Tag Archives: maserati

Faster Than Enzo – Maserati MC12 Stradale

The Maserati MC12 Stradale is the road going variant of the Maserati MC12 Competizione which successfully took Maserati back to the race tracks on the FIA GT Circuit in 2005.

Maserati MC12 Stradale, Desert Classics Concours d'Elegance,

Sharing a chassis, modified motor, running gear and windscreen with the Enzo Ferrari the rest of the body was originally conceived by Giorgetto Giugiaro and stylised with the aid of a wind tunnel by Frank Stephenson.

Maserati MC12 Stradale, Desert Classics Concours d'Elegance,

The two batches of 25 MC12 Stradales built in 2004 and 2005 were only delivered in white and blue, sans radio or even anywhere to fit an after market one, a nod to the exploits of the American Lloyd Perry ‘Lucky’ Casner’s Camoradi team.

Maserati MC12 Stradale, Desert Classics Concours d'Elegance,

In two separate road tests at Dunsfold Aerodrome and on the Nurburgring MC12’s proved to be quicker than the Enzo Ferrari that spawned it. I believe the example seen here in Geoffrey Horton’s photograph’s, taken at last years Desert Classic’s Concours d’Elegance, is one of those built in the 2005 batch.

It appears to belong to the The Riverside International Automotive Museum a non profit corporation run by Ray and Doug Margon dedicated to “Preserving the memory of California’s rich motorsports heritage” which also houses a collection that includes one example of every road going Maserati sold in the US since 1951.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Faster Than Enzo” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an early Renault. Don’t forget to come back now !

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All Who Joy Would Win – Maserati Barchetta #THB CMT*LLC*

The origins of today’s featured Maserati Barchetta lie in the still born 1990 Maserati Chubasco concept car which was to feature a back bone chassis of the type favoured by the marques then owner Alejandro de Tomaso.

Maserati Barchetta, Siverstone Classic

Unlike the Marcello Gandini styled Chubasco Coupé the Barchetta was conceived as an uncompromising track and race car designed to appeal to Caterham Seven drivers in search of something a tad more exotic.

Maserati Barchetta, Siverstone Classic

The Barchetta is powered by a 2 litre / 122 cui twin turbocharged 24 valve four over head cam V6 which produces over 300hp.

Maserati Barchetta, Siverstone Classic

The Grantrofeo Monomarca Barchetta Maserati race series was devised for these cars in 1992 which included 6 races all in Italy, the following year the series was expanded to include ten races which included visiting The Netherlands and Denmark, the latter in deference to the Danish High Class racing team who ran up to three cars in the series.

Maserati Barchetta, Siverstone Classic

Today’s featured 1992 chassis #THB CMT*LLC* appears to have been run by the factory team in 1993 for drivers; Giorgio Cipolli, 3rd at Misano, Beppe Schenetti, 3rd at Mugello, Robert Pferdmenges 3rd at Monza, Cor Euser, 3rd at Zandvoort, Beppe Schenetti again, 2nd at Mugello, Thorkild Thyrring, winner at Jyllandsringen, Tobiar Hagenmeier, 7th at Magione and Antonio Tamburini who finished 2nd at Monza.

Maserati Barchetta, Siverstone Classic

In 1993 FIAT bought out de Tomaso’s controlling 51% share of Maserati and canned the Barchetta with just 17 cars built.

#LLC* seen in these photographs at Silverstone Classic, was acquired by High Class racing after the 1993 season, but never raced by them. More recently the car has been owned by the preeminent academic, on the works of romantic poet Lord Byron, Sir James Drummond Bone who sold the last year to a new owner in Germany.

Thanks for joining me on this “All Who Joy Would Win” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Peugeot. Don’t forget to come back now !

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It’s Primal – Maserati 3500 GT #101.686

When he was 24 Francis G Mandorano had the opportunity to visit the Ferrari and Maserati factories in Italy where he got the Maserati Bug.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

A couple of years later he bought his first Maserati red 3500 GT

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

Francis the owner of today’s featured 1959 Maserati 3500 GT chassis #101.686, describes himself as a one trick pony, his passion is for Maserati 3500 GT’s of which he now has several.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

#101.686 is believed to be one of five cars sold in Mexico City.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

In 2002 the third owner of 101.686 Sam Bardor sent the six cylinder engine sent to Mr Maserati Ken Doughtery for a $25,000 rebuild.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

With 220hp coming from the all aluminium straight six engine Frank reckons he can get up to 26 mpg on the highway from this car which he calls “The Latina”.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

The car is still in it’s factory Bianco Neve colour and has a red leather interior with plenty of room for the long legged driver.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

Francis bought #101.686 in 2011 and had it fully restored to it’s present condition.

