B Engineering Edonis: Born from the Ashes of Bugatti

The story of the B Engineering Edonis is one of the most fascinating tales of automotive reincarnation. To understand the Edonis, you must first understand the spectacular rise and fall of Romano Artioli’s Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. in the 1990s.

When the Italian iteration of Bugatti went bankrupt in 1995, the massive, state-of-the-art factory in Campogalliano was abandoned. Left behind were the unfinished carbon-fiber chassis and engines of the legendary Bugatti EB110.

A group of former Bugatti engineers, led by Nicola Materazzi (the “father of the Ferrari F40” and chief engineer of the EB110) and Federico Trombi, decided that the brilliant engineering of the EB110 should not go to waste. They formed a new company called B Engineering, purchased the remaining EB110 carbon-fiber tubs from the bankruptcy administrators, and set out to build the ultimate hypercar for the 21st century.

The Design: Form Dictated by Speed

Unveiled on January 1, 2001 (hence the name Edonis, derived from the Greek word for “pleasure,” intending to represent the ultimate pleasure of driving in the new millennium), the car looked absolutely nothing like the Bugatti EB110 it was based upon.

The exterior design was penned by Marc Deschamps. The brief was simple: create a shape capable of exceeding 360 km/h (224 mph) while maintaining absolute high-speed stability.

The Edonis is aggressively styled, defined by massive, gaping air intakes at the front and along the flanks. The headlights are tiny, projector-style units mounted low on the nose. The entire body was constructed from hand-beaten aluminum (rather than the carbon fiber or Kevlar of its contemporaries) to save development costs and allow for easier modifications.

The aerodynamic profile was incredibly efficient, prioritizing low drag and high-speed downforce, culminating in a prominent, integrated rear spoiler and a massive rear diffuser.

The Heart: Re-engineering the Bugatti V12

While the Edonis used the carbon-fiber central tub of the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, the powertrain was fundamentally altered to shed weight and increase power.

The original Bugatti engine was a 3.5-liter V12 featuring four small turbochargers. Materazzi and his team felt this setup was too complex and heavy.

• Increased Displacement: They bored out the cylinders, increasing the engine displacement from 3.5 liters to 3.7 liters (3,760 cc).
• Twin-Turbos: They removed the four small IHI turbochargers and replaced them with two massive IHI turbochargers.

This simplified the plumbing, reduced weight, and allowed for much higher boost pressures. The resulting output was staggering: 715 PS (705 hp) at 8,000 rpm and 889 Nm (656 lb-ft) of torque. At the time of its unveiling in 2001, this made the Edonis significantly more powerful than the McLaren F1 or the Lamborghini Murciélago.

Rear-Wheel Drive Purity

The other major structural change the B Engineering team made to the EB110 platform involved the drivetrain. The Bugatti was famous for its advanced, heavy all-wheel-drive system.

To save roughly 70 kg (154 lbs) of weight and deliver a purer, more terrifying driving experience, the B Engineering team stripped out the front driveshaft and front differential. The Edonis was strictly rear-wheel drive.

Power was sent to the massive rear Michelin PAX tires (the same run-flat technology later used on the Veyron) via a 6-speed manual transaxle.

The combination of the carbon-fiber tub, aluminum body, and rear-wheel-drive layout resulted in a dry weight of just 1,300 kg (2,866 lbs).

The Nardò Top Speed Run

The performance figures of the Edonis were hypercar-grade. It could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds. Because it was rear-wheel drive and lacked traction control, launching the car was incredibly difficult, explaining the relatively modest 0-100 time compared to modern all-wheel-drive cars.

However, its true strength was top-end speed. To prove its capabilities, B Engineering took the Edonis to the Nardò Ring in Italy. The car officially clocked a top speed of 359.6 km/h (223.4 mph). The engineers claimed that on a perfectly straight runway (like Ehra-Lessien), the car was aerodynamically capable of 365 km/h (227 mph).

The Rarity of the Edonis

B Engineering originally planned to build 21 examples of the Edonis (representing the 21st century). However, securing funding proved extremely difficult. It is widely believed that only two fully functional Edonis cars were ever completed.

In recent years, the American firm Casil Motors purchased the rights to the Edonis and the remaining unused Bugatti chassis, announcing plans to finally complete the production run as the “SP-110 Edonis Fenice,” though the project remains shrouded in mystery.

The B Engineering Edonis is a spectacular footnote in hypercar history. It is the ultimate “what if” machine—a testament to the brilliance of the EB110 chassis and the relentless pursuit of speed by the engineers who refused to let their creation die.