Page 10 - Beep Beep March 2022

Mick with Noel driving the Bugatti
Behind the Wheel by Noel St John-Wood
This is a great new segment for our magazine where Noel gives you, the reader, a look at members and their cars and an idea of how their cars drive.
Photos from Noel
St John-Wood
Rt: Ettorre Bugatti
To start off the series, I’m taking a look at 2 cars with an age difference of 100 years – Mick Freestone’s 1922 Bugatti and Gerry Murphy’s new Tesla S. Both cars are outstanding and although technologically worlds apart, have common characteristics, namely both manufacturers are world-leading innovators of their time.
Ettorre Bugatti introduced many design features that were way ahead of other manufacturers and proved his cars dominance on the racing circuits with their superior performance due to Ettorre’s focus on power-to-weight ratio.
Elon Musk built an electric vehicle that forced the majority of car manufacturers to not only accelerate their plans to build more EVs but set the standard for mass produced, impressive quality EVs also with superior performance.
The Bugatti Drive....
Mick’s rare Bugatti is a 1922 single overhead camshaft, crossflow head, 4- valve per cylinder, which was a very advanced design for it’s time. It has loads of mechanical style, no doubt originating from Ettore’s artistic family.
I hop into the driver’s seat wondering if Mick has an overhead crane to help me exit! Mick jumps in the co-driver’s seat with social distancing unobtainable.
I listen intently to a few starting and operating instructions from Mick, the master caretaker, the starter is engaged and his affectionately named ‘Bug’ explodes into life from the IC engine. With some experience in crash boxes, I carefully select first gear from the 4-speed gearbox, manipulate the
Mick with his prized vehicle
10