Tag Archives: Perdisa

1st Pau & Bordeaux – Maserati 250 F #2516

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Today’s featured Maserati 250 F chassis #2516 made 11 appearances in 1955. Jean Behra was the cars primary driver which included two non championship wins at Pau and then Bordeaux in April 1955.

Maserati 250 F, Richmond & Gordon Trophy, Goodwood Revival,

Jean shared the #2516 with Cesare Perdisa to finish third in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix. At the end of the season Roberto Mieres drove #2516 to a 7th place finish at the Italian Grand Prix and Luigi Villoresi drove the car on it’s final in period European appearance at Syracuse in Sicily where he finished 3rd.

Maserati 250 F Michael Hinderer, Richmond & Gordon Trophy, Goodwood Revival,

The chassis number #2516 was temporarily transferred to the 250 F #2522 at the beginning of the 1956 season, but today’s featured car was eventually sold to Reg Hunt in Australia who continued to race it for many years.

#2516 is seen in the above photograph with Michael Hinderer at the wheel during the 2012 Goodwood Revival meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “1st Pau & Bordeaux” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a special Delage. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Corporation’s 300S – Maserati 300S

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If cars had karma one might wonder what on earth today’s Maserati 300S chassis #3060 had been upto in it’s previous life.

Maserati 300S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

#3060 was originally sold to Maserati Corporation of America in October 1955 and the car made it’s debut at the 1956 Sebring 12 hours with Italian Cesare Perdisa and Argentinian Carlos Menditéguy at the wheel.

Maserati 300S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

39 laps into the race the car was retired with accident damage, then on the way back to New York the trailer carrying #3060 was hit by a truck causing further damage.

Maserati 300S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

By 1957 Maserati Corp of America had repaired the car and Dale Duncan drove #3060 to victory on the Little Switzerland Hillclimb at Euraka Springs. A week later Carroll Shelby then drove the car to the first of two consecutive victories first at Caumberland Airport and then a month later at Lime Rock.

Maserati 300S, David Franklin, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Bob Butcher bought the car miway through 1957 and he scored a 2nd at Thompson before hiring Carroll Shelby to drive #3060 in the Road America 500 at Elkhart Lake where he finished 2nd.

Maserati 300S, David Franklin, Goodwood Festival of Speed

It is believed that #3060 passed into the hands of Rallye Motors by 1959 and it is possible that #3060 was scheduled to be driven in the ’59 Sebring 12 Hours by Edwin P. Lawrence and James Cook. However there is at least one other 300S chassis, of a still extant vehicle, that Edwin was driving when he fatally crashed in practice.

Maserati 300S, David Franklin, Goodwood Festival of Speed

During the 1960’s #3060 was seen with a ‘ugly’ fibre glass body allegedly covering the original aluminium body, the chassis was also fitted with a Chevy V8 and GM Auto transmission.

The car was restored in 1991 and fitted with a motor that was assembled from ‘an amalgam of’ parts held by Cameron Miller. 1978 British Hillclimb Champion David Franklin is seen at the wheel of #3060 in these photographs during this years Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Corporation’s 300S” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l pshycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again for a look at a Sultan’s Bugatti tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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First, Second Or Retired – Maserati 300S #3059.

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This weeks featured Maserati 300S chassis #3059, seen below driven by Carlo Vögele at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago, has an astonishing known record of finishing first or second if it made it to the finish line at all in every competition into which it was entered between 1956 and 1962.

Maserati 300S, Carlo Vögele, Sussex Trophy, Goodwood Revival

#3059 was retained as a factory racer in the 1956 season. Pierro Taruffi drove #3059 in each of it’s first three races recording a second place finishes on the Giro di Scilia and Targa Florio which were interrupted by a trip to the Nurburgring 1000kms where Pierro was joined by Harry Schell, Stirling Moss and Jean Behra to record the chassis first win.

Cesare Perdisa recorded the chassis first retirement in the Rouen GP in France, but two weeks later Stirling Moss jumped into the car win the Bari GP. Moss and Behra driving #3059 failed to finish the Swedish GP in August 1956 but by December 1956 their mojo returned and they shared another victory at the wheel of #3059 in the Australian Tourist Trophy in Melbourne.

