Bugatti often gets short shrift from the perspective of 20 - 20 hindsight 
75 or 90 years after the fact.  Some of his creations such as the 
U configuration aero-engine design sold to the USA during WW1 are sometimes
referred to as though they were boondoggles.  In fact, for the time, the work 
usually holds up very well in comparison to anything else from the era.  
That engine was impoved and manufactured by Duesenberg, for which project 
Harry Miller was engaged by the government as a carburetion expert, and 
brought along his chief machinist Fred Offenhauser. The mind boggles at
such a fortuitous confluence of talent, which then used the experience to
create Duesneberg OHC engines, Miller Racing cars, & eventually Offenhauser 
engines.  Some time in the 1920's  a pair of Millers were sent to race in 
Europe and swept all before them.  Engines which perhaps had been inspired 
by Bugatti design were now so superior that Bugatti arranged to buy the Euro 
cars so he could copy them back! Bugatti's racing record, never yet equaled, 
stands for itself.  But the legacy of the mechanical design work is often less
well recognized.  The past couple weeks were a serendiptous connection with 
a number of Bugatti creations.  First at the Vintage races at the local Watkins
Glen track where the marque was featured this year.  Then at the EAA Museum
in Oshkosh where the Bugatti airplane has been restored.  And finally at the 
Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn where there is a rare Bugatti U type 
airplane engine, a result of the project that connected all the dots in the 
early 20th century.