There was much excitement earlier this week when the world-famous Works 59/50B Bugatti arrived at Prescott Hill Climb as part of the Bugatti Owners’ Club 90th anniversary celebrations.

And the excitement was certainly understandable because the Works 59/50B has not appeared at Prescott in 80 years.

“The Bugatti Owners’ Club and Prescott Hill Climb have played a significant role in the history of the car and its famous French driver Jean-Pierre Wimille,” said Chris Rogers, general manager of the Bugatti Owners’ Club.

“The car will be the centrepiece at the Bugatti Trust Summer Exhibition ‘Jean Bugatti and Jean-Pierre Wimille – Prescott 80 years ago’ which will run from 25th May until 23rd September.

The historic Bugatti is on loan from the Cité de l’Automobile national museum in France and it certainly has a proud history.

The story began in July 1939 when Jean Bugatti accepted an invitation to compete at the first Bugatti Owners’ Club International meeting.

He brought with him the Works monoposto Type 59 which was fitted with an 8-cylinder supercharged 4.7-litre type 50B engine for his works driver Jean-Pierre Wimille, who was accompanied by his two mechanics Robert Aumaître and Lucien Wurmser.

The car had without doubt the most powerful engine built by the factory and was fitted with twin rear wheels specially for the event.

Wimille, in his first run on the unfamiliar course, recorded a time 47.50 seconds, improving it to 46.69 seconds on his second run.

It wasn’t quite good enough to take first place, however, a position taken by ERA’s Raymond Mays who clocked 46.14 seconds.

After the event Jean Bugatti wrote to apologise for bringing an unsuitably large car for the hill and promised to bring one of his new 1-litre cars the following year.

The outbreak of the Second World War meant that was not to be, of course, and except for its single outing in 1945 in the hands of Wimille at the Coupe des Prisonniers in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the 59/50B was not driven again.

It was retained by the factory until acquired by the Schlumpf brothers for their museum and is now part of the Cité de l’Automobile museum in Mulhouse in eastern France.