MASERATI 450S
Forget the ridiculous representation of Maserati in Michael Mann’s movie Ferrari, with Caterhambased stunt cars and an unshaven American playing Jean Behra: if you want the true story of the Trident’s triumphant but troubled 1957 season, this new title from German historian Walter Bäumer delivers the dramatic saga.
For his fifth book on Maserati with Dalton Watson, Bäumer has teamed up with French historian and ace modelmaker Jean-françois Blachette, and the 12in-square, 320-page result matches Bäumer’s previous books. Appropriately subtitled ‘A Bazooka from Modena’, it captures vividly the stories of the 450S sports-racers.
Bäumer is a former fashion photographer and has a great eye for imagery, as the wealth of historic photos reproduced here confirm. There are some cracking shots, particularly of Behra, who tamed these 412bhp, 190mph brutes to win at Sebring and Kristianstad during the ultimately disastrous ’57 season. The saga of the nightmare world title decider at Caracas for the Venezuela Grand Prix is gripping, with some astonishing photographs that include Masten Gregory flipping 4508 and the fiery wreck of 4503 after Harry Schell was hit by teammate Jo Bonnier’s 300S.
After a technical review, with superb period cutaway art, and an overview of Maserati’s last season as a works team, the authors focus on the often complex lives of the individual cars. When the FIA reduced the championship limit to 3 litres for 1958, the redundant 450S began its second chapter with privateer racers in the USA, including Tony Parravano, Jim Kimberly and John Edgar. Again it took the best drivers to harness the 450S, and American race fans loved the sight and sound of the Latin legend, particularly in the hands of Carroll Shelby, Billy Krause and a young Jim Hall.
The authors also cover the 1958 Monoposto ‘Eldorado’, built for Stirling Moss to drive in the Race of Two Worlds at Monza, and the one-off Le Mans coupé, 4512. The Frank Costin-designed, Zagato-bodied coupé was another nightmare experience. Christened ‘Le Monstre’ by French fans, it caused a sensation at Le Mans for all the wrong reasons. As well as a compromised design and rushed build, it proved hellish to drive. The 20-page chapter features some wonderful photographs, including Moss and friend Denis Jenkinson cutting out metal panels in the pits to improve cooling for the unbearably hot cockpit.
The final section relates the driving challenge, including C&SC’S August 1984 track test, in which Willie Green reported of the mighty Tipo 54: ‘In the dry [it] was like coping with any other rear-driven car in the wet.’ The book ends with biographies of the key figures – drivers, mechanics and team owners, including Parravano, who partly financed the development of the 450S with a $500,000 payout.
If 1950s sports-racing cars are your passion, this book will be right up your strada. Bäumer, who also designed the pages and retouched all the images for print, is now focusing on the 250F for his next Trident title. MW
£150 Walter Bäumer and JeanFrançois Blachette, Dalton Watson. ISBN 9781956309126
‘When the FIA reduced the championship limit to 3 litres, the redundant 450S began its second chapter with privateers in the USA’