Review by Graham Gauld
There is something tantalizing about coffee table books; they arrive big and shiny but with some, alas, it is high on print and photo quality but limited in editorial content. Michel Bollée and Jean Francois Blachette’s new book is, however, something completely different. Michel Bollée is well known not only in his native France but around Europe as one of France’s great motor sport historians, and for this book he joined forces with Jean-Francois Blachette, the Vice-President of Club Maserati France who is probably better known by enthusiasts for the superb 1/43 scale car models his company, JFB Models, produces.
The authors have looked at the most successful international sports car series, which ran from 1953 to 1966, the golden period for Maserati sports car racing.
What they have succeeded in doing is give one, two or sometimes a number of pages, to cover every sports Maserati that took part in that Championship all over the world, and given not just chassis numbers but photographs and fascinating descriptions of each of the cars.
Photo shows the brand new Musso car at Sebring in 1954 with two of the factory Lancia’s in the background.
Let me give you an example: For the first round of the 1954 championship in Buenos Aires just one Maserati ran, it was A6GCS s/n 2040 entered by the factory and driven by young Luigi Musso and Emilio Giletti which won the 2 liter class and is photographed. Around five weeks later, Maserati entered for the second round of the Championship, at Sebring, again with just one car with Musso one of the drivers and the other driver Ferdinando Gatta.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Maserati simply shipped the Buenos Aires car to the USA and ran it, but no, this time they sent over a different A6GCS ( s/n 2055).The authors explain that this was a brand new car shown at the New York Motor Show, bought by Tony Pompeo of Ducati Motors and sent directly to Sebring to race where it dnf’d. The second Maserati at that Sebring was s/n 2053 that Ducati Motors had imported for sale into the USA in October 1953. It was shown at Thomson circuit by none other than Juan Manuel Fangio before being handed over to its new owner, Don McKnought, who shared it with William Eager.
This gives you an idea not only of the trouble the authors have gone to, but their amazing talent at finding photographs of each of the cars.
Buenos Aires 1000km of 1957.
A good example is the 1957 Mille Miglia, where all 16 Maseratis that took part are photographed and listed with interesting information. For example, we learn that car 452 was an early A6GCS driven by 57-year-old Antonio Pozzato that had already run in the 1954/5 and 56 Mille Miglias by its previous owner Fedele Lampertico. Pozzato was also racing with an automatic clutch due to the fact that he was wearing a prosthetic leg following a train accident. In addition to the 16 that started they have even sourced two photographs of the 450S that Jean Behra crashed (s/n 4503) just before the start of the event.
I personally loved this book and it can be classified as a “dipper” meaning that you will keep dipping into it and finding fascinating obscure details.
Being a bit of a smart-ass, I thought I had caught out Blachette regarding a Zagato Berlinetta that ran in the 1956 Mille Miglia, only to find that I had filed the photo under Mille Miglia 1957 so I was the one who was wrong. I admire the sheer work and effort of such books and though published in France, there is an English edition and the price when purchased directly from the publishers is very competitive for a beautifully printed book that weighs three and a half kilos!
Maserati
(In the World Sports Car & Manufacturers Championships from 1953-1966)
By Michel Bollée & Jean-Francois Blachette
440 pages, Hardbound 31 x 27 cm
ISBN 978-2-490726-03-5
Cost of shipping via UPS for 1 book from publisher:
– to UK : 35€ + 175€ book = total 177.84£
– to USA : 90€ + 175€ book = total $293.35
This would be the price for anyone ordering directly from their web site.
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Perry Casner, Lucky’s son. I told him stories about his father that where shared to me by Joe Sheppard. We hope to meet in Florida this year.
As a Lancisto the photos of the D24s are very interesting.
According to Guido Rosani’s monograph on the D24 (1991) there were four cars at the Sebring 12 hours D24-0001, D24-0003, D24-0004 & D24-0005. Only 0001 finished, & it was the oldest of the four – 2nd place driven by Valenzano & Rubirosa, with the other three breaking down.
Study of photos together with Rosani & other sources indicates:
D24-0001: Race no. #39; Registration No: TO-151241; Drivers: Valenzano~Rubirosa – placed 2nd overall
D24-0003: Race no. #38; Registration No: TO-151544; Drivers: Taruffi~Manzon – engine lubrication & disqualified for pushing car
D24-0004: Race no. #37; Registration No: TO-152974; Drivers: Ascari~Villoresi – retired – brakes
D24-0005: Race no. #36; Registration No: TO-157846; Drivers: Fangio~Castelotti – retired with gearbox trouble
Taruffi’s car #38 & Fangio’s #36 lie behind the Maserati & two of the three Lancias shown clearly have the rear propelling unit out of the car.
The chassis numbering of some of these cars is confusing & largely unraveled by Rosani in his book.
Interesting as always.