bugattis. It has normally raced by Sir John Venables Llewellyn from Newbridge-on-Wye near Llandrindod Wells. In 2005 the Williams Trophy was won by a type 35B prepared by a Graham Little from Llangollen, North Wales and driven by Geraint Owen who from Capel Curig. (His father, Owen Wyn Owen was responsible for excavating the Land Speed Record car “Babs” in which Parry Thomas had been killed at Pendine Sands).

New Bugatti recreations, accurately based on original drawings are being manufactured in increasing numbers; the majority on chassis fabricated in a Nisssen hut on a windswept hillside in mid-Wales by talented engineer Gino Hoskins. Most experts agree that his chassis and springs are the finest available. He is able to produce anything from a type 13 “Brescia” giving a 2 metre wheelbase to a type 41 “Royale” with a massive 4.3 metre wheelbase.

...and not forgetting radiators being restored / created by John Underwood and his team at Star Engineering in Gwent...

... and excellent fuel and oil tanks made from difficult-to-obtain leaded steel sheet. But remember to order at least 18 months before you require delivery....