Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / When Fred met OSCA: A tale of two Maseratis

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When Fred met OSCA: A tale of two Maseratis · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Breakfix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
• 0:04
  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
• 0:07
  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
• 0:11
  Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
• 0:16
  When Fred Met Asuka by Trevor Lister This presentation considers the short
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  competition life of two cars intended to run at Indianapolis in 1950 that
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  ended up in New Zealand six years later.
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  In 1956, two brothers traveled to Italy intending to purchase
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  a car to race back home.
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  They returned with three, two IndyCars and a 1930s 6CM.
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  The first part of this paper covers the modest racing history
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  of these cars in New Zealand.
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  The second explores an identity policy that popped up while exploring the role
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  of the engines in setting the tipos and individual identities of these cars.
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  The policy did not set chassis numbers nor even give engine numbers.
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  Rather, it set out to describe the features of the engine as used on
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  a particular car, for instance, as it applied to the 1938 8CTFs.
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  The eight C part of the description tells us that there are eight cylinder
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  engines and the TF bit that these particular engines had fixed cylinder
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  heads taken together, we get an eight CTF car, but eight CTF is an engine
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  description, not a car one, the conundrum to be explored in this presentation.
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  On leaving high school at the end of 1966, Trevor Lister was
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  apprenticed to an engineering company that designed and built all types
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  of materials handling equipment, along with road and farm vehicles.
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  He was employed primarily in the drawing office, along with stints on
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  fabrication and assembly in the workshop.
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  Trevor entered the University of Canterbury on a public service
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  scholarship, graduating with a double degree in physics
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  and mechanical engineering.
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  On graduation, he worked in the Ministry of Transport in setting administration
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  of motor vehicle safety standards.
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  This led to a secondment to a national research and development organization
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  where he was responsible for research on a wider range of alternative
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  motor vehicle fuels and also an international consultancy in that area.
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  On completion, he returned to his foundational automotive design
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  skills and motor sports hobby.
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  In semi retirement, Trevor took up teaching and tutoring pre apprenticeship
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  students in mathematics and the science behind automotive engineering.
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  In full retirement, he took on the role of classic motor racing club
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  of New Zealand newsletter editor.
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  This presentation has been narrated on behalf of Trevor
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  Lister by Revel Arroway from Your Listening to Radio Revel podcast.
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  When Fred Met Aska, Part 1.
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  The Zambuca Family.
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  Fred was the eldest of five brothers.
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  Post World War II, he joined his father's business trading from
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  a yard beside their family home.
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  The yard included a large shed that contained war surplus army equipment,
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  including trucks, cars, and motorcycles.
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  When an itch to race came along, the shed contained the wherewithal to do
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  so, in the form of a stripped out DeSoto that gave up its chassis and running
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  gear to become a typical Kiwi special.
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  In time, it was replaced by a string of obsolescent Maseratis,
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  an HCM in 1953, and the two HCLT Indianapolis cars mentioned above.
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  These two HCLT cars are the focus of this presentation.
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  Fred raced from 1950 to 1956 with modest success.
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  The photos show the HCM and the DeSoto Special, caught mid spin
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  with its prominent waterfall grille.
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  Between Fred and its next owner, the DeSoto had a working
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  career from 1951 to 1957.
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  Not bad for a Kiwi Special.
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  But by 1953, Fred was looking for something a little faster.
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  He had hoped to buy a New Zealand domiciled Alfa Romero Tipo B,
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  but the car went elsewhere.
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  So it wasn't until the following year that he parted company with
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  the DeSoto, upgrading to a Maserati HCM, imported from England.
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  Towards the end of 1954, Fred ran the HCM in the Australian Grand Prix, this
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  on a road not previously used for racing.
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  A period race report described the HCM as being, quote, almost uncontrollable on
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  the bumpy Queensland country back roads.
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  Staying a little longer in Australia, Fred fared better on a smoother
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  surface, setting a new Australian speed record of 158 miles per hour,
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  254 kilometers per hour, in the 8CM.
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  Back in New Zealand, and now much better acquainted with the car, Fred
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  qualified on the second row of the grid for the 1955 New Zealand Grand Prix.
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  A spin into the hay bales early on compromised his race, but he
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  came home a creditable second.
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  7th, and the second New Zealander home,
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  when Fred met Oscar Part Two, Change in the Wind.
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  Change was already at hand, with the local rear engine Coopers now showing
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  an ability to compete with the older, but more powerful pre war machines.
