The Name Bugatti Should Have Chosen For Their Next Car

Today, Bugatti has confirmed the name Chiron for its next hypercar, which is named after Louis Chiron, who has won multiple Grand Prix in the late Twenties and late Thirties of the previous century. He was also also the oldest driver who has ever taken part in a Formula One Grand Prix; in his last F1 race, the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, he was 58-years-old.

However…

There is one thing I will remember carmrade Chiron for, as cited on Wikipedia.

Carmrade Chiron

When racing resumed after the War, Chiron made a comeback and drove a Talbot-Lago to victory in two French Grand Prix races. In 1949, the first Monte Carlo Rally after World War II took place and a large celebration party was given in Monaco. In what is now regarded as one of the black moments of Chiron’s life, at the party, in front of numerous race organisers, race drivers, and celebrities, Chiron denounced the female driver Hellé Nice by declaring that she had been an agent of the Gestapo during the war. (This has an ironic cast, in that the lure of a superior car led Chiron to lend his skill to the Mercedes-Benz team, which the Nazis were using as an object of propaganda for their philosophy of racial superiority, at a time when his Jewish colleague and rival René Dreyfus could not). His unsubstantiated allegation destroyed Nice’s life and she would be shunned by all, dying in abject poverty.*

Not really carmrade-esque of him, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Hellé Nice

Could Bugatti have named its next car after Hellé Nice (born Mariette Hélène Delangle)? Yes, they could have, since Miss Nice participated in various Grand Prix in Bugattis herself, and she was a friend of Ettore Bugatti.

Making Racing Sexy Before It Was Mainstream

Hellé died in such poverty, that she was buried in an unmarked grave. Luckily, the Hellé Nice Foundation was founded in 2008 and gathered enough money for a marker on her grave in 2010.

Hellé Nice Marker

For carmrades who want to know more, there is a book with the appropriate title: The Bugatti Queen

For mobile readers like me you can find it on Google Books and iBooks.

Part of the book’s revenue was used to fund the Hellé Nice Foundation. Side note: Bugatti (or VW) did not contribute, apart from the American Bugatti Club.