Maserati 450S – The Fastest Sports Racing Car of the 50’s
By Michel Bollee and Willem Oosthoek
The Maserati 450S was one of the greatest big-banger sports cars of the 1950s…an outrageously fast and brutal car which made a huge impact in both sprint and long-distance races from 1957 until the end of the decade. And the impact was literal…the 450S was in some of the most spectacular crashes of the period, from which rather surprised drivers managed to walk away.
Essentially, this book gets right down to the racing. There’s not a lot of wordy background, just a brief few pages on the origins of the Tipo 54, the technical specifications and production schedule, and then the book is fully focussed on the racing, starting with the Buenos Aires 1000 Kilometers in 1957, followed by some lovely color shots of the Sebring 12 Hours. There are a few anomalies like a page on de Portago’s fatal crash in the Mille Miglia for no apparent reason, but the rest of the book is a celebration of a truly charismatic racecar.
The Maserati factory team is followed through 1957 and then there is an account of the cars in the USA over the next few years, right through to the model’s final appearances in 1961-’62. There is the tale of the monoposto derivatives and detail of individual chassis. Some of the photos have been seen before…the classic disaster photos of the race in Caracas. Masten Gregory did one of his jumps from a car there, Bonnier’s burned to a cinder, and Harry Schell standing around looking dazed after his shunt. Great stuff.
