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Ian’s Great Escape – Oulton Park Gold Cup

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At the weekend I took a break from attending the Gold Cup on Monday as in recent years and went on the Sunday, my decision was influenced by slightly larger grids for the races and slightly better weather, I was rewarded with a short lie in and a great day’s racing which kicked off when Tim Murray and I visited the press office where we were greeted with a warm welcome and great cup of coffee by friends made over several years on The Nostalgia Forum.

Morgan, Kivlochan, Ginetta, Ward Booth, Lotus, Barter, Ginetta Boland, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

After a quick visit of the pit area we made our way to Deer Leap for the 10 lap Oni Plc Historic Road Sports race which was led on the opening lap by front row starter Kevin Kivlochan in the #98 Morgan Plus 8 seen above already in second place on lap two. Pole starter Julian Barter driving the #51 Lotus Elan S4 completed the opening lap in 4th but recovered to relieve the races second leader Roger Waite in another Lotus Elan on lap 5, the red #32 Ginetta G4 driven by Patrick Ward Booth finished 3rd ahead of Kevin’s Morgan and the blue #27 Ginetta G4 driven by Dave Boland.

Lightening Envoyette, Peter Moreton, Lotus 22 Andy Hibberd, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

We moved to the inside of Lodge for the next couple of races. Above Peter Moreton had an electric opening lap in the first of the two Silverline Historic Formula Junior races leading the field from 4th on the grid in his #75 Lightening Envoyette, front row starter Andrew Hibberd in the #179 Lotus 22 completed the opening lap in third and is seen above lining up to relieve Peter of the lead for good at the end of lap 3, John Fyda driving a Brabham BT6 finished second ahead of Peter with less than 6 seconds covering the top three after 20 mins of close racing.

TVR Griffith, Gardner/Cox, Mike Whitaker, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Mike Gardiner and Dave Cox qualified their #77 TVR Griffith on pole for the HSCC Guards Trophy supported by Dunlop Tyres GT Race but there was no stopping Mike Whitaker in the similar #46 TVR seen above about to take the lead at the end of the 2nd lap which he would hold onto until pitting on lap 11 handing over the lead to the similarly Ford 289 powered AC Cobra driven by Robert Bremner. After the pit stops had cycled through Mike Whitaker led until the end of the race ahead of the Gardiner / Cox TVR and Robert in the over steering (loose) AC.

Brabham BT21, March 703 Simon Armer, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

By the end of the 40 min GT race Tim and I had made our way over to the inside of Old Hall from whence we watched the start of the first of two The Cubicle Centre Historic Formula 3 races. Fourth place starter Steve Seaman in his #26 Brabham BT21 nipped through to lead the opening 4 laps of this race from pole man Simon Armer driving the #22 March 703 who is seen above about to pass Steve to claim the lead which he held onto to take the flag a gnats over 17 seconds ahead of Micheal Scott’s Brabham BT28. Steve came home forth behind clear championship leader Leif Bosson driving another Brabham BT28.

Chevron B37, Neil Glover, March 742, Mark Dwyer, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing Neil Glover driving the one off 5 litre / 302 cui 1976 Chevron, celebrating it’s fiftieth anniversary this year, B37 F5000 car which he qualified second for the first of the weekends Derek Bell Trophy races behind the 2 litre / 122 cui 1974 March 742 Formula 2 car driven by Mark Dwyer. Neil snatched the lead for the opening 3 laps of the race with Mark snapping at his heals in the nimble March who finally grabbed the lead on the third lap and pulled out a nearly six second advantage when a major incident between Denton’s and Cascades required the red flag to be shown on the 8th lap.

