At the Geneva Salon in March 1992, Bugatti presented an
alternative version of their EB110 that was lighter, more powerful and much more
competition-oriented than the relatively luxurious GT. Designated the EB110 SS
(for Super Sport), Bugatti managed to trim over 150kg from the GT by deleting
many unnecessary luxuries, removing the full time four-wheel drive system and
instead opting for a lighter, simpler rear drive set up. However, at 1410kg, the
Super Sport was still a relatively heavy machine for a stripped out lightweight
with a carbon tub.
Realizing this, Bugatti also focused on increasing power.
Retaining the same 3499cc displacement as the GT, they increased the turbo boost
to produce 612bhp at 8250rpm. Compression was dropped to 7.5:1 (from 8.0:1) and
thus, despite not having four wheel drive, the SS could sprint to sixty in a
stunning 3.2 seconds and run to a top speed of 217mph. Aesthetically, the SS was
distinguishable thanks to a number of detail differences, most notably its fixed
rear wing (completed in two slightly different styles) and distinctive sail
panel treatment with seven supplementary engine cooling louvres. Furthermore,
all Super Sport's were finished with more attractive seven spoke alloy wheels
and a body colour-coded pillar located behind each side window (this was
normally gloss black for GT's). The cabin was partially stripped and featured a
dash with aluminium facia and leather trimmed bucket seats with harnesses. Going
into production in late 1992, on the rare occasions that members of the press
ever got to drive an SS, they enthused about its awesome performance and hailed
it one of the finest supercars ever built. Production ended along with the GT
during the summer of 1995, only 31 examples having been completed, one of which
was for Michael Schumacher and featured an all-carbon body. Five partially
completed cars were later built up by Jochen Dauer.
