The Bugatti-Maserati

Image above: Gigi Premoli with the P.M.B. (Premoli- Maserati-Bugatti) at the Avellino Circuit on July 24, 1932.

Above and below: Clemente Biondetti at the Pontedecimo-Giovi on August 24, 1930. Driving his 1928 Bugatti Type 35, which he had purchased as a used racer the previous year. He finished fourth overall.

I wanted to talk about the Italian drivers who raced Bugattis, but doing my research I found 440 names; so I decided to make a selection not starting with the usual suspects like Nuvolari, Varzi, Costantini...
So I came to some special vehicles: the Bugatti-Maseratis.

The most successful was Clemente Biondetti, the greatest Italian road racer: four Mille Miglia races – an unbeaten record – including three consecutive ones.

Biondetti was half Sardinian and half Tuscan, a tough guy. He started racing motorcycles and then in 1927 he switched to four wheels with a Salmson, in the 1100 class. In 1929 he made his debut in the top category and became a professional driver.

Two categories of people raced Bugattis:
Professionals, who perhaps couldn't find a place in the official teams but still wanted to race, and the only cars available on the market were the Bugatti 35, and wealthy gentlemen who, being able to spend enormous sums, bought a car with which they risked their lives every Sunday.

Clemente Biondetti, "the tough guy"
Biondetti belonged to the first category; in 1929, he bought a Bugatti 35 and, on his debut, finding himself ahead of Campari (of the Alfa Romeo team, who went on to win), didn't let him pass until after a long series of attempts. Campari complained, and for a long time, Biondetti couldn't overcome a sort of ostracism from the other drivers.

Biondetti with the same car at the Grand Prix of Italy, in Monza, on 24 May 1931.

In the photo of him at the Pontedecimo-Giovi (1/9/1929), the third race he competed in, it's clear that the car is not new; There are some details, such as the windshield mount, different from the standard one, a detail of the brake lever, evidently an additional one, and a mount for a second spare wheel, which allow the observer to easily find this car even in other photographs taken on different occasions. It could therefore be a car that had competed in the Targa Florio. It is a Tipo 35 from 1928, a second-hand car, but one that gave him much satisfaction: Biondetti won thirteen races with it, squeezing it to the max. At the Coppa della Consuma (12/10/1930) the following year, he took first overall.

In the photos depicting the car, you can see a strange attachment on the spare wheel, which served to attach a hood, necessary for racing in the sports category.

Biondetti with the Bugatti-Maserati hybrid 2500 at the start of the Targa Florio on May 8, 1932, where he was forced to retire.

In 1931, Biondetti also began racing with a Maserati, but he didn't completely abandon the Tipo 35; in fact, at Monza, he returned with a Bugatti.

For the following year, he considered mounting a Maserati engine on the Bugatti chassis. The chassis, in fact, lent itself to being used again and we well-know how modern these cars were in terms of roadholding—while the engine was worn out from racing and lacking power.

He therefore purchased a Maserati 26M 2500 cc eight-cylinder engine and in 1932 entered the Targa Florio with a car entered as a Bugatti-Maserati. It was the first "hybrid" created by Biondetti: with which, however, he did not have much success. The car, in fact, did not achieve any notable results in either 1932 or 1933. Biondetti, however, also built other hybrids because, unable to obtain official cars, he made do by trying to make what he found on the market more competitive.

Biondetti at the Pontedecimo-Giovi race on June 19, 1933 edition; he finished eighth.

Biondetti at the Pontedecimo-Giovi race on June 19, 1932; he finished fifth.

Gigi Premoli, the "gentleman"

Count Luigi Premoli, a gentleman driver who competed in numerous races between 1932 and 1934 at the wheel of a Bugatti Tipo 35 powered by an eight-cylinder Maserati engine; also built by Clemente Biondetti, it proved much more competitive than the one he raced, thanks also to the interventions of Premoli himself.

Gigi Premoli belongs to the second category of Bugatti drivers:
a wealthy gentleman with property in Cremona, who began racing with Salmsons, with which he became Italian champion in the 1100 class in 1931 and 1932.

A driver who, despite racing for fun, was really very fast. Having become Italian champion, he decided to race in the top category and to do so he bought a Bugatti with a Maserati engine; some say it was the same car as Biondetti, but in reality this is not the case, and the proof is in the fact that both cars were entered in four races.
Premoli's machine, about which we have more information, is very interesting.

It has the engine number 3003, as the manufacturer Maserati is indicated on the documents and it was registered to the family company. Most notable, though, is the chassis number – 4323 – which tells us that it is not just any Type 35, but the second to have been built, in 1924. (Actually, 4323 was the first, 4324 the second. Experts inform met that it is 4324 which was sold to Carlo Masetti, Giulio Masetti's brother. Editor.)

It was entered by Ettore Bugatti at the Lyon Grand Prix of 1924 (where he only placed seventh due to problems of tyres), then took part in the Grand Prix of San Sebastian (Spain) and in the winter it was sold to Giulio Masetti, who brought her to Italy and enrolled her in the Royal Prize of Rome of 1925.

After the race in Rome, in which Masetti won, he didn't give up they have more news, until it is found registered as a Maserati owned by Gigi Premoli. The car was assembled with the 3 liter engine and on its second outing it won the Sassi-Superga of 1932.

It was last seen in this configuration at the Avellino circuit in 1932. In the following Cup Ciano (31/7/1932), in fact, the machine had a accident, it was rebuilt and from this moment on regular spoked wheels were fitted.

The car ran again at Cuneo-Colle della Maddalena del 1934, where she was first overall, and then at Varese-Campo dei Fiori; in '34 she also won the Ascoli Cup and the Valsassina Cup (Lecco-Maggio).

At the end of the season Gigi Premoli, perhaps due to pressure from the family, left racing and with this retirement the story of the machines identified as Bugatti-Maserati hybrids ended.

The car was destroyed in the subsequent Coppa Ciano (July 31, 1932) and was then rebuilt in the configuration seen in this image, taken at the 1934 Cuneo-Colle della Maddalena, its final season.

Gigi Premoli's victorious debut and his Bugatti-Maserati at the Sassi-Superga on June 26, 1932. Standing next to him is Count Giovanni Lurani.

About the Author
Francesco Guasti, a passionate enthusiast and collector of classic cars in general and Bugattis in particular, founder of the "Italian Bugatti Register," was a member of the ASI Federal Council, President of FIVA, and President of the Bugatti Club Italia.