Ian Ashley, Derek Bell Trophy, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

5th place starter 67 year old former Grand Prix driver Ian Ashley driving the #188 Lola T300 Formula 5000 car came down the chute between Denton’s and Cascades for the 8th time in 4th place behind the Clubmans Mallock driven by Mike Charteris when he came across a hapless lapped Brian Cullen driving a 1970 1600 cc Formula 2 spec #18 Crosslé 19F. Just after the Denton’s right hand kink Ian clipped the left rear wheel of the Crosslé with his right front and went flying down the track until his rear end hit the retaining barriers which sent the car into a barrel roll before landing on it’s right side and then came to rest miraculously the right way up. Fortunately Ian was able to release himself from the remains of his Lola unaided and gave spectators a thumbs up to a good dose of applause, neither driver suffered any injury that I know of.

Jaguar E-type, Micheal Wilkinson, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

After the dramatic low’s and high’s of the incident the 40 min Jaguar Heritage race passed by in relative tranquility. The third place starting #50 E-type of Michael Wilkinson and John Bussel took over a commanding lead with 6 laps to go, when Martin O’Connel’s pole winning E-type retired 1 lap after his compulsory pit stop, to finish over a minuet and a half clear of Paul Castaldini who was just third placed pairing of Dave Coyne and Robert Gate who made it an all E-type podium as several of the cars struggled to the end with smoking brakes, exhausts and or transmissions.

Lenham P69 Waggitt/Needham, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

Normal service returned with the Guards Trophy supported by Dunlop Tyres Sports Racing cars race. On the opening lap 5th place starter Jon Waggitt was the man on the move with the #33 Lenham P69 seen here followed by the pole sitting and eventual winning #18 Elva Mk 7, driven by Maxim Bartel and Callum Grant, ready to pounce by the front row starting #6 Chevron B6 driven by Nick Thompson and Sean McClurg. Jon kept the lead for all of two laps before the #18 reasserted qualifying form and went on to win the 40 min race by over 8 seconds from the #33 Lenham that Jon shared with Peter Needham that finished a further 5 seconds ahead of the Chevron B8 driven by Charles Allison. In the back ground seventh place starter Marcus Mussa spins his #88 McLaren Elva M1B going into the Hislops chicane.

70's Road Sports, Gold Cup, Oulton Park

The 20 min 70’s Road Sports Bob Trotter Celebration Race may have been shorter than some, but provided the most closely contested victory as second place starter Jim Dean made the running over the first five laps in his little green #72 Lotus Europa, eventual winner, by just .089 of a second, was Charles Barter whose powerful blue #24 Datsun 240Z started 3rd but had to take to the escape road going into Hislops on the opening lap in order to avoid the spinning 5th place starting Lotus Elan driven by Iain Daniels. Jim finished 2nd just under 5 seconds ahead of the light green #1 TVR Tuscan driven by Peter Shaw.

March 703, Simon Armer, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

The starting grid for the second Cubicle Centre Historic Formula 3 race was exactly the same as the first, unusually the finishing order of the first race played no part in the starting order for the second, once again it was third place starter Steve Seaman in the Brabham BT21 who went into the lead on the opening lap, but this time he held onto it until lap 6 before a determined Simon Armer found away past for the final two laps of the race which he finished just over half a second ahead of Steve and nearly 8 seconds ahead of Michael Scott.

Historic Formula Junior, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

The grid for the final race of the day, second Silverline Historic Formula Junior race was determined by the finishing order of Junior race one, but pole sitter Andrew Hibberd finished the opening lap in third as the electric Peter Moreton again led with John Fyda between them. Andrew is seen above having just taken the lead from Peter who was demoted to third as John followed Andrew to take second on lap 3. The order remained the same until the end of the race with the top three again finishing less than six seconds apart with plenty of entertaining battles through the field to keep the results uncertain until the very end of a great day’s racing.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ian’s Great Escape” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Intimate Communication – Bugatti Type 32R

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Last week I looked at a Bugatti Type 32, today’s featured car is a Replica built by Bob Sutherland who became so fascinated by the type in the mid 1970’s he ended up building one.

Bob’s big break came when the Schlumpf Museum first opened it’s doors in 1978 allowing him and British restorer Peter Shaw to visit the car featured in last weeks blog to get all of the correct measurements in the absence of any period drawings.

