Bob, I agree with your approach, but this is really up to Jim, and I am thinking that he is leaning more towards authenticity in appearance than building a 'hot rod', but performance is also in his thinking. The current design of this Bugatti has a suitable strong front firewall, but the long doors and the fact that it is a four passenger convertible makes some of those ideas a little more difficult to achieve. Looking at some of the pictures already posted will show that Bugatti approached this by some VERY sturdy frame rails. I am just a 'helper' at best in this project, and my aim is to assist Jim achieve whatever he is interested in achieving. The large and VERY rigid motor and its mounting, along with the very strong firewall, rear motor mounts and the kick out at the front would seem to do a good job forward, but the fact that this car uses quite heavy quarter elliptical rear springs mounted clear to the rearmost corners of the chassis would seem to detract from the ability to corner, but it sure adds to the distance between suspension mountings providing smoother ride characteristics. The body is mounted by only four small mounting points and that does little to add to torsional rigidity.
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Will
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