The Bugatti Type 35 family was one of the most successful racing car dynasties in the history of motorsport, winning over 1,000 races during its production run and claiming the Grand Prix World Championship in 1926. Ettore Bugatti, despite a noted personal disdain for supercharging, progressively introduced forced induction across several variants as competition demanded ever-greater power outputs.
The Type 35B grew directly from two earlier experiments. The Type 35T had introduced a longer-stroke 2,262 cc engine — displacing beyond the 2.0-litre Formula limit to compete specifically at the Targa Florio — while the Type 35C had proven that Roots supercharging was effective on the standard 2.0-litre unit. The Type 35B married these two developments: the 2.3-litre engine of the 35T paired with a large Roots-type supercharger, creating the most potent configuration in the 35 family.
The Type 35B used the 2,262 cc overhead-cam straight-eight engine derived from the Type 35T, featuring a stroke of 100 mm against the standard 60 mm bore. The addition of a large supercharger boosted output to approximately 138 bhp (103 kW), making it the most powerful of the Type 35 variants.
In exchange for raw power, the Type 35B traded some of the high-revving characteristics of its siblings. Compared to the Type 35C, the B produced more torque at lower engine speeds but did not rev as freely, and fuel consumption at racing pace was considerably higher. These drawbacks ultimately led the factory to continue preferring the Type 35C for many events, and the Type 35B was produced in smaller numbers — approximately 37 examples left the Molsheim works.
Like all Type 35 variants, the car featured the family's signature hollow front axle for reduced unsprung weight, alloy wheels (a novelty for the era), cable-operated drum brakes, and the distinctive egg-shaped radiator that made Bugattis instantly recognisable in the paddock and on circuit.
The Type 35B's most celebrated victory came at the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix on 14 April 1929. A British Racing Green example driven by William Grover-Williams took the win at the first running of what would become one of motorsport's most prestigious events. Grover-Williams, a British-born driver who raced under the French flag, guided the supercharged 2.3-litre Bugatti through the streets of Monte Carlo to claim a historically significant victory — the Monaco Grand Prix's very first winner, in the most powerful car Bugatti had built to that point.
The Type 35 family as a whole was a dominant force in European Grand Prix racing throughout the late 1920s, with Bugatti winning the Targa Florio for five consecutive years from 1925 to 1929 using various members of the 35 family. The Type 35B's enlarged, supercharged engine made it particularly suited to longer, less regulation-bound events where the fuel consumption penalty was manageable and outright power was at a premium.
The Type 35B's role in winning the first Monaco Grand Prix cements its place in motorsport history. The Monaco Grand Prix later became a fixture of the Formula One World Championship and one of the most glamorous events on the racing calendar; the Type 35B was there at its birth.
The relatively small production run of around 37 examples makes surviving Type 35B cars among the most sought-after and valuable pre-war racing machinery. Their combination of aesthetic purity — the hallmark of all Type 35 models — and maximum performance from the Bugatti straight-eight makes them objects of enduring fascination for collectors and historians.
The broader Type 35 family, of which the 35B is the most powerful expression, pioneered the concept of a holistically conceived, race-ready car available for purchase by privateers, shaping how subsequent manufacturers approached the amateur racing market. At its peak, the Type 35 family was averaging 14 race wins per week across European events.