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  More Coopers were on the way, but Fred chose a different
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  path for his 1956 season.
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  Where others went small, he went big, going for a more powerful
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  version of the older breed.
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  The HCM went to a new owner, and Fred went to Italy.
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  He returned with three cars, and a plan to both race the cars himself,
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  and to hire them out to others.
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  A Scuderia Zambuca, if you will.
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  What was on offer in Italy was a pre war 6CM.
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  and the two eight CLTs that had been built for use at Indianapolis
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  in 1950, but couldn't be completed in time for that race.
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  Fred and one of his brothers found them in a dark corner of
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  the OSCA works while looking for suitable cars for their Scuderia.
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  Other accounts say the cars were at the Maserati factory in Modena.
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  Maybe, maybe not.
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  The Asuka brand was a path of retreat for the Maserati brothers following
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  the expiration of their 10 year service agreement with the Orsi family.
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  There are instances where the Maserati brothers took on upgrades and repairs
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  to orphaned Maseratis, Bira's 4.
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  5 liter Asuka being an example, but whichever workshop they were
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  in Fred purchased both cars.
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  These two orphaned cars have been dubbed as 8 C L T.
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  They were commissioned by Francesco Roll for an attempt at the Indy 500 in 1950.
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  However, the nominated driver, Farina, decided to focus on the
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  upcoming Formula One season instead.
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  It didn't help that the cars were serial overheaters that couldn't be modified and
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  repaired in time for shipment to Indy.
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  Accordingly, the cars never went beyond their 1950 test sessions,
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  and still hadn't turned a wheel in anger the five years since.
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  So, when Fred took the cars on, he was taking a big gamble.
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  Their first race outing ever was at the January 1956 New Zealand Grand Prix, one
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  for Fred, and the second for the Scuderia.
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  The second car failed to qualify, with Fred on the third row of the grid.
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  He lay 8th halfway through, at which point his car demonstrated that the
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  problems that had prevented it running at Indianapolis were still in play.
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  Fred trailed home 12th, with the new owner of his older HCM
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  claiming 8th place position.
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  The overheating problem was handled by an instruction to the Scuderia
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  drivers to not exceed 4, 000 rpm.
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  How very apt.
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  The cars could easily run to 6500 RPM, at which point valve bounce would set in.
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  Both cars still exist, one in the United States and the other in New Zealand.
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  Sadly, Fred Zambuca raced the cars only once, and then only one of them.
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  In May 1956, he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died.
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  Both cars were sold to Frank Schuter via Fred's estate.
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  One of them, car 3036, raced on, courtesy of Frank who acted as custodian
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  for the cars, overhauling them both while squeezing in a half dozen or
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  so of race entries with car 3036.
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  The last recorded race entry for car 3036 was in the 1961 New Zealand Grand
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  Prix, after which it found a new owner in England, and is now in the United States.
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  In due time, the second car, 3037, found its way into Southwards Motor
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  Museum, where it has rested since 1963,
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  when Fred met Oskar, Part III, the 8 CTF family.
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  The Orsi family enabled the Maserati family Grand Prix race car development
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  work to continue, resulting in the 1938 1939 HCTF, the eight cylinder,
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  fixed head engine known as the HCTF, Was first named by the Orsi family
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  who kept this arrangement throughout their manufacturer with engines
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  identified as eight CTFs in 1938.
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  The HC bit tells us that these were eight cylinder cars and the
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  TF bit tells us that their engines had cylinder heads fixed Test.
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  The visa taken together, we get an eight CTF car.
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  Remember though, eight CTF is an engine description.
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  Not a car description.
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  First emerging in 1938, the HCTFs were well capable of taking on the
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  German teams in terms of speed, but were unreliable when raced.
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  The first of them made its race debut in Tripoli in May 1938, and
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  from that point on, this engine family, and its later progeny,
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  can be split into three subgroups.
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  Uh, keep in mind that the existing Formula One teams had been put on notice that
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  from 1947 onwards, supercharged cars would be restricted to no more than 1, 500 cc,
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  a stricture that essentially finished the eight CTF racing careers in Europe.
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  Little wonder, then, that a number of them ended up in the Americas, or elsewhere.
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  The early eight CTFs, subgroup one, three off.
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  Two cars ran in Europe in 38, commonly identified as 30 30 and 30 31.
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  Note that it was standard Maserati practice that engines set the identity
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  of the cars into which they were fitted.
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  As noted earlier, the numbers in the letters of the eight CTFs tell us
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  that we have cars carrying 30 31.
