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[This description appeared in the RM Auctions catalog for the 2001 Monterey Sports Car Auction and is used with permission. ©2001 RM Auctions, Inc and R. S. Carey]

[*Duty Payable]

The ex-Works Prototype 1955 Maserati Tipo 52 200SI ("Sport Internazionale") Sports Racer

Chassis N^o. 2401

Engine N^o. 2401

195hp 1994cc dual overhead camshaft 4-cyliner engine, 5-speed manual transmission, 4-wheel drum brakes. Wheelbase 2200mm.

Building racing cars for customers was Maserati’s business, like Cooper, Lotus, Gordini, OSCA and Abarth,. Even as the factory campaigned the legendary 250F Grand Prix and the 300S sports cars, it was kept commercially afloat by the real business of selling these cars, and others, to private entrants. Being practical (if not particularly good) businessmen Maserati saw the successful 250F as the basis for other cars to meet competitors’ needs in various classes. At the time racing categories were simply defined by engine displacement and Maserati responded to the market with a variety of models.

The 6-cylinder 2-liter A6G Maseratis had proved their performance and their reliability both as sports and formula racers but Maserati recognized their pre-war roots would soon render them obsolete. Ferrari was enjoying success with his Lampredi-designed 4-cylinder cars; Maserati had in its history one of the most successful 4-cylinder designs on record, the supercharged 1½ liter 4CL. One went on the Maserati dyno, naturally aspirated, and demonstrated that a small displacement 4-cylinder was capable of being competitive. Maserati commenced development of such an engine, incorporating current design elements. Combined with a chassis derived from the 250F and an envelope body like that of the final A6GCS, Maserati had a 1½ liter sports car.

The alloy 150S engine was an all-new design using dual overhead camshafts driven by a gear train at the front of the engine that also provided takeoffs for the dual ignition’s magnetos, dry sump lubrication and water pump. Two valves per cylinder were actuated by roller cam followers and hairpin springs. The 4CL had been a "square" design with equal bore and stroke but Maserati’s new sports car engine was designed "oversquare" with dimensions of 81 x 72mm, allowing it to rev higher and making room for larger valves that the forced induction 4CL hadn’t needed. The frame was a typically robust Maserati construction of large oval main tubes supplemented by smaller tubes to support the body and mechanicals. Front suspension was by A-arms, lever shocks and coil springs. A live rear axle was tried, found wanting and rejected in favor of a sliding pivot deDion axle with transverse leaf spring and lever shocks. It was nothing radical, just sound and well executed Maserati practice capable of being competitively maintained by customers’ mechanics. The 150S’s full envelope 2-seat bodies were scale models of Maserati’s premier 300S sports cars, no doubt adding to the small cars’ appeal since the 300S is regarded as one of the most functionally beautiful sports-racers ever built.

Racers know, "if it looks right, it is right," and nothing demonstrates the truth of that aphorism better than the mid-Fifties Maserati sports-racers.

The 150S was successful in its first outing, the 1955 Nürburgring 500km race where Porsche stalwart Jean Behra recognized its potential and realized it with a qualifying time 2.3 seconds clear of the nearest competitor. Behra went on to win the race itself by some two minutes over von Frankenberg’s Porsche 550 Spyder. The 150S continued to acquit itself well against increasingly tough competition from Porsche, Lotus and Cooper but Maserati recognized a variant would add a new market in the 2-liter class where the A6GCS was now increasingly uncompetitive. The 200S, perhaps Maserati’s most successful small displacement race car, was born from that commercial opportunity.

While the engine was basically the same as the 150S, now with 60mm main bearings and 92 x 75mm bore and stroke, the 200S took advantage of its larger bore size to add bigger valves breathing through larger 45mm Weber carburetors which allowed it to generate some 186hp. The chassis was indistinguishable from the 150S. Bodywork evolved with Maserati’s experience with the 300S and 450S but remained lithe and elemental.

The car offered here is the first 200S, chassis number 2401, used as the Maserati factory’s test and development car for over a year and one of the most important Maseratis built. 2401 made the 200S’s first competitive outing at the 1955 Imola Sports Car GP where it was crashed by Bracco. Along with another 200S entered by Tony Parravano it appeared in the 1955 Targa Florio driven by Bracco and Bordoni but Bracco again crashed the car, this time both in practice and in the race. 2401 continued to be used as the factory’s development car by test drivers Luigi Bellucci and Giuseppe Musso (younger brother of GP driver Luigi Musso) which produced the ultimate specification 200SI (Sport Internazionale) in 1956 with uprated engine, 5-speed gearbox, longer nose, larger brakes, FIA-spec full windscreen and folding top. With its sleek shape the 200SI is perhaps the most charismatic, effective and beautiful Maserati sports-racer ever built.

2401 was, in fact, configured as a 200SI, probably the first of the series, when its certificate of origin was issued April 26, 1956. These were superb customer race cars, strongly built, quick, powerful and inherently good handling. Their capability is demonstrated by the caliber of their drivers and team owners, recognized names such as Lance Reventlow, Carroll Shelby, Jim Hall, John Fitch, Jim Kimberley, Jo Bonnier, Giorgio Scarlatti. Important victories include Scarlatti’s class win in the 1956 Mille Miglia and Willy Daetwyler’s 1957 European Mountain Championship. The 200S engine was further enlarged to 2½ liters in 1958 to create the 250S, of which only four were built by Maserati although many 200S engines were increased to 2½ liters by their owners. The 2½ liter engine itself went on to power many Grand Prix chassis with some success.

The Maserati factory entered 2401 in the 1956 Naples GP and later in the Mille Miglia, probably driven by Bellucci who was running well until forced to retire with thoroughly soaked and ineffective brakes, an experience not uncommon in 1956’s rain-soaked event. 2401 probably competed in further Continental events, where the Maserati factory entered 200S cars at various times when drivers and time to prepare the small displacement racers could be found in the factory race shop’s busy schedule. Top rank drivers like Jean Behra, Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio, Piero Taruffi and Harry Schell competed regularly in both factory and private Maserati 200S and 200SI entries. There is every chance that some of these luminaries shared 2401’s driver’s seat during its factory racing history. At the end of 1956 it is believed 2401 was shipped to Venezuela for Jean Behra to drive in the 1000km race, then sold to a local driver, appearing in a variety of races, possibly including the Cuban GP and at Nassau, over the next few years.

Eventually 2401 found its way to Chris Drake in the U.K. in the early ‘70s, then to Maserati fancier and historian Joel Finn in the US. Finn sold it to Japan in 1979 where it has been displayed in the Kawaguchiko Motor Museum for the past twenty-two years. Only some 33 Maserati 200S and 200SI cars were built they are cherished by their owners and rarely come on the market, even less often at public sale. 2401 is one of only four 200S chassis built by Maserati itself, the production chassis fabrication being sublet to Gilberto Colombo (GILCO). After over a year of extensive development as a works race car, 2401 was finally configured and sold in the ultimate, powerful and most beautiful 200SI configuration. Despite its works racing history it is offered here, still with its original engine, after over two decades’ careful preservation out of the public eye.

....

One of the most desirable and beautiful sports-racers ever built, Maserati 200SI S/N 2401 is a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire an important, fast, tractable and extremely rare example of the fabled Maserati factory’s best work. It is eligible for, and will be welcomed by, the most prestigious and enjoyable events such as the Mille Miglia and Monterey Historics while providing its new owner with a thoroughly rewarding driving experience, joining the ranks of discerning 200SI drivers like Stirling Moss, Jim Hall and Jean Behra.

[Subsequent information from Maserati confirmed the racing history, including Caracas with Jean Behra.]

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