#3059 changed ownership twice in Australia before Bob Jane recorded the chassis next known finish, second overall, in the 1958 Fisherman’s Bend Victorian Sports Car Championship.

After an accident in a race at Albert Park in 1958 Bob Jane had #3059 fitted with a roof so he could compete in GT events during the 1961 season.

In GT form Bob drove #3059 to two class wins in the Australian and New South Wales GT championships and recorded a final in period second place finish in the Australian TT in December 1962.

A decade later Bob had his 300S returned to spider configuration and after a change of ownership in 1982 the car returned to European ownership in 1992.

Thanks for joining me on this “First, Second Or Retired” edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the ’90’s Bugatti Revival. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Unwelcome Early Night – Maserati 300S #3054

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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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Identity Crisis What Identity Crisis ? – Maserati 250F #2522/16/23/26

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Welcome to the second edition of Maserati Monday, today’s featured Maserati 250F chassis #2522 was built as a works car for the 1956 season. So far so good, it was raced twice in Argentina at the beginning of the season by Stirling Moss carrying the older #2516 identity finishing a best 2nd in the second non championship race.

Back in Europe the #2522 appears to have been raced with it’s correct #2522 identity until August 1956. During this period Stirling won the Glover Trophy at Goodwood and followed that up with a win in the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix.

Cesare Perdisa was given #2522 to drive in Belgian Grand Prix, while Stirling Moss driving another 250F took an early lead in the race only to lose it to a slow starting Fangio driving a Ferrari on lap 5. On lap ten Moss lost a rear wheel and ended up running back to the pits where he took over #2522 from Cesare and went on to finish 3rd behind the two Ferrari of Collins and Paul Frère.

In the French Grand Prix Cesare and Stirling ended up sharing #2522 again finishing 5th. In the British Grand Prix Stirling drove #2522 to a solo 8th place finish and in Germany #2522 now driven by Umberto Maglioli retired with steering problems which reoccurred in the Italian Grand Prix after Maglioli had handed over #2522, now running with the #2523 identity, to Jean Behra.

Maserati 250F, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Over the winter #2522 with the #2523 identity was fitted with a V12 motor in place of the original straight six, the car was run in practice in the non championship race at Siracusa and again by non other than El Maestro Fangio in the practice for the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix, but the V12 was never raced.

Argentinian all round sportsman Carlos Menditeguy drove #2522/16/23 refitted with a six cylinder motor in the non championship 1957 Grand Prix de Reims where he qualified 9th and retired with a gearbox issue. For the non championship GP di Pescara and championship 1957 Italian GP Fangio was assigned #2522/16/23 but he only drove it in practice.

On the 13th April 1958 Maria-Teresa de Filippis made her Formula one debut driving #2522/16/23 in the non championship GP di Siracusa and finished 5th, a month later she was not so lucky failing to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix driving the same car. Carrol Shelby was the last person recorded as having driven #2522/16/23 in period he qualified 17th and retired after just 1 lap with handling issues and ended up taking over Masten Gregory’s 250F and recording a shared 4th place finish one lap down, a performance for which he was not awarded any world championship points. #2522/16/23 then passed into the hands of Scuderia Centro Sud.

Towards the end of 1958 chassis #2522/16/23 was given the identity it carries to this day namely #2526 and passed through the hands of Keith Campbell, Richard Bergel, Lord Angus Clydesdale, Earl of Strathmore, Bobby Bell and it’s current owner Peter Heuberger for whom the car is seen prepared in the pits at last years HGPCA Test day at Silverstone last year.

To keep you on your toes David McKinney records that the identity #2522 was also used for the original chassis #2507 now owned by Jose Albuquerque which as you know I looked at last week !

With thanks to David McKinney and his book Maserati 250F which was kindly lent to me by Tim Murray.

Thanks for joining me on this “Identity Crisis What Identity Crisis ?” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you’ll join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a vintage Bugatti. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS It is with great sadness that I have learned that David McKinney passed away a couple of weeks ago. It was my privilege to meet David on a couple of occasions and for GALPOT to have benefited from his knowledge which he never hesitated to share on many more going back to the blogs earliest days.

I am sure you will join me in sending sincerest condolences to Davids family and many friends. RIP David the man who knew “lots of things“.

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