Bugatti Owners Club

Located in the mid-west of England, Prescott Estate is home to The Bugatti Owners' Club, a unique organization that houses its very own competitive hill climb course and the Bugatti Trust, a store of almost 40,000 historic documents and images dedicated to the Bugatti marque. Its connections with the Bugatti brand run right back to the Bugatti family itself, with personal visits from both Ettore and his son Jean during the '30s.

The Bugatti Owners' Club was founded in 1929, just two decades after Ettore launched the automobile company that bore his name. Born out of a shared passion for Bugatti models and the superior design, engineering and driving experience they provided, the Club held its inaugural meeting at one of London's oldest and most famous restaurants, 'Simpson's in the Strand'.

"Our birth occurred on December 18^th, 1929, when three total strangers met to discuss over a meal the possibilities of starting a Club in order to bring together the particular enthusiasts who own Bugatti cars," wrote D.B. Madeley two years later in the first issue of Bugantics, the Bugatti Owners' Club magazine.

By then, the Club was already hosting driving events on various loose-surface hill climb courses in England, enabling members to indulge in the type of judicious full-throttle exercises their cherished Bugatti models had already established a fearsome reputation for on motor circuits throughout the world. However, these were temporary venues only, leading to the search for a permanent course.

In 1937, Colonel (later Brigadier-General) G.M. Giles, who had been present at the first Bugatti Owners' Club meeting at Simpsons, and his brother Eric, purchased the Prescott Estate and country house. Realizing the potential of the then rutted, muddy drive to the house, work began on rendering the surface more suitable for motorsport. After all, a home in celebration of Bugatti must have some form of race track – the two go hand-in-hand.

In April 1938, Colonel Giles led a convoy of 130 Bugatti Owners' Club members and guests in his Type 18 Bugatti 'Black Bess' to Prescott, where the first untimed runs of the hill were held. At the first proper meeting in May of that year, Arthur Baron blasted his Type 51 Bugatti to the summit. Setting the fastest time of the day of 50.70 seconds, Baron triumphed over the similar car of Jack Lemon Burton by a mere 0.04 seconds.

In July the following year, the Bugatti Owners' Club held its first international event, attracting the attendance of Jean Bugatti and the company's star driver, Jean-Pierre Wimille, who had just won the Le Mans 24 Hours for the marque. "It is a grand thing to realize that the Bugatti equipe, including Monsieur Jean Bugatti himself, has come here specially for today's event, all the way from Molsheim in Alsace, and we wish him a pleasant visit and the best of good luck," recorded the race programme.

When Prescott House was sold, the Bugatti Owners' Club retained ownership of the 69-acre (28-hectare) estate and the Prescott Speed Hill Climb course. The technically challenging 1127-yards (1-km) long course rises more than 200 feet (60 metres) incorporating short straights, fast and slow corners, and a breath-taking hairpin.

Today, the hill still resonates to the sound of Bugatti models, like those that joined Colonel Giles and 'Black Bess' to Prescott in 1938, being pushed to the limit. Rupert Marks is a regular and extremely rapid competitor on the hill in his 1934 Bugatti Type 59. And he never fails to appreciate the experience every time he takes to the course.

"We are so incredibly fortunate to be able to drive this hill today, especially when you consider that so few historic racing venues have survived with the passage of time," says Marks. "Set here in the magnificent surroundings of the Cotswolds, it makes your spine tingle every time you drive. We really do owe a great debt to those pioneering members of the Bugatti Owners' Club who created it and passed it on for future generations to enjoy today."