Maserati 3500 GT, The Desert Classic, Palm Springs,

He says of the car “It’s really a work of art” going on to say that his favourite part of the car is the noise concluding “when you have it on stainless steel exhaust and it’s tuned properly it’s primal”, which you can enjoy a little of on this link.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs taken at the Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance, Palm Springs, a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “It’s Primal” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Peugeot. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Last New 4.5 Litre – OSCA 4500G

Ten years after selling the company bearing their name to Adolfo Orsi in 1937, and remaining for those ten years as employees of the company, the Maserati brothers founded Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili – Fratelli Maserati SpA better known as O.S.C.A in 1947.

Towards the beginning of the 1951 Grand Prix season Prince Bira had one of his three year old Maserati 4CLT/48’s fitted with a new 4.5 litre OSCA 60º V12 motor that produced 330hp to replace the regular 1.5 litre 4 cylinder supercharged motor.

OSCA 4500G,  Stephan Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic,

The Prince recorded a debut win with the new motor in the Richmond Trophy at Goodwood and raced with it on at least four further occasions scoring a best 4th in the 1951 Bordeaux Grand Prix concluding his season with a retirement from the 1951 World Drivers Championship Spanish Grand Prix after completing just 1 lap with engine failure.

OSCA 4500G,  Stephan Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic,

A little over a month before the Spanish Grand Prix O.S.C.A turned out with their own Formula One challenger, today’s featured 4500G powered by the same type of alloy block V12 as they had supplied to Bira.

Franco Rol qualified 18th of the 21 starters for the 1951 Italian Grand Prix and completed all but 13 laps of the full distance to be the last classified finisher, in a career high, 9th place.

OSCA 4500G,  Stephan Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic,

In the absence of sufficient commitment from manufacturers to continue with the 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui / supercharged / 4.5 / 274.5 cui litre normally aspirated Formula One powered cars, the 1952 and ’53 World Drivers Championships were decided by running the series for 2 litre / 122 cui Formula Two cars.

Consequently the last all new type to appear in the 1951 Formula One championship season and the only car built specifically to compete in Formula One races by the Maserati brothers remains the OSCA 4500G seen in these photographs at last years Silverstone Classic being driven by Stephan Rettenmaier.

Thanks for joining me on this “Last New 4.5 Litre” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Brazil’s Man In Switzerland – Maserati 6CM #1558

In 1937 Milanese Lancia dealer “Libeccio” Eugenio Minetti with fellow racing drivers Giovanni Lurani, Luigi Villoresi and Franco Cortese founded Scuderia Ambrosiana and remained the teams president until 1949.

Maserati 6CM, Silverstone Classic

The following year Baron Manuel de Teffé von Hoonholtz followed his father into the Brazilian diplomatic corps and was posted to the Brazilian consulate in Switzerland.

Maserati 6CM, Silverstone Classic

The Baron better known as Manuel de Teffé was invited to drive a 1938 Maserati 6CM in it’s Brazilian national colours alongside the two other Scuderia Ambrosina 6CM’s by Count Giovanni Lurani.

Maserati 6CM, Urs Muller, Silverstone Classic

Manuel is recorded as having made 6 European starts in the 6CM during 1938 finishing four of the events with a best 5th place in the Voiturette Prix de Bern run on the Bremgarten circuit.

Maserati 6CM, Silverstone Classic

From 1939 to ’41 Manuel raced his Maserati 6CM in South America, with five starts recorded in Brazil and one in Argentina, of those he won at; II Circuito da Gávea Nacional and Subida da Tijuca both of which ran in Brazil.

Maserati 6CM, Silverstone Classic

Subsequently his car was sold to British expatriate in Argentina Eric Forest-Greene who recorded a sixth place finish in the 1941 Buenos Aires Grand Prix with the car.

Maserati 6CM, Silverstone Classic

Switzerlands Urs Muller is seen at the wheel of chassis #1558 in Brazilian colours during practice for the recent Maserati Centenary race at Silverstone Classic, voiturette expert Adam Ferrington assures me that #1558 is not the car driven in period by Manuel de Teffé.

Thanks for joining me on this “Brazil’s Man In Switzerland” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Not Quite A GT – Ligier Cosworth JS2 #2379 72 03

In 1970 former international rugby player and construction magnate Guy Ligier set about founding a sports car manufacturing company bearing his own name.

The original production model was to be the JS2 with a chassis designed by Michel Tetu, who would later be part of the Renault Le Mans and Formula One campaigns and a body designed by Pietro Frua.