Bugatti Type 32R, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Peter then built up the chassis and body in the UK while Bob in the USA bought a complete Type 35A motor and gave it to Bob Seiffert in Colorado to modify to Type 32 spec complete with a variant of the Type 30 crank case.

Bugatti Type 32R, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Peter built up the chassis and body in the UK while Bob in the USA bought a complete Type 35A motor and gave it to Bob Seiffert in Colorado to modify to Type 32 spec complete with a variant of the Type 30 crank case.

The late British collector Paul Foulkes-Halbard helped out by having casts made of several Type 32 parts, from his own collection, that had once belonged to Elizabeth Junek who purchased a Type 32 from Ettore Bugatti.

Bugatti Type 32R, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

When the Replica type 32 was completed it was driven at Tours on the route of the 1923 French Grand Prix in 1981 shortly after the Centenary marking Ettore Bugatti’s birth.

More recently in 1995 this Replica was driven in a race at Lagunna Seca by Bob Sutherland against French Voisin collector Philip Moch who had built a copy of the peculiar 1923 Grand Prix Voisin that, like the Type 32, had failed to impress at Tours in 1923.

Bugatti Type 32R, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

By all accounts the two replica’s stole the race despite not being front runners and to this day the race announcer does not recall which replica crossed the line first.

Bob Sutherland described driving the Type 32 thus in the US Bugatti Club magazine Pur Sang thus :- “You can well imagine that with no firewall there is intimate communication between driver and machinery. The clutch whirrs dangerously close to one’s left leg, the pipes get hot, oil splatters all over you, and there is a lot of exhaust, hot water, steam, noise and danger. The exhaust glows, gas dribbles steadily on your feet, and backfires light up the universe. All very exciting.”

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs of the Type 32 Replica taken at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance in 2011.

Thanks for joining me on this “Intimate Communication” 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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Ruote Indipendenti – Maserati V8RI #4501

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For 1935 Ernesto Maserati devised the V8RI challenger for the 750kg / 1653.47 lbs formula to take on Mercedes Benz, Auto Union and Alfa Romeo, the latter entries managed by Enzo Ferrari, for honours in the top echelon of motor sport known as the European Championship which comprised just five events.

The V8RI broke with Maserati tradition being the first car to run a motor in anything other than an inline configuration and further more it was the first Maserati motor not to feature twin overhead camshafts, Ernesto opting for a single overhead camshaft per bank of the 300 hp 4.78 litre / 292 cui supercharged V8.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The V8RI was also the first Maserati to feature, ruote indipendenti, independent suspension for all four wheels. The transmission and differential were designed as a single transaxle unit.

Being essentially funded by private entrants in particular Scuderia Subalpina it is perhaps not surprising that the first V8RI to appear, today’s featured chassis #4501 did not show up until midway through 1935 and then only at the non championship XI Grand Prix de la Marne where Phi Phi Etancelin placed second in Heat 1 and retired with a blown motor from the final.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The VR8I’s first European Championship appearance was at the penultimate round at Monza where Giuseppe Farina ‘won’ pole position which was drawn by lot, only to non start VR8I #4502 because of a recalcitrant motor. Phi phi completed 14 laps of the Italian Grand Prix in #4501 before crashing out and sustaining injuries which would keep him out of the cockpit for at least one race.

Farina made one further non championship start in a VR8I in 1935 at Circuito di Modena, but he retired after 7 laps with a fuel tank issue. Over the winter on 1935/36 Scuderia Subalpina became Scuderia Torino and Gino Rovere the teams patron took a controlling interest in Maserati.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

For 1936 both Phi phi Etancelin and “Raph” bought V8RI’s to run privately and Phi phi scored the V8RI’s most important European result by winning the 1936 Grand Prix de Pau against a field of Alfa Romeo’s and Bugatti’s which were not considered serious challengers to the absent front line contenders from Auto Union and Mercedes Benz.

