Tag Archives: Musso

’55 Gold Cup Winner – Maserati 250F #2515

Today’s featured Maserati 250F chassis #2515 made it’s debut for the works team in the 1955 Argentinian GP where it retired with engine failure after Sergio Mantovani, Jean Behra and Luigi Musso had completed 54 of the scheduled 96 laps.

Roberto Mieres, Peter Collins, Stirling Moss and Carroll Shelby all drove #2515 in 1955 with Stirling Moss recording the best result with a win in the non Championship Gold Cup at Oulton Park.

Maserati 250F, Donington Grand Prix Collection

Francisco Landi and Gerino Gerini shared the car in the 1956 Argentine Grand Prix to score a season high 4th. After Francisco finished 7th in the Brazilian Grand Prix ownership of #2515 appears to have been passed over to Scuderia Guastalla in Italy.

Gerino and Umberto Maglioli drove the car on two occasions each over the remainder of the 1956 season with Gerino’s 5th place finish in Syracusse being the best result.

Ottorino Volonterio acquired the car after it had been rebodied for the 1957 season and it was entered in three events with the best, only, finish being 11th in the Italian Grand Prix where Ottorino shared the driving with André Simon.

André Testut failed to qualify the car for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, as he would his own 250F #2521 in the same event the following season.

From June to September 1958 #2515 was entered in four events by Scuderia Centro Sud with Maurice Trintignant finishing seventh in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

Gerino drove in the remaining three recording a best 6th place finish at Caen. Hans Hermann drove #2515, now entered by Joakim Bonnier, in the 1958 Italian Grand Prix from which he retired with a valve issue.

In 1959 Fritz d’Orey retired #2515, now entered by Scuderia Centro Sud again, from the British Grand Prix. The final known appearance of #2515 was in the 1959 Italian Grand Prix where Giulio Cabianca driving for Ottorino Volonterio finished 15th.

Tom Wheatcroft bought #2515 in 1965 and it is seen in this picture in the Donington Grand Prix Collection which he founded.

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

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Unwelcome Early Night – Maserati 300S #3054

Carrying the #15 on the 1955 Le Mans entry list, one spot below Mike Sparken’s #14 Ferrari 750 Monza chassis 0504M which I looked at some time ago, was today’s featured Maserati 300S chassis #3054 which was to be driven by Roberto Mieres and Cesare Perdisa two weeks after the car had been driven to victory at Monza by Luigi Musso and Jean Behra.

24 laps into the race #3054 was running in second place overall when it retired with a gearbox problem giving the drivers an unwelcome early night. Ironically this occurred 1 lap after the #14 Ferrari had retired with a broken motor.

Maserati 300S, Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic

A second Maserati 300S #3055, driven by Luigi Musso and Luigi Valenzano lasted 239 laps before it’s gearbox also failed making it the last car to retire from the 24 hour classic.

From it’s first four starts, by a 2 litre A 6GS in ’54 another in ’55 along side the two 3 litre cars, in the Le Mans 24 Hours Maserati had yet to record a single finish.

Maserati 300S, Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic

With it’s gearbox repaired Jean Behra drove #3054 two weeks later to victory in the 1955 Portuguese Grand Prix and at the end of 1955 Juan Manuel Fangio drove #3054 to victory in the first Venezuelan Grand Prix.

For 1956 the #3054 was fitted with a long nose body and the car was taken to Buenos Aires where Stirling Moss and Carlos Menditeguy drove her to victory in the 1000km race. Piero Taruffi and Jean Behra then drove #3054 to 5th overall and 1st in class in Sebring 12 Hours.

Carlos Menditeguy teamed up with Jean Behra to drive #3054 in the 1957 1000kms race at Buenos Aires finishing second but 1st in class.

The #3054 was subsequently sold to Venezuelan Escuderia Sorocaima and the known results during his ownership include a 22 overall and 3rd in class finish in the 1962 3 hour Daytona race with Guido Lollobrigida at the wheel.

After Daytona Charlie Kolb bought the car and recorded 2nd place finishes with it at Fernandina Beach and Marlboro before going one better to record a win at Savanah which appears to be the last recorded in period outing for #3054.

