Maserati 450S

Manufacturer	Maserati
Production	1956  to 1958
Produced	10
Length	4350 m m
Width	1500 mm
Height	1000  mm

The Maserati 450S is a 1950s competition car built by Maserati from 1956 to 1958 . 

History

The 450S at the time it was the most powerful sports car in its category and during the competitions in which it took part. It was rear-wheel drive powerfull car and was used in the FIA organized world championship sport prototypes .

Its design began in 1954 It had two doors and was convertible (hence the internal designation of the Maserati "Type 54"), and was followed by Vittorio Bellentani and Guido Taddeucci . In 1957 a special coupé version was built, designed by Frank Costin and built by Zagato , with the aim of participating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . The chassis was born with the number 4506, but for bureaucratic reasons it was changed to the 4501 previously belonged to a specimen of 450S that was destroyed.  In turn, the number 4506 was assigned to another chassis. The car was then entrusted to Stirling Moss and Harry Schell , but during the race he presented several problems until he retired due to a broken transmission.

Their goal was to use a larger engine than those used at the time by Maserati.Before the introduction of the 450S engine, the most powerful engine used by the trident was the one mounted on the Maserati 350S . That was one of the 450S V8 to run short with an engine capacity of 4478 cc . It had four Weber 45 IDM carburetors and delivered such high power that at the 400 hp test bench it could not be measured . The stroke of the cylinders was 81 mm while the  bore was 93.8 mm  .This had a double overhead camshaft  . The compression ratio was 9.5: 1 .Two successive versions of the engine were prepared, one with a 4700 cc and power of 410 hp and another with 5600 cc with an power output of 526 hp  . 

The tubular chassis and body were designed by Valerio Colotti . The 450S had inherited some technical solutions from Maserati 300S and used the De Dion axle , a  ZF gearbox type with five gears and suspensions with double quadrilaterals and helical springs. The maximum speed was 320 km / h .

The first example was actually a Maserati 350S (chassis 3501) extended in the chassis, equipped with the new V8 engine and equipped with a new design body. This made his debut at the evidence of the Grand Prix of Sweden of 1956 but was not used in the race because the chassis was considered inadequate to power the car. It was therefore decided to set aside the prototype and begin the construction of new specific frames for the 450S. Example number 4501 took part in the 1000 km of Argentina in 1957 with Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio at the helm , but a clutch failure prevented a good race after a promising start. This chassis was destroyed due to an accident during the Mille Miglia tests of the same year.The specimen with chassis number 4503 won the 12 Hours of Sebring of 1957 driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra , and the Swedish Grand Prix again with Behra assisted this time by Stirling Moss . It was later destroyed at the Venezuelan Grand Prix that same year and later rebuilt.

Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson competed in the Mille Miglia of 1957 with the specimen with the number of frame 4505 until the pedal of the brake yielded. During the 1000 km of the Nürburgring , driven by Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio , a wheel came loose . The car, renumbered as 4506, was then sold to John Edgar who deployed it in the North American SCCA races led by Carroll Shelby .The specimen with chassis number 4507 was destroyed in 1957 in Caracas during the Venezuelan Grand Prix .The car number 4508 was sold to ' architect US Temple Buell , which later increased the displacement of the engine to 5.7 L and then sold it to Jim Hall .

The other cars were sold: that 4502 chassis number to Tony Parravano , the 4504 to Jim Kimberley and the 4506 to John Edgar . Those with a number of frame 4509 and 4510 were sold in the United States , and were enhanced with increasing displacement of the engine to 5.7 and 6.6 L . They were used in competitions organized by the Sports Car Club of America led by Carroll Shelby , Jim Hall , Masten Gregory , Walt Cline and Ebb Rose .

Between 1956 and 1962 the 450S had 119 appearances in the races, with 31 victories.