Ettore Bugatti was an innovator in many, many areas of automobile design and construction, as well as more generalized engineering pursuits.
Just one example: Because head gaskets were a failure point, his engines had none; the head and block were machined from a solid block. As was the crankshaft of course! Carving a hemispherical combustion chamber, valve seats, and so on into the far end of a cylinder bore required a great deal of invention in the area of machining.
The Type 35 won over 1000 races, in fact it is still winning vintage classes today. Alloy wheels in 1925!
