User:Danielbarajas02/sandbox

The Bugatti Type 32, commonly called the Tank de Tours, was a streamlined racing car built in 1923. "Ettore Bugatti Founded the high end car company back in 1909 and has built some of the most iconic cars ever made, both now and then". Bugatti's have caught the attention of millions of people across the world and it is an extremely popular car in todays day and age. This car was first made in the era where no one knew about those aerodynamic terms. Nowadays you look at cars and they are advancing every single day. The Type 32 is still a fortune till this day and anybody who has their hands on one of these is extremely lucky. This Bugatti model was not your typical race car though. Four examples were made, each with a 2.0 L (1991 cc/121 in³) straight-8 engine based on that in the Type 30. This Type 32 had many unique characteristics that set it far apart from any other vehicle. "From front to rear, the Tank featured enclosed bodywork which formed the shape of an airplane wing". The front brakes of this unique car is another quite interesting feature. The front brakes were inspired by the Type 29 and Type 30 which had hydraulic assist. This usage of hydraulic assist was the first to ever be done in the racing industry. "Not only was this one of the first cars to use Lemans type streamlining, the advent of Hydraulic brakes made this an important car from a design perspective". Since the car featured hydraulic assist, it had no actual brake pedal and instead the driver would have to use a lever. This was extremely dangerous, but they did it anyway. Although this vehicle was not the most successful, it totally had a different design than other super cars in 1932. The Type 32 took a lot of criticism from many car experts but it is still one of the most unique looking Bugatti's ever made. "The Tank was originally designed with the specific intention of winning the 1923 French Grand Prix". A Grand Prix is an open-wheeled single seater race for extreme international cars. The course that the drivers had to go around was 14.18 miles in which they would have to lap 35 times. The circuit itself was not in good shape which added another reason to why this car lost that year. This race was very tough for the Type 32 because most and if not all the cars were going 75 miles per hour for the full 500 miles. Supposedly, Ettore Bugatti had built 4 of the Type 32's to go against all of the Fiats, Sunbeams, Voisins, and a Lone Delage that year. Unfortunately, with the supercharged Fiats and Sunbeams that they had to go against, the Bugatti did not stand a chance. "In the end, the Sunbeam won, as its two-liter twin-cam, straight-six engine out-powered the Bugatti's two-liter straight-eight engines". "It was only through the retirement of all three of their entries and a last lap spin by the driver of the third place Sunbeam that the last remaining Bugatti on the circuit was able to steal a podium position". The design of this car most definitely stood out from the other vehicles, but it still was not enough to beat these extremely fast foreign cars. Also, another reason why they were able to stay up there with the other cars during this race was because of the inline 8 cylinder engine. This inline 8 cylinder engine had produced an estimated 90hp, which nowadays is not too fast, but it had the chance to keep up with the supercharged Fiats. A Bugatti's horsepower in todays world can be anywhere from 500 to 1600 hp. 1600 being the most horsepower in a Bugatti. Many people had hope that this model of Bugatti had a chance of winning in 1923. Bugatti had said that "the more closely a vehicle approaches the ground, the less will be it's resistance to forward motion." He also had said that "While being low to the ground the shape over the top surface was similar to that of a wing and flat bottom actually generated lift at high speed". Little did he know, with this prediction, the Type 32 ended up losing the Grand Prix that year. This was the first Bugatti to be fitted with roller-bearing big ends in order to improve the bottom-end reliability (Bugatti was rather later than most manufacturers in the incorporation of a fully pressurised oil system, preferring a splash "spit and hope" delivery method). The Type 32 also broke new ground (for a racing Bug) by using a three-speed and reverse transaxle unit, the exceptionally short wheelbase and long straight-8 engine making a conventional gearbox difficult to accommodate. Another tank-bodied Bugatti racer, the 1936 Type 57G, was much more successful.