From 6th further starts in his private V8RI Phi phi finished just once in the Vanderbuilt Cup race at Roosevelt Raceway where he finished 9th. Coincidentally from the results available to me this was the first and only time in 1936 where ‘Raph’ raced his private V8RI being disqualified for a push start on lap 9.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The works / Torino V8RI’s are known to have appeared on five occasions in 1936 with an only finish of 7th place for Count Felice Trossi and Ernesto Bianco at the Italian Grand Prix. This result helped Trossi finish 7th equal in the 1936 European Championship with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Brivio and Auto Union’s Ernst von Delius, Trossi’s other finish in a 4C Maserati came at the German Grand Prix where he shared 8th with Richard Seaman after the Englishman’s Torino V8RI retired with brake issues early in the race.

#4501 was modified in 1936 with attention given to the independent suspension and transaxle but from the results available to me it never appeared at any races with these modifications.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

In 1937 Maserati withdrew from the European Championship, which was dominated by German machines producing over 500 hp. Alfordo Mandirola drove his privately entered V8RI in at least two non championship events in Europe in 1937 scoring a best 7th place in the Grand Prix Valentino run in Turin.

Later in 1937 all four V8RI’s were entered in the Vanderbuilt cup race, #4501 to be driven by Deacon Litz however was the only V8RI not to show. Wilbur Shaw finished 9th in the race driving a V8RI while the other two V8RI’s retired.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

With a reduced engine capacity and the supercharger removed #4501 appeared at the 1939 Indianapolis 500 where both Deacon and rookie George Robson failed to qualify the car. Deacon however qualified another V8RI, which also featured a modified body, 31st and finished 33rd after a couple of dropped valves brought his race to a halt on lap 7.

Jim Brubaker, from Pennsylvania bought #4501 and between 1946 and 1949 it failed to qualify for the Indy 500 four more times.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

In October 1950 Phil Cade became the owner of #4501 and he competed with it on the East Coast in circuit races and hillclimbs from 1951. Somewhere between 1952 and ’53 Phil fitted a Chrysler Hemi V8 and continued competing with the car in this form until 1960, among Phil’s successes was winning the Watkins Glen Seneca Cup in 1958.

In 2003 Bob Valpey bought #4501 from Phil and reunited it with it’s Maserati V8 motor. #4501 currently belongs to Michael Gans who completed an eight year restoration of the car prior to the Goodwood Festival of Speed where it is seen in these photographs.

My thanks to historian Adam Ferrington, #4501’s owner Micheal Gans and the numerous Nostalgia Forum contributors who unwittingly contributed to this post on various threads of the forum.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ruote Indipendenti” 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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Goodwood Festival Details – Maserati Centenary

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For this weeks Maserati Monday, I am taking a look at details of some of the Maserati’s present at the weekends Festival of Speed that will feature in forth coming editions of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”.

Maserati V8RI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Scuderia Subalpina was founded by Count Luigi del la Chiesa, in December 1934, with backing from industrialists Giorgio Ambrosini (owner of Siata) and Giorgio Giusti, and the wealthy racing driver Gino Rovere who became Maserati president. The Scuderia’s badge is seen here on the side of the first 1935 Maserati V8RI to be built.

Maserati 8CTF, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Maserati 8CTF was built for challenging the mighty German Silver Arrows of Mercedes Benz and Auto Union, but it’s most notable success came at Indianapolis where chassis #3032 seen here was driven by Wilbur Shaw in 1939, ’40 and ’41 in the Indy 500 and was en route to a trifecta of back to back victories when a tyre damaged in an accident let him down.

Maserati 4CLT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

For some reason this Maserati 4 CLT does not appear to be listed in the programme and I look forward to identifying it and finding out it’s story.

Maserati A6 GCS, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Likewise I look forward to teasing out the identity and details behind this 1955 Maserati A6 GCS.

Maserati 300S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Festival of Speed programme notes give a useful to tip in to help determine the identity of this 1957 Maserati 300S, it was once driven by 1959 Le Mans winner and later Ford USA competition guru Carroll Shelby.

