THE LAST RACING MASERATI
by Bob Owen
The last Maserati built especially for racing was the car raced by Siffert and Neerspach in the 1968 Le Mans race. Chassis No. 151/002, sometimes called the Tipo 68, but the number doesn't matter, it is the very last, at least until today.
The car came to me in part exchange from Chris Renwick. To me it was a challenge. Having raced with fair success a Tipo 60 in JCB and club events - and having rebuilt the long tailed Le Mans Tipo 61, which was equally successful - the time for a change had arrived. Chris and I exchanged cars and cash and I acquired a car in appalling condition, the front suspension broken in some accident and, as the car was stripped, evidence of further repairs came to light.
Front view and 'true' Maserati France colours.
New patterns and castings were made for the front uprights as the originals were not too good in the first place. They were too thin in some areas and the machining operations had left some areas very liable to breakage. The bottom wishbones and trunnions were also replaced with exact repiicas. The original parts had been very poorly threaded, so particular care was taken over this operation on the replacement parts. The many tiny tubes of the complex space frame were completely scraped to bare metal, reprimed and painted. In short, a twelve week rebuild of the frame and body, the gearbox and engine being left for attention later.
At the moment the car looks fantastic and is superb to drive. The brakes are now fine, but as yet we still have to rebuild the engine. This will be tackled during the winter and spring. At least I know that the frame and body etc. are all good.
The engine, a V8 of unknown size and type, other than information from various motoring books, is now in pieces, many many pieces. Fuel situation permitting, I will be out with the car in 1974 - I hope at a local Oulton meeting in March - to prove that I can make it work. It is original in every detail and only the tyre situation worries me now. I hope we can prove again, as I did in 1970 and 1971, that a Maserati is not unreliable. They are truly Italian, you must be in true sympathy with the car, then you will be successful.
Frame scrapped before painting.
The car came to me painted in Briggs Cunningham's white with blue stripes livery, but during the rebuild we discovered the original Maserati France colours of red with the stripes of the Tricoleur and the car has been repainted in these colours.
For those interested in such things. it appears that the fuel capacity is 45 to 50 gallons, the engine holds some 4½ to 5 gallons of oil and the gearbox holds about 2½ gallons. The clutch is an 8½ inch twin plate Borg and Beck unit. The fuel injection is unique in that it has vacuum control. With all this and sixteen plugs we have a lot of work to do. but it will go, this I promise, it will be going-and going regularly - in 1974.
Complete except tail pipes and fuel injectors.
This article first appeared in the Spring 1974 issue of Trident
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