Simon Cars - Maserati 300S

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Maserati 300S

Maserati wanted to enter the new FIA World Sports Car Championship inaugarated in 1953, but found its engines were two small to compete against Ferrari, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz. At first Maserati tried to build a sports car with the engine of the 250F F1 car, but in the end Vittorio Bellentani developed a new 2992cc dohc 6-cylinder engine of lower compression to comply with FIA regulations and for reliability on longer sports car races. The 300S was ready for the 1955 season but didn't do very well, and was modified for 1956 with better earodynamics. Stirling Moss took the 300S to victory in the 1956 Nurburgring 1000 KM race and many other races to finish second in the World Championship. In 1957 Maserati started to develop the larger 450S and the 300S dropped into the background, before the FIA imposed a 3-litre limit for the 1958 season; Maserati withdrew from factory racing in that year.

Maserati 300S 1955. A dohc 3-litre engine was developed out of the the 2.5-litre unit in the 250F and a trellis chassis built for the 300S with bodywork by Medardo Fantuzzi

Maserati 300S 1955. Based on the chassis and mechanics of the monoposto Maserati 250F, the 300S was a success winning the 1955 Venezualan GP with Fangio at the wheel. 1956 gained many more trophys for the 300S when Giulio Alfieri steered the technical development whilst Stirling Moss piloted the car. Coachwork by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi.

Maserati 300S 1955. Only 28 Maserati 300S cars were made, and there were many variations in the body work, and often cars were 'updated' over the years. The grilled side vents were given to the early cars, whilst late cars had slits like sharks gills. Early cars had full wide noses with wide grilles, later cars had narrow grilles, and even longer noses.

Maserati 300S 1956. This 300S is in the configuration raced by Stirling Moss to victory on the Nurburgring 1956

Maserati 300S 1956. Using a 2991cc 6-cylinder engine derived from the Maserati 250F engine, the dohc, twin spark unit yielded 260bhp and was designed for reliability on the longer sports car races. Medardo Fantuzzi designed the body for 1955 and a longer nose one from 1956.

Maserati 300S 1956. Medardo Fantuzzi designed the body for 1955 and a longer nose one from 1956.

Maserati 300S 1958. This has the longer nose Medardo Fantuzzi body for better aerodynamics

Maserati 300S 1958. The slit vents for colling resemble shark gills and were something of a Fantuzzi trademark, but didn't appear on early cars.

Maserati 300S 1958. A long nose for later cars, a shark gill side vents

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key text: This is the page introducing Simons love of cars from the website RedSimon which is a series of photo albums of Simon GP Geoghegan.
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