Maserati started out as a racing car manufacturer only and today we celebrate that rich heritage by taking a detailed look at three of these competition cars from the 1940s and 1950s. The newest is this Maserati 250F T2 Lightweight. It represents the ultimate development of the legendary front-engined Grand Prix car and helped Juan Manuel Fangio to win the World Championship in 1957. The featured example was one of three built and raced by the likes of Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Harry Schell. It is now owned by an American historic racer and has been campaigned on both sides of the Atlantic.
Using a similar but smaller version of the 250F's six-cylinder engine is this A6GCS/53 that was bought new by an Argentinean racer. Now in German hands, chassis 2062 is still painted in the Argentinean racing colours of blue with a yellow engine cover.
Maserati also won the Indy 500 in 1939 and then returned in 1940 with the 8CL. It was one of the most complicated cars built by Maserati to that date and used a straight eight with 4 valves per cylinder. The fabulous exhaust manifold features a separate pipe for each port, so 16 in total. The example highlighted today was built immediately after the War and raced to eighth at the 1946 Indy 500. It was displayed at the Indianapolis Speedway Hall of Fame for many years but has now returned to Europe and is regularly raced in historic events.

Enjoy the links:

1957 Maserati 250F T2 'Lightweight' (2527)

1954 Maserati A6GCS/53 Fantuzzi Spyder (2062)

1946 Maserati 8CL (3035)