the respective departure of Gandini and Stanzani. The role of technical director was filled by Nicola Materazzi, who had a vast experience of working with Lancia, Ferrari and Cagiva, and had been Chief Engineer for the Stratos GR5, GTO Evoluzione, F40 and C589. One of the first tasks for Materazzi was that of improving the chassis torsional stiffness because the aluminium honeycomb prototype chassis were losing a fifth of their torsional stiffness after 30,000 test km and the test drivers were noticing poor vehicle handling. A new carbon fibre chassis was developed and supplied by Aerospatiale, giving the car the stiffness it needed to achieve its performance targets. Materazzi also brought his engines experience to fix the problems which were affecting the engine's durability on the dynamometers (excessive friction between titanium con-rods in contact). He then moved on to re-calculating the front to rear torque distribution. Test drivers Jean-Philippe Vittecoq and Loris Bicocchi stated that the cars were understeering too much so Materazzi altered the torque distribution from 40:60 to 27:73 and the drivers were satisfied with the handling improvement. The car had many innovative technologies that were scarcely used by the automotive industry at the time of its introduction such as a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, active aerodynamics, quad turbocharging (two per cylinder bank) and an all-wheel-drive system for better handling, the latter two being deemed by chief engineer Materazzi as "to tangle a doddle with a trifle". The design elements of the car paid homage to the distinctive Bugatti automobiles of the past. The name EB 110 is an abbreviation for the company's founder, Ettore Bugatti and his 110th birthday. Unveiling and company financial difficulties The Bugatti EB 110 GT was unveiled on 15 September 1991, at both Versailles and in front of the Grande Arche de la Défense, near Paris, exactly 110 years after Ettore Bugatti's birth. A lighter and more powerful variant with called the EB 110 Super Sport was introduced at the 1992 Geneva Motor Show just six months after the introduction of the EB 110 GT. The Super Sport variant was lighter than the GT by which was achieved by the use of carbon-fibre body panels on the exterior and in the interior. The Super Sport could attain a top speed of and could accelerate from in 3.2 seconds. Early in 1994, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher purchased a yellow EB 110 Super Sport,