The JS2 was originally intended to be powered by a 2.6 litre / 158 cui Ford Cologne V6 but that had to be changed to the 3 litre / 183 cui Maserati V6 as used in the Merak and Citroën SM, when Ford thought it might build a rival in the form of the Ford GT70.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Production of the JS2 never reached sufficient numbers for the sporting authorities to consider the car for GT racing so instead racing versions were run as prototypes.

The racing JS2’s were built with aluminium chassis and raced with Maserati V6 engines which proved a tad underpowered and unreliable, although the teams perseverance was rewarded with a victory in the 1974 Le Mans 4 hour race for Guy Chasseuil and in the 1974 Tour de France Automobile where Gérard Larrousse, Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Johnny Rives drove the winning JS2.

A second place finish for today’s featured chassis #2379 72 03 driven by Bernard Darniche and Jacques Jaubert emphasised the team’s mastery of the 1974 mixed discipline event.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

With new sponsorship from Gitanes for 1975 Ligier exploited the Prototype regulations more fully by producing a silhouette JS2 body and fitting more powerful Ford Cosworth DFV motors to two of his three JS2 racing cars including today’s featured chassis.

The two DFV powered JS2s were sent to Mugello and Dijon netting a 7th for Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jean-Pierre Jarier at the former and 6th for François Migault and Jean-Pierre Jarier at the latter.

Perhaps mindful of wanting to preserve their machinery for Le Mans only single car entries were sent to Monza and Spa where Beltoise and Jarrier finished 21st from 7th on the grid and François Migault and Jean-Louis Lafosse finished 12th from 5th on the grid respectively.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

At Le Mans the two DFV powered JS2’s were joined by a third Maserati powered JS2 the latter to be driven by Beltoise and Jarier.

Unsurprisingly the Maserati was slowest of the three starting from 9th it was also the first of the three to retire after an accident.

Today’s featured car driven by Henri Pescarolo and François Migault qualified 5th but retired later in the race with a puncture.

The second DFV powered JS2 driven by Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil qualified an impressive 3rd and survived to finish second only one lap down behind the Gulf GR8 shared by Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx.

After Le Mans 1975 Ligier retired from sports car racing in preparation for it Gitanes sponsored appearance in Formula One the following season.

Thanks for joining me on this “Not Quite A GT” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be paying a visit to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Silver Jubilee – Silverstone Classic

A couple of weeks ago I popped along to the Silverstone Classic Press Day to find out what will be happening at this years event that will be held on the 24th, 25th and 26th of July.

Benetton, Bentley, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

This years event will see Silverstone Classic celebrating it’s own Silver Jubilee and a programme of races and demonstrations which will include prewar sports cars like the 1928 4 1/2 Litre Bentley driven by Clive Morley and Duncan Wiltshire and demonstrations by early 1990’s Formula One cars like Lorina McLaughlin’s ex Micheal Schumacher championship winning Benetton B192.

Silver Sunday, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

One of the highlights of this years Silverstone Classic will be a parade for silver coloured cars of any age on “Silver Sunday“, might be tempted to enter my Golf IV for that one.

Maserati Quattroporte V, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Porsche, Maserati and Caterham Cars are official partners of this years event with Maserati having the honour of supplying the official pace car a Maserati Quattroporte V.

Lister Jaguar Continuation, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Above the first of the ten 2015 Continuation Knobbly Lister Jaguars is seen testing, this 1958 designed car is fully FIA compliant and should be taking part in the Stirling Moss Trophy for pre 1961 Sports Cars, I believe Stephen Bond may be the lucky owner of this one.

Alexis HF1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Duncan Ragabliati holds the distinction of being the only driver to have competed in every Silverstone Classic since 1990 driving his 1959 #7 Alexis HL1 Formula Junior car seen above.

John Denis, Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

During the course of the day I took the opportunity of going on a couple of rides around the track, firstly aboard John Denis’s Curtiss OX5 V8 powered 1907 Berliet which was seriously sensational while sitting over three feet up with no windscreen when pulling all of 1,400 revs, fourteen hundred, hanginig onto a grab handle behind the drivers seat, on the Hangar Straight.

Talbot 105, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Equally sensational was Nicholas Pellet’s 1931 Talbot 105 team car which finished 3rd in the 1932 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, the cornering abilities of this car on the smooth Silverstone circuit have to be experienced to be believed.

VW Type 2, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Along with three days of on track entertainment Silverstone Classic will be hosting live performances from Paul Young, Status Quo with tribute perfomances by Fleetwood Bacs and The ZZ Tops, in what promises to be the most full on advance ticket only Silverstone Classic yet.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Silver Jubilee’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Geoffrey Horton’s first concours d’elegance of the year. Don’t forget to come back now !

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