Maserati 250 F V12, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Tracing the ID of this particular Maserati 250F V12 should not prove too tricky as their is at least one good book on the complicatd story of the Maserati 250F model.

Thanks for joining me on this “Goodwood Festival Details – Maserati Centenary” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again when I’ll be looking at some of the French cars at Goodwood. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Poetry and Motion – Aston Martin Razor Blade

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During the course of the coming month “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” will be celebrating the centenary of Aston Martin with posts featuring the marque on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays and on Thursdays I’ll be celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Corvette, Friday’s will be devoted to Ferrari’s and Tuesdays to Automobilia.

Aston Martin, Razor Blade, Prescott

Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford founded Bamford & Martin in 1913 to sell Singer cars. The first car built by Bamford and Martin was given the marque name Aston Martin in 1915, but because of the Great War of 1914 – 1918 it did not go into production. The Aston name was adopted from the Aston Hill near Aston Compton where Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin were regular successful competitors.

Shaw, Aston Martin, Razor Blade, Prescott

During a period of post war financial turmoil and several bankruptcies up until 1926 Bamford & Martin built 55 cars for sale along with ‘Razor Blade’ which was built for in an attempt to become the first car to record an average speed of 100mph over one hour in a light car at Brooklands, however AC Cars pipped Martin & Bamford to the post recording 101.39 mph (163.17 km/h).

Shaw, Aston Martin, Razor Blade, Prescott

The chassis was specially made, but many of the remaining parts were standard Aston Martin items. The 55 hp 1.5 litre / 91 cui four cylinder motor, based on half a 1921 Ballot 3 litre / 183 cui 8 cylinder motor, was a spare Aston Martin had built for their 1922 French Grand Prix car.

Shaw, Aston Martin, Razor Blade, Prescott

The body work, built by the De Havilland Aircraft Company, is just 18 1/2″ wide at it’s widest point making it one of the, if not the, narrowest racing cars ever built. Originally an aerodynamic bubble was fitted on top of the cockpit and the car was temporarily known as “The Oyster”, but Lionel Martin could not find drivers diminutive enough to fit inside. SCH Davis managed to lap Brooklands consistently between 103 mph and 104 mph, faster than the one hour record set by AC Cars, but had to give up their record attempt because the front offside tyres repeatedly came off.

Shaw, Aston Martin, Razor Blade, Prescott

Major F.B. Halford was the first driver to race Razor Blade, crossing the line first in a handicap race, 5th on handicap, during the B.A.R.C. August Meeting at Brooklands and the following month the following poem appeared in the The Light Car and Cyclecar magazine :-

Major F. B. Halford
(The intrepid driver of the “razor blade” Aston-Martin racer)
With razor blades we’re all acquainted;
Some are good, others painted.
Halford Smiles; he’s found a winner;
Diet follows – make him thinner.

Later in 1923 the Major set a standing kilometer class record of 66.54 mph, while Herbert Kensington-Moir drove Razor Blade to a standing mile class record of 74.12 mph.

Halford Special, Aston Martin, Razor Blade, Prescott

Razor Blade is seen in these photographs at Prescott Hill Climb with Colin Shaw at the wheel, above Razor Blade is seen next to the Halford Special built by Major F. B. Halford on an Aston Martin chassis which I’ll be looking at in greater detail tomorrow.

Thanks for joining me on this “Poetry and Motion” 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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Room For Two – Maserati 8CTF #3030

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In 1937 the Maserati brothers harvested a reputation for building unprofitable but successful racing cars by agreeing a deal Adolfo Orsi in which Orsi took financial control of Maserati in return for the brothers commitment to work for the company that bore their name for at least ten years.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

For 1938 new rules were introduced for the top echelon of European open wheel racing that had been dominated by Auto Union and Mercedes Benz since 1934. The new rules introduced for the first time a minimum weight depending on engine displacement of either 3 litres / 183 cui supercharged or 4.5 litres / 274 cui normally aspirated.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

