Quatre Bugatti type 40 au "Pays de la soif"

Chronique du rally transsaharien, février-mars 1930

The trans Saharan expedition, February - March 1930

by Eric Favre

Eric Favre has just written, and self published, a new book about the trans-Sahara rally from 1930. This rally must not be confused with the expedition by lt. Frédéric Loiseau, which was in 1929, though he did also take part in this rally one year later, and the cars are very similar.

Chronicle of the Trans-Saharan Rally – February–March 1930.
In February 1930, four Bugatti Type 40s set off on an extraordinary adventure: crossing the Sahara as part of a car rally organized to mark the centenary of French Algeria. Spanning a route of over 6,400 kilometers, this book allows us to relive - stage by stage - the epic journey of these cars and their crews through the heart of a Sahara that was as fascinating as it was hostile.

At the heart of the story is one specific team: that of Pierre de Laurière, a member of the Automobile Club du Périgord. From the formation of his crew to their arrival in Algiers, the reader follows a journey fraught with obstacles, the difficulties encountered on Saharan tracks, and the many challenges that both men and machines had to overcome.

Yet this book tells more than just an automotive adventure story. It invites us to step back in time and travel through the Sahara of the 1930s, taking in magnificent landscapes, grueling stages, and invaluable firsthand accounts of this extraordinary expedition.

The book also offers a historical and technical overview of the Bugatti Type 40, providing a deeper understanding of the car itself and the reasons behind its participation in such an undertaking.

Richly illustrated with 250 photographs, factory blueprints, and previously unpublished period documents, *Quatre Bugatti Type 40 au "Pays de la soif"* (Four Bugatti Type 40s in the "Land of Thirst") is at once a historical chronicle, an adventure story, and an invitation to travel. It is a book for enthusiasts of Bugattis, vintage cars, history, and travel—as well as for anyone wishing to discover one of the most remarkable automotive adventures of the interwar period.

The book is in French and English
Price: €70 plus shipping cost.

For further information and to order: favreric@aol.com

Review

I had no idea that there had been, one year after the famous expedition by Col. Loiseau, about which he himself wrote a book, another team of, also 4 Bugatti Type 40's in a gruesome rally in Africa.

There are again loads of photographs, some technical drawings and information about the whole rally (the Bugatti team run by amateurs finished 3rd, behind two factory teams), as well as a history of trans-Saharan expeditions before 1929.

The quality of the book, the text and photographs, is what we have come to admire in Favre's books.

Below some photographs from the book, below that a list of his books on Bugatti.

Books by Eric Favre:

• 2026: Automotrices Bugatti New cheaper version without slipcase
• 2024: De la légende au mythe - 1921-1924, The first 8-cylinder Bugatti chassis
• 2020: Automotrices Bugatti
• 2017: Bugatti et Delage à la conquête de l'Europe - Lyon, 3 août 1924, XIXème Grand Prix de l'A.C.F