We are delighted to reveal that we are developing the Bugatti Type 59 at 1:18 scale to sit alongside the our existing model of this extraordinary car at 1:8 scale. Based on the car raced by Tazio Nuvolari at the Monaco Grand Prix on the 2nd of April 1934, the model is being developed using digital scan data from an important example of the Type 59, with race specific details sourced from archive photographs and respected Bugatti experts. The ultimate expression of the Bugatti Grand Prix car, the Type 59 was a testament to Ettore and Jean Bugatti’s extraordinarily creative engineering talents. In an era when the art of race car design was arguably superseded by the science, the Type 59 remained competitive despite its continued use of ‘old-fashioned’ mechanics. Though often defeated by its more modern government-funded rivals, its long, low and slender bodywork, have earned it a very special place in Grand Prix history. The Type 59 remains Bugatti’s last successful Grand Prix racer.The Type 59 is generally regarded as an artistic masterpiece: it still retained the heritage from the iconic and all-conquering Type 35, which Ettore Bugatti had designed a decade earlier, but in extending the wheelbase of the new chassis frame, he created a beautiful Grand Prix car with perfect proportions. Under the all-aluminium bodywork lived its straight-eight engine. The power unit was a new development, led by Ettore’s eldest son Jean, not only to power the Type 59 race car but the upcoming Type 57 grand tourer. In Grand Prix specification, it was fitted with twin camshafts, dry sump lubrication and a lightened crankshaft. At its debut the engine displaced 2.8 litres, which was soon supercharged to just under 3.3 litres, and a separate four-speed gearbox was fitted roughly midway between the engine and rear differential for optimal weight distribution.The Type 59’s steel ladder frame chassis was nearly identical to that of its predecessor, the Type 54. Unusually the front and rear axles were constructed from two halves treaded together in the middle, adding some flexibility to the traditional solid axles. Ettore Bugatti favoured the two-seater Grand Prix concept, and the Type 59 was no exception, the driver was offset to right of the car’s centre, and his famed eye for design to exquisite detailing such as the superbly engineered piano-wire spoke wheels. This particular addition was supported by strong mechanics: an aluminium back-plate dealt with the torque from the drive and the braking, whilst the spokes themselves only supported radial loads.