Beschreibung:

Of the six surviving Maserati brothers, all except Mario would go on to become motor engineers; and even Mario had a role to play in the marque’s foundation, designing its famous Trident badge, which is said to have been inspired by the statue of Neptune in Bologna, where the factory was situated at Pontevecchio. Società Anonima Officine Maserati was set up in December 1914 by Alfieri Maserati, specialising in the tuning and repair of Isotta-Fraschini motor cars. After the end of The Great War, Alfieri and his brother Ettore were recruited to manage Diatto’s racing programme, and when that company withdrew from active competition the pair, together with Ernesto Maserati, set up on their own. The Maseratis were racing specialists – the first Maserati road car would not appear for several years – and their first product was a 1.5-litre supercharged straight eight intended for the formula that commenced in 1926. It would turn out to be an auspicious debut, for the new Tipo 26, crewed by Alfieri Maserati and mechanic Guerino Bertocchi, won its class in that year’s Targa Florio. As a low volume producer whose products were aimed at wealthy enthusiasts, Maserati was relatively unaffected by the Depression and production increased steadily if unspectacularly; of the ten Tipo 26s built up to 1928, four were used by the works and six sold to privateers. The Formule Libre years of the early Thirties would see Maserati achieve its first Grand Prix victory, when Baconin Borzacchini won the Tripoli GP in 1930 at the wheels of the V16-engined ‘V4’, but within a few years the Bologna firm would find itself relegated from racing’s front rank by the might of the state-backed Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams. Maserati responded by concentrating its efforts on the voiturette class, which was not contested by the German manufacturers, enjoying considerable success in that category. First introduced in 1931, the 1,100cc Tipo 4CM was Maserati’s first racing voiturette. Built alongside the 4CS two-seater sports-racer, the 4CM monoposto was powered by a 1,088cc twin-overhead-camshaft supercharged ‘four’ that produced 125bhp at 6,600rpm, an output sufficient to propel these compact little cars to a top speed of 130mph. Delivered new in 1937 to Count Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi, better known in motor racing circles as ‘Johnny’ Lurani, one of the founder members of Scuderia Ambrosiana together with Luigi Villoresi and Franco Cortese, chassis number ‘1128’ is one of the very last Tipo 4CMs made. Manufactured in February 24th 1937 and supplied in 1,100cc specification, ‘1128’ came with a spare cylinder block, pistons, connecting rods and supercharger enabling it to be converted to 1,500cc when required. Lurani was very successful with this car throughout the 1937 and 1938 seasons, winning the 1,100cc category at Turin, Milan, Genoa, Naples and Palermo, and taking the Italian National Championship. (A full list of this car’s race results can be found in the Adolfo Orsi archive). ‘1128’ was one of four Maseratis taken to South Africa in the winter of 1937/38 by Scuderia Ambrosiana. At Cape Town, the last stop on the itinerary, Lurani shared the 4CM with Villoresi, who took over the drive when in 6th place and had worked the unfancied 1½-litre car up to a fighting 3rd place at the finish. On its return the 4CM was rebuilt in Italy in preparation for the forthcoming season. Lurani ran the car in 1,500cc form at the Tripoli Grand Prix, where he set fastest lap and finished third, and in the Targa Florio where he retired, before converting it back to 1,100cc, for handicap reasons, for the London Grand Prix in June. Held at the Crystal Palace circuit, this event would prove to be a fateful one for the Count, who overturned his 4CM in practice, breaking a hip. The car was only superficially damaged but Lurani’s injury was severe enough to end his monoposto racing career. ‘I acted as a cushion for the car when it landed,’ he was quoted as saying. With his single-s