Tag Archives: Mathieson

Widengren’s Double Twelve – Maserati 26M

While looking for information about last weeks featured Maserati 8C 3000 I stumbled across some information about the Maserati 26M I featured early on in this run of Maserati Monday posts.

This cars known history starts with an almost unknown Swedish department store heir Henken Widengren, who bought the two seat bodied car with a 100hp Tipo 26C spec supercharged 1078 cc / 65.7 cui 8 cylinder motor.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Henkens best result from three races was a 19th place finish with Richard Oats in the 1931 Double Twelve at Brooklands. After a brief spell during which this car was raced by Lindsey Eccles in 1932 the car found it’s way into the hands of RJW ‘John’ Appleton who embarked on a programme of development that would last until nearly the turn of the millennium.

Appelton almost immediately disposed of the motor and gearbox replacing them with a Riley Nine 4 cylinder motor and ENV pre selector gearbox taken from an MG Magnette.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The shorter motor allowed Appleton to reduce the wheel base and chassis length by a foot which was also reflected in the shortened Maserati bonnet. After fitting a super charger the Maserati Riley with Applton at the wheel immediately won it’s class in the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb and shortly after it’s 2 bearing crankshaft broke.

During the winter of 1935 the Maserati Riley morphed into the Appleton Riley as RJW set about dismantling the frame lightening it and fitting new narrower cross members and a completely new single seat body.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Engine modifications including fitting a 3 bearing crankshaft to the Riley Nine motor brought the power up to 120hp which facilitated two successful seasons competition that included further class victories at Shelsley Walsh, a victory in a short handicap race at Brooklands, new class lap record of the Brooklands ‘Mountain’ circuit and standing start class records over 1 km and 1 mile.

In 1937 a bronze head with special valve gear was fitted and fetlled by AF Ashby while the Zoller supercharger was replaced with an Arnott item running at 27 psi taking the power output up to 160 hp. To help the car stop more effectively larger steel lined Elektron drum were fitted and to improve the handling a new rear suspension with transverse friction dampers was devised.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

With a lighter and slimmer body, increasingly resembling the Mercedes 125 Grand Prix cars, the 130 mph Appleton Special was driven to further success at Brooklands, Chrystal Palace and the Poole Speed Trials up until 1939.

After 1945 Appleton detuned his special, using a Roots supercharger and reduced boost pressure the power output fell to a modest 135hp, enough to win it’s class at Shelsley in 1946.
In 1948 the supercharger drive split and plans were made for the 1931 Maserati beam axles to be replaced with fully independent suspension but the car was sold before the drive was repaired or the suspension fabricated in the early 1950’s.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

From 1963 to 1964 F Baker with help from RJW drove the Appleton Special now fitted with a normally aspirated 1500 cc / 91.5 cui Riley 12/4 motor that had 4 Amal carburetors to facilitate fuel flow.

Ownership then passed to Alan Wragg in the early 1970’s and thence by 1974 to Colin Warrington who fitted a supercharger to the 12/4 motor.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Since 1978 the Appleton Special has belonged to the Majzub family and up until the turn of the millennium Julian Majzub competed with it in VSCC events.

Sometime after the millennium the Appleton Special was taken apart and the shortened 1931 Maserati chassis rails and 1931 axles were combined with other Maserati parts to build the 26M featured today seen at Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

Maserati 26M, Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Widengren’s original Maserati body was of course chopped about by Appleton and is thought to have long since ceased to exist. However the discarded modified Maserati 2 seat body, which T.A.S.O. Mathieson and Mike Oliver had converted for road use by 1947, from the Louwman Museum’s ex Birkin 8C 3000 chassis was acquired from Cameron Miller and is believed to have been fitted to this car.

It should be noted that the Tipo 26C, 26M and 8C 3000 all shared the same basic chassis design with the major differences being the size of the 8 cylinders motors fitted.

Today’s featured car is fitted with a just under 2.8 litre / 170 cui 8 cylinder Maserati motor, over twice the size of the Tipo 26C 1078 cc / 65.7 cui 8 cylinder motor that Henken Widengren was supplied with.