The Maserati brothers decided to go the supercharged route with a 3 litre / 183 cui in line 8 cylinder motor that featured a fixed ‘testa fissa” cylinder head that did away with the need for leaky cylinder head gaskets and allowed the motor to run with high supercharger pressure which was provided by two Roots type superchargers. in all 4 8CTF twin cam two valve motors were built that produced 365 hp. Well down on the 470 plus quoted for the contemporary V12 Auto Union D-type and Mercedes Benz W154.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

Along with the 4 motors Maserati built 3 8CTF chassis numbers #3030, #3031 and #3032 all of which were entered for races in Europe with the greatest success being recorded by Paul Pietsch who led the 1939 German Grand Prix before six pit stops ensured a best 3rd place finish 1 lap down behind the winning W154 of Rudolf Carraciola and 2nd place D-Type of Hermann Paul Müller.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

By the time of the 1939 German Grand Prix 8CTF chassis #3032 had been sold to Chicago Electricians Unionist Michael J. “Umbrella Mike” Boyle who had fielded the winning Boyle Products Special/Miller Indianapolis 500 entry for “Wild Bill” Cummings in 1934 eight years after his first entry in the Greatest Race On Earth. For the ’39 Indy 500 the Maserati was prepared by Crew Cheif Harry “Cotton” Henning and renamed “Boyle Special” that driven to Victory Lane by Wilbur Shaw who the following year using the same car became the first back to back repeat Indy 500 winner.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

Today’s featured chassis #3030, seen in photographs by Geoffrey Horton at the 2011 Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance, was acquired by owner Lucy O’Reilly Schell along with the sister #3031 chassis who entered both cars in the 1939 Swiss Grand Prix for René Dreyfus and Comte Georges Raphael Bethenod de Montbressieux also known in racing circles as “Raph”. Dreyfus driving #3030 finished 8th in the second heat run in the rain 2 laps down while “Raph” appears not to have taken the start in the sister car.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

In 1940 all three 8CTF’s were entered in the Indy 500 with the Écurie Lucy O’Reilly Schell chassis #3030 for René Le Bègue and #3031 for Dreyfus joining Wilbur Shaw in the #3032 Boyle Special entry. Unfortunately the Écurie Lucy O’Reilly Schell team did not understand the bump day rules during qualifying so although Dreyfus qualified in the #22 entry on speed this did not exclude him from being bumped off the grid. Despite the protestations of the likes of ’39 winner Shaw. Dreyfus accepted his fate, sportingly Le Bègue offered to share the driving of the #49 chassis 3030 in the race.

Maserati 8CTF, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

While familiarising himself with today’s featured #3030 chassis the engine blew, after Dreyfeus had improved on the lap times recorded with his bumped chassis, with the result that the #49 chassis #3030 went to the grid for the 1940 Indy 500 with the engine from chassis #3031 fitted. Le Bègue started the race and handed over to Dreyfus as agreed with the car classified 10th on 192 laps at the races end.

Thanks to the research skills of Michael Ferner, who from contemporary reports has identified at least 21 possibly 23 Maserati’s entered for The Greatest Spectacle In Racing between 1930 and 1957, we know #3030 appeared as an entry at the Indy 500 in ’41, ’46 and ’48 through to ’53 recording a best finish of 4th in ’46 with Emil Andres at the wheel of what was now known as the Elgin Piston Pin one place behind Ted Horn in the Boyle entered #3032 chassis. The car’s last Indy start was in 1948 when Harry McQuinn completed just 1 lap from 26th on the grid to be classified 33rd and last.

Perhaps #3030’s greatest achievement was a 2nd place finish at Pikes Peak with Louis Unser at the wheel in 1949, two years earlier Unser won the Pikes Peak Hillclimb outright in the sister #3031 chassis.

My thanks to Michael Ferner, Alan Cox, David McKinney, VWV, Vitesse2 and fbarratt at The Nostalgia Forum who in one way or another all contributed to my understanding of the history of the Maserati 8CTF’s, finally thanks to Geoffrey Horton without whom today’s blog would be about something else.

Thanks for joining me on this “Room For Two” 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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