Seeing a Bugatti EB110 on the street is something you'll never forget. Only 139 of these machines were built through the early 1990s, though that final number can vary slightly depending on who you talk to. Regardless, it’s exceedingly rare, but the carbon fibre creature captured here by Carspotter Jeroen isn’t just any EB110. It’s not even one of the vaunted EB110 Super Sport models. Unless someone went through the immense trouble to create a full carbon fibre body for one of those 139-ish EB110s, this is one of just a few Dauer EB110 SS models. By few, we mean five . . . in the entire world. And as far as we know, this is the only unpainted model.
The EB110 lives, sort of:
We need to qualify the above statements with the word allegedly, because honestly, we’re not entirely sure how accurate that information is and it’s not readily available on the interweb. To the best of our knowledge, the Dauer EB110 story starts in 1995 when the German-based company bought up the remaining Bugatti assets after its well-known bankruptcy. Among those assets were parts and some incompleted EB110s. Three were built following the original factory specifications, while five were modified with more power and lighter carbon fibre bodywork. Allegedly.
Gallery: Bugatti EB110 Carbon Fibre screenshots
That brings us back to this video, captured a few weeks ago during the West Coast madness in the U.S. around Monterey. Whether it’s the only bare carbon fibre EB110 in the world or not doesn’t really matter, because it’s absolutely epic to behold. More than a few people regard the EB110 not as a supercar, but as the world’s first hypercar. At a time when 400 horsepower was considered extreme, the EB110 offered 553 in a package that included all-wheel drive, active aerodynamics, and a carbon fibre chassis. The SS model pushed power to 603 bhp, and if Bugatti hadn’t fallen into bankruptcy, it’s possible the EB110 could’ve evolved further to challenge the McLaren F1 as the ultimate king of speed.
As is it, this bare carbon fibre EB110 from Dauer could well challenge the legendary F1. The carbon fibre body cut a significant amount of weight, and the quad-turbo V12 was further massaged to produce as much as 705 bhp. Official performance numbers were never offered, and frankly, the rarity and value of these models mean it will probably stay that way. With just a handful in the world, these machines are showpieces in car collections, which makes this amazing sighting even more special.
Source: Carspotter Jeroen via YouTube