Will we see the Type 59/50B return to Prescott?

• 
• 
• 

When the VSCC makes it to Prescott Hill, there is always plenty to see, smell, hear and do with so many prewar cars tackling the hill and even many more alongside the circuit and scattered around the hilly Gloucestershire grounds.

But one car we’d be looking especially forward to see return to the track is a rather special Bugatti. The Type 59/50B was driven by works driver Jean-Pierre Wimille at this particular circuit back in ‘39 when it was fitted with twin rear wheels for the occasion. The supercharged eight-cylinder 4.7-litre was a fresh Le Mans winning car at the time and is today still considered to be one of the gems of Bugatti-engineering, now part of the ‘Schlumpf collection’ since many decades. Will it return to Prescott? As a matter of fact, it has returned already as it has been on display at the Bugatti Owners’ Club’s 90th-anniversary celebration earlier this year. Question is: will we see it in action on the 26th when the VSCC will have its final round of the season at Prescott?

It would be a great opportunity as the BOC’s 90th is not the only celebration. The 1939 Prescott event was after all also the first of many to come. July 30, 1939, was the first international hill climb meeting organized at the now-famous track. Did the big Bugatti win at its time? It didn’t, as it was considered to be too powerful, too big for the narrow circuit. Raymond Mays’ two-litre ERA came first, doing the track in 46.14secs, shattering all previous records while Wimille did 46.69. Not bad either.

Words by Jeroen Booij.

Plaats een reactie, stel een vraag, geef uw mening, deel aanvullende informatie of start een discussie door de onderstaande velden in te vullen