FIRST INDEPENDENTLY SPRUNG BUGATTI

L. M. Ballamy has fitted a system of independent suspension to the supercharged Type 37a., l &-litre Grand Prix Bugatti which Sub.-Lieut. R. B. Lakin recently acquired from 1′. P. Chohnondeley Tapper. A transverse seven-leafed spring is used, bolted to a special cross-member, and lying inside a split girder-shape ” axle ” beam. The Bugatti side-mein bers converge to a sharp taper and their dumb-irons now serve to carry the silent bloc pivots of drilled box-section radius rods which run back to the extremities of the ” axle ” beam. The stub-axle swivels are carried on tubtilar axle ends sliding into tubes borne by the ” axle ” beam, and these axle ends are bolted at thirteen points to flanges formed on the tubes. The track rod is jointed, and braced by a rod pivoted beneath the

spring anchorage. The ” axle” beam pivots on long silent bloc bushes, and Similar bushes are used in place of shackles at the ends of the transverse spring.

This modification has shortened the wheelbase by about six inches. The car was entered for two mountain races at the B. A.R.C. Whits-an Meeting, as an. L.M.B., and was driven by R. J. B. Seaman.