The car is seen in these photo’s at the Silverstone Classic with Stephan Rettenmaier at the wheel.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unwelcome Early Night” edition of “Gettin’ A L’il Psycho On Tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the first Le Mans winning Bugatti. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Weight Distirbution – Lancia Ferrari D50 Replicas

Keen to project a successful image through participation in Formula one with it’s new 2.5 litre / 152 cui engine regulations Lancia commissioned Vitorrio Jano to design a new challenger in 1953.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Over the development period of the car several different noses were used above is the original short nose.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Jano paid a lot of attention to how the weight was to be distributed in his new design which led to the D50’s most distinctive the pannier tanks between the wheels that did away with the need for a rear fuel tank which was de rigueur for contemporary formula one cars.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Jano selected a compact 90° V8 motor configuration that was offset 12° from front right to rear left. The motor featured twin plugs per cylinder produced around 260 hp. Unusually for the time the motor also functioned as an integral stressed member of the space frame chassis.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

The car also featured a gearbox that was transversely mounted into the rear axle. The cooler for the transmission unit is seen just ahead of the rear axle between the panier tank and the rest of the chassis.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

1952 and 1953 double World Champion Alberto Ascari and Italy Luigi Villoresi drove the D50’s on their first appearance in the World Championship in the last race of the 1954 season at the Spanish Grand Prix held on the Pedralbes street circuit in Barcelona. After qualifying 1st Ascari led for three laps before retiring with clutch problems on lap 10, Villoresi started 5th and retired after two laps with brake issues.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Lancia entered three cars in the 1955 Argentinian Grand Prix for Ascari who started from second and retired after an accident on lap 22, Villoresi qualified 11th and again only lasted for two laps before his car retired with a fuel leak. Villoresi replaced Eugenio Castellotti who had started 12th only to be involved in an accident on lap 35 from which the 3rd Lancia did not recover.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

At Monaco Ascari again qualified 2nd but his car famously ended up in the harbour on the 81st lap which he survived, only to die the following week testing a Ferrari. Castellotti qualified 4th and finished 2nd, to Maurice Trintignant in the Ferrari 625A I looked at last week, while Villoresi qualified 7th and finished 5th one lap down. Monaqasque Louis Chiron drove a forth D50 Lancia from 19th on the grid to 6th 5 laps down.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Castellotti started on pole in Belgian Grand Prix but retired on lap 16 with gearbox problems on the Scuderia Lancia teams final appearance. At this point Lancia ran into financial difficulties and the company ended up in the hands of the Pesenti family while Gianni Lancia handed over the racing cars to Enzo Ferrari who was not having a lot of joy against the might of Mercedes Benz with his Squalo and Super Squalo models.

de, Cadenet, Lancia Ferrari D50 Replica, Goodwood Revival

The D50’s next appeared at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix where they were entered by Ferrari for Giuseppe Farina who qualified 5th and Villoresi who qualified 8th. However Farina crashed on the Monza banking when a tyre failed and Enzo chose to withdraw the D50’s. Over the off season Ferrari developed the cars for his new signing reigning world champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Fangio won first time out in the D50 at the 1956 Argentinian Grand Prix, but only after his car retired and he took over the car that started with Luigi Musso at the wheel, at Monaco Fangio finished 2nd again after retiring his own car and jumping in his team mate Peter Collins car.

Collins then won in Belgium and France with Fangio winning in Britain and Germany to give him an eight point lead over Collins going into the final race of the season at Monza. Fangio qualified on pole but a steering arm on his D50 broke, his team mate Musso refused to hand over his car and on learning this team mate Peter Collins did not hesitate to hand over his car, thus giving up the opportunity to win the championship which Fangio won after finishing second. Collins finished the ’56 Championship third in points behind Stirling Moss who drove for Maserati.

The following season Fangio went to Maserati with whom he won his fifth and final championship. Ferrari entered no fewer than seven D50’s for the first race of the 1957 season in Argentina which were lined up against seven Maserati 250F’s. Fangio won in his 250F the best D50 shared by Alfonso de Portago and José Froilán González which finished 5th and two laps down.

Mike Hawthorn was the last person to drive a D50 in a Championship race in the ’57 Monaco Grand Prix where 5th but retired after an accident on lap 5. Ferrari swithched it’s efforts to the Lancia V8 powered 801 for the remainder of the 1957 season.

All but two of the original D50’s were broken up, the cars seen here are both, so far as I know replica’s using some of the left over parts from the broken up cars. Six replica’s are known to have been built by Jim Stokes Workshops Ltd.