My thanks to all those on various The Nostalgia Forum threads mentioning the Appleton Special who have unwittingly contributed to my understanding of the story behind today’s featured car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Widengren & Appleton” edition of “Gettin’ A Li’l Psycho On Tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some French cars that took part in the recent Chipping Sodbury Classic Run. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Fatal Exhaust – Maserati 8C 3000 #3002

After Alfieri Maserati’s death in March 1932 the remaining Maserati brothers continued to develop his new 3 litre / 183 cui supercharged straight eight motor. Before the end of 1932 Maserati had fitted a 220hp version of the new motor to an 8C chassis #3001 for Luigi Fagioli to drive in the Czechoslovak Grand Prix at Brno where he finished second to Louis Chiron in his Bugatti T51.

Maserati 8C 3000, Goodwood Festival of Speed

With the financial collapse of Bentley in 1931 the Bentley Boys were struggling to find British built vehicles in which to race. A second Maserati 8C chassis #3002, seen here at Goodwood, was bought by former Bentley Boy and 1928 Le Mans winner Bernard Rubin for fellow Bentley Boy and 1929 Le Mans winner Sir Henry Ralph Stanley ‘Tim’ Birkin to drive in the 1933 season.

Maserati 8C 3000, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Unfortunately ‘Tim’ only got to drive #3002 once in the infamous 1933 Tripoli Grand Prix, a race which is best remembered for a story surrounding a legal syndicate which comprised three lottery ticket holders and three drivers who agreed to divide up various prize monies on offer equally in the event that one or more of the syndicate drivers won, came second, third or any conceivable combination thereof.

Maserati 8C 3000, Berend, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Of course being described by W.O. Bentley to be “the greatest Briton of his time” ‘Tim’ would have nothing to do with the syndicate and intended to do his best to ensure they did not get their result and led the opening four laps of the race. On lap 16 ‘Tim’ pitted which, due to his inexperienced pit team, is said to have cost him more time than his rivals and in particular syndicate members Archi Varzi, who did not need to stop and Tazio Nuvolari who did.

Maserati 8C 3000, Berend, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Some sources say it was during this pit stop that ‘Tim’ accidentally burnt his arm on the exhaust of his car, others say it was during practice earlier in the event, but either way ‘Tim’ continued to finish third, 1 and half minuets, behind Archi and Tazio in that order, the same order to which both are alleged to have agreed on the flip of a coin on the morning of the race.

Maserati 8C 3000, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Tragically the burn ‘Tim’ had suffered from the exhaust turned septic and that in combination with his malarial condition put him in hospital six days after the race and five weeks later Britain lost one of it’s most popular and able drivers.

Maserati 8C 3000, Goodwood Festival of Speed

#3002 was driven in 1934 by Hon. Brian Lewis for Noel Rees at Brooklands where it came second in the International trophy to another Maserati driven by Whitney Straight with both cars sharing the lap record.

Maserati 8C 3000, Berend, Goodwood Festival of Speed

By 1937, following a string of ever less competitive performances with a variety of drivers #3002 was retired only for it have a post ’39-’45 war career, starting in 1946 when first Dudley Froy drove the car in the Easter ’46 VSCC Elstree speed trials.

Maserati 8C 3000, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Next future legendary Aston Martin, Ford GT40 and Gulf Racing manager John Wyer prepared #3002 for T.A.S.O. Mathieson drive in some of the earliest post war French races at Bois du Boulogne, St Cloud, where finished a best 5th and GP du Rousillon, where TASO recorded a 6th place finish.

TASO then started converting the 220hp car for road use and registered her for use on the kings highway, but sold her on in 1947 to Mike Oliver before the job was complete.

Once Mike had finished the conversion to road spec he drove #3002 to a seventh place finish in the ’48 Luton Hoo sprint.
Later in 1948 new owner Squadron Leader John Crampton DFC continued competing with the car at the Prescott and Shelsey hillclimbs along with the Brighton Speed trials and at Goodwood up until 1949.

The car was subsequently rebuilt, still in road going trim, by Alan Southon of the Phoenix Green Garage at Hartley Wintney before spending time in the United States.

Cameron Miller then undertook a restoration of #3002 for Peter Kaus of the Bianco Collection which included replacing the body, the remains of the old one subsequently found their way on to another Maserati which I shall be revisiting next Monday.

The Louwman Museum in the Netherlands now owns #3002 which is seen at Goodwood with Hulsoff Berend at the wheel.

