Raymond Mays has a rear wheel depart from his Bugatti Type 1

May 30

Raymond Mays has a rear wheel depart from his Bugatti Type 13 Brescia during the 1924 Caerphilly Mountain Hill Climb in Wales.

Moments like this are a reminder of just how different racing was a century ago. Drivers attacked hill climbs, road races, and circuits with little more than a leather helmet, a pair of goggles, and a healthy disregard for danger. Mechanical failures were common, safety equipment was virtually nonexistent, and the risks were simply accepted as part of the sport. #bugatti #racing

May 30, 2026

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Replies (9)

· May 30

A very famous photo,

· May 30

Racing is a dangerous sport but back when this picture was taken you had a 50/50 shot of getting killed every time you went out.

· May 30

Two years ago, Alan Travis broke the right rear axle of his 1913 Bugatti. Attached link shows the repair.

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· May 30

George, that is cool. What model is it? I'm not familiar with the earlier cars.

· May 30

It's not stupid if it works!

· Jun 5

It's the oldest Bugatti in the U.S. I think there are two in Europe which are older, but his is the only one being routinely driven. It's a 1913 Type 22 Torpedo Racer. I believe it was one of five hand-built and then saved from the Germans in WWI. If I remeber correctly 2 of them were taken to Switzerland by train, and the other 3 disassembled and all the parts buried before the Germans occupied that area of France.

Alan 's car had sat in a museum and not run for a long, long time. He got word that they might be willing to sell it to the right person , so he went there to meet with them and discuss. I think he made an offer and then waited in a hotel room for them to decide. They called him at 2:00 in the morning and told him they would accept. He said he paid more for it than he paid for his house...and he has a very nice house. The engine was frozen. He soaked it in a tub of WD40 for 60-days. Finally he was able to move the crank back and forth a tiny bit, and by the end of the day, could completely rotate it. Everything was disassembled and rebuilt from there. So many things about his car are decades ahead of it's time. many of the sealing surfaces have no gaskets...just precisely-machined aluminum surfaces, which don't leak. It's amazing. If I could have only one car in the world, that would be it.

There's several online videos of it being restored and driven, including one with Jay Leno driving it.

George

· Jun 5

After the war, the five cars returned to glory, and were raced, crashed, fixed, raced, crashed, fixed...repeat...mostly canibalizing from each other as the damage became unrepairable. This is the only one left of the five.

It's possible the car losing the wheel is one of those five.

George

· Jun 5

George, have you ever owned a Bugatti?

· May 31

Back when I was in HS I was pulling in the parking lot at school and something like this happened to me. Except the wheel didn't pass me it just fell on the ground when I went around a corner. Learned something about torqueing lug nuts tighter that day. Amazingly the wheel just went back on with no damage.