Thanks for joining me on this “Weight Distribution” 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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Mistaken Identity – Ferrari 290MM #0606

In April 1956 Luigi Musso was given a brand new Right Hand Drive Ferrari 290 MM chassis #0606 by the factory team to drive in the Giro di Sicilia he did not finish but the next occupants Phil Hill and Maurice Trintignant did win the Swedish Grand Prix, for sports cars, on the cars second appearance in August 1956.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

In 1957 the car was variously entered under the Ecurie Francochamps and Equipe Nationale Belge banners with Willy Mairesse winning pole for a 2 hour race held at St Etienne in France and Alain de Changy finishing 4th in Monsanto, Portugal being the cars most notable race performances.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

After the car was returned to the factory it was driven by Austrian Gotfried Koechert in August 1958. His best result being 3rd overall and 1st in class in the Großer Bergpreis von Oesterreich, hillclimb at the Gaisbergrennen in Austria.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

In September 1959 the car was converted to 250 TR specs with a TR motor and sold to Brazilian Jean Luis Lacerda who appears to have won at least two races at Interlagos and Brasilia with #0606 during 1960.

Late in 1960 ownership of #0606 was transferred to Aguinaldo Goes who scored a second place finish in a 500 km race at Intelagos in Spetember of that year.

In 1962 Fernando Mafra Moriera borrowed the car to make up the numbers for a race at Interlagos with strict instructions to park it at the end of lap 1, unfortunately Fernando who raced under the name Rio Negro did not do as he was asked with fatal consequences as he ended up hitting a eucalyptus tree with the unfamiliar right hand drive and equally unfamiliar central throttle pedal thought to have played a role in the tragedy.

The engine and front of the car was separated from the gear box and the back of the car which remained embedded in the tree.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

What remained of the car was given by goes to Camilo Christofaro who used the fuel tank and de Dion rear suspension in a fearsome Corvette engined special called Carrettera 18 in March 1965 Christofaro and Goes drove the car to a 3rd place finish, 1st in class, in a 1600 km race at Interlagos.

The TR motor that had been installed in #0606 when it went to Brazil went into another Brazilian racing car the Furia Ferrari owned by Toni Bianco and later still it replaced a blown up motor in a street Ferrari.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

In 1986 Paolo Sebastiani bought some Ferrari parts including part of a type 520 Ferrari 290MM chassis frame from Camilo Christofaro and allegedly mistook them for parts from a type 525 Ferrari 250 TR chassis frame which he thought came from chassis #0726TR which had also been involved in a fatal crash and abandoned in Cuba in 1960.

Sebastiani had Ferrari chassis builder Viccari “guide” him in the construction of a Left Hand Drive type 525 250TR chassis using the salvaged parts he had acquired from Brazil. The car was given a new body by Len Pritchard and sold to John Godfrey who upon further inspection realised that the parts Sebastiani had found in Brazil were actually from the Right Hand Drive #0606 290MM.

The car is seen here at last years Goodwood Revival by Mike Malone.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mistaken Identity” 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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Weekend Racer – Maserati A6G/54 GT Zagato Coupé

From 1947 to 1956 Maserati built several series of 2 litre / 122 cui sports cars with 6 cylinder motors for racing and road use.

1956 MASERATI A6G/54 G.T. ZAGATO COUPÉ, Silvertone Classic

By 1954 the twin cam six cylinder motor was producing 150 hp and the first of a total of 60 A6GCS/54 models were made available.

1956 MASERATI A6G/54 G.T. ZAGATO COUPÉ, Silvertone Classic

The A6GCS/54 models were built with Belinetta, Barchetta and Spyder bodies supplied by either Frua, Ghia, Allemano or Zagato.

1956 Maserati A6G/54GT Zagato Coupé, Silverstone Classic

There are two variations of the Zagato coupé body on the A6G/54 GT chassis, two vehicles were built with double bubble roofs and 20 were built without.

1956 Maserati A6G/54GT Zagato Coupé, Silverstone Classic

The 1956 vehicle seen in today’s photographs at Silverstone Classic is thought to be the 7th from the non double bubble production run of 20, it is said to have been delivered to Maserati’s concessionaire in Rome, Gugliemo (Mimmo) Dei.

Maserati A6G/54GT Zagato Coupé, Silverstone Classic

It is also said that this car was raced by gentleman racer Guiseppe Musso brother of Grand Prix driver Luigi Musso, though I have not been able to establish exactly in which, of the many events Guiseppe competed in, he drove this particular car.

Maserati A6G/54GT Zagato Coupé, Silverstone Classic
Their was an earlier series of the Maserati A6G/54GT Zagato Coupé, known as the Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato Coupé, though so far as I have been able to ascertain the two models are otherwise as idententical as one might expect from a production run of hand built motor cars except the A6G 2000 is said to have been fitted with a less powerful motor.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Zagato edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

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