My thanks to FailedJourno at The Nostalgia Forum for pointing out that I confused today’s featured #3002 with the car I shall be revisiting next week.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fatal Exhaust” 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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Polska Kronika Filmowa ? – Talbot T150 / T26 #82935 / 90202

Today’s blog tells the story of how I came to wonder if today’s Talbot T26C 90202 seen a couple of months ago at the VSCC Spring Start meeting featured in a 1948 edition of Polska Kronika Filmowa a Polish weekly newsreel.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

So far as I have been able to discern this vehicle was originally built in 1937 as a T150 chassis number #82935 and fitted with a 4 litre / 244 cui 6 cylinder motor and registered for road use with the French licence plate 439W1.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Albert Divo raced the car on at least 3 occasions with a best finish of 2nd in the 1937 Marne Grand Prix. In September 1937 Raymond Sommer driving #82935 now bearing the French licence plate 4397RL2 retired from the Tourist Trophy with engine problems. #82935 is shown by one source to have been intended to be part of a two car Talbot-Lago team at the 1937 Le Mans 24 hours that did not show up.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

In 1938 René Carrière and Anthony Hannoyer drove the works entered #82935 to a fifth place finish on the Mille Miglia, two months later René shared the now Luigi Chinetti entered car with René Le Bègue at Le Mans, but retired after completing 101 laps.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Two weeks later the mudguards came off and René Carrière drove #82935, entered once again by the Talbot factory and carrying the #4, seen at 1:03 in this linked clip, to a gallant 4th place finish, first non Mercedes and only 10 laps down, on the French Grand Prix winning Mercedes Benz W154 of winner Manfred von Brauchitsch.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

For it’s final two known appearances in 1938 #82935 was fitted with a 4.5 litre / 274 cui straight six and given a T26 identity with the chassis number #90202, it was not the only T150 to become a T26. René Carrière won pole position driving the car, with it mudguards refitted for the Tourist Trophy, but could only finish 4th. Philippe Etancelin joined René Carrière to drive the upgraded car in the 1938 Paris 12 Hours from which it was retired after an accident.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The renumbered chassis #90202 made only two known appearances in 1939 the first at Le Mans where entered by Chinetti and driven by Luigi Chinetti and T.A.S O. Mathieson the car suffered another accident and retired on lap 154. T.A.S.O. Mathieson is credited with entering #90202 in the Grand Prix du Comminges run at St. Gaudens for Luigi Chinetti to drive, but once again the car retired. Chinetti entered himself to drive #90202 in the Liege Grand Prix on the 26th August 1939 a week before WW2 hostilities broke out on 1st September, but the race was cancelled.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

After the war Lord Selsdon, who coincidentally raced against #90202 in a Lagonda V12 at Le Mans in 1939, became the owner of #90202 by 1946, a time when almost anything that could move was thrown in to race at almost every available opportunity. Louis Chiron drove #90202 entered by Lord Selsdon at an event run at Bois de la Cambre in June 1946 but retired with a fuel pump ‘issue’.

Talbot T26, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Chiron then appears to have played a part in ensuring that French patron of the Ecurie France team Paul Vallée rented or at least borrowed #90202 from Lord Selsdon for part of the 1947 season when the car was to be driven by Chiron, so far as I know he never did, but Yves Giraud-Cabantous may have driven the car referred to a ‘26SS‘ in 1947, though in which events I have not been able to ascertain.

Lord Selsdon had the car back by the 1948 British Grand Prix which was featured on the Polska Kronika Filmowa newsreel I mentioned on the top of this thread, but #90202 took no part in that event as Lord Selsdon had only been given a reserve entry.

The last mention I have found for #90202 in Lord Selsdon’s ownership is in 1949 the Jersey Road Race where Frank Le Gallais retired with a gearbox problem.

Peter Waring is known to have finished at least three races driving #90202 in 1953 recording a best 3rd at Silverstone. It was left to Dick Fitzwilliam to record the chassis last known in period win in a National Handicap event at Goodwood in 1954 nearly twenty years after the versatile chassis which had raced Mercedes Benz as an open wheeler, completed a Mille Miglia and competed in two Le Mans 24 hour races.

The Talbot #90202 seen here at the VSCC Spring Start at Silverstone earlier this year is raced by Richard Pilkington with and without mud guards and road lights.

Thanks for joining me on this “Polska Kronika Filmowa ?” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for a car that is often incorrectly given the wrap for the blanket 70 mph restriction on Britain’s motorway network. Don’t forget to come back now !

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