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  Eight cylinder engines with integral cylinder heads,
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  testa fissa, or fixed heads.
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  So, 3030 and 3031 are, strictly speaking, engine numbers, not chassis numbers.
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  Also note that the C, the F, and the T all relate to specific engine features,
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  not chassis or running gear features.
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  The first two HCTFs found their way to Indianapolis in 1940 and
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  stayed there for many a year.
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  Car 3032 had managed this trick a little earlier, but had been found on
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  delivery to have cracked cylinder blocks.
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  A replacement engine was provided, held to be engine 3033.
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  If that be true, then we may have an identity point to explore.
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  The HCLs, subgroup 2, two off.
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  The cars that went from Italy to Indianapolis in 1940 included
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  an HCL driven by Raul Rigante, on his way home to Argentina.
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  This car was identified as the Transcripts provided by
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  Transcription Outsourcing, LLC.
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  just in time to go into wartime storage.
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  It later emerged in the hands of Pascual Puopolo in the post war
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  Temporada races from 1946 to 1952.
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  As an aside, Pascual was one of Fangio's companions on the Auto Club of Argentina
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  mission to the USA and Europe in 1949.
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  A similar car, identified as the 3035 was entered by Scuderia Milano
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  for Biloresi to run at Indianapolis, with some success in 1946.
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  Returning to Italy, it later turned up driven by either Farina
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  or Villoresi, or both, accounts vary, in the 1948 Temporada races.
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  In his 1961 autobiography, Fangio's account of who drove what and where
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  in 1948 places Villoresi in a Quote, 1500 cc, four cylinder Maserati and
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  Farina in a quote, three liter four CLT.
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  This firsthand account places farina in the HCL and REI in a four CL.
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  It also puts a fly in the ointment by quoting the T bit as part of
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  the description for this car.
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  T for tubular.
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  But again, Maserati practice was that engine numbers determined
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  the identity of the car they were placed in, and the chassis number
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  was the same as that of the engine.
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  All in all, there is no ground for calling either of these cars anything other than
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  HCTFs, as they have all the distinguishing engine features of the earlier cars.
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  The 1950 HCLTs, subgroup 3,
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  Our two target cars make up the last group.
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  They were built to run at Indianapolis in 1950, and intended to be driven by
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  Farina and Roll, these two looking to take advantage of a new arrangement in Formula
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  One by which drivers placing at Indy also qualified for World Championship points.
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  But, these cars became no shows when overheating problems were encountered
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  while testing the cars in Italy.
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  Troubles that couldn't be rectified in time for the cars to make the trip
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  to the USA, after which they were tucked away either in the Maserati
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  or Oscar workshops, accounts vary.
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  There they stayed until Fred Zambuca and his brother took them
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  back to New Zealand in early 1956.
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  They made their first ever race appearance in the 1956 New Zealand
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  Grand Prix, identified as 3036 and 3037.
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  These two cars were the final iteration of the underlying 8CTF design.
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  Their engines were built from two 4CLT units end on end, with fixed cylinder
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  heads and four valves per cylinder, this time in a scaled up 4CL chassis with a
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  dose of extra wheelbase to hold it all in.
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  Hence, 8CLT describes the New Zealand cars.
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  Here again, as they have all of the distinguishing engine features
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  of the earlier cars, There is no ground for calling these
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  cars anything other than HCTFs.
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  Postscripts.
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  Fun times following engines.
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  A few years ago, Trevor Lister and Donald Capps took a good hard look
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  at the processes used at Maserati when identifying their race cars.
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  This work was directed specifically at the 1950s Maserati 250F Grand Prix
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  cars, but their findings also held good when applied to other Tipos,
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  including Maserati, that is, 1928.
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  Put simply, the cars were identified according to the engines that went into
• 16:50
  them, not their chassis identification.
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  Further, when a car received a new or replacement engine, the
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  car was re identified according to the number of the replacement
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  engine, not the original engine.
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  engine.
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  Trevor and Don's work on the 250Fs is available on request.
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  It then occurred to them that the car identifications quoted in the
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  available histories were as much the gift of the commentators as
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  of the factory that made them.
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  Below is a straightforward example of this, illustrating
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  what happened at Maserati when the identification tags were handed out.
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  Postscript 1, a bit of calibration.
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  In 1934, Maserati began manufacture of a new design of six cylinder race cars.
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  These were assembled on the existing chassis of the 8CM.
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  If the chassis number was set in the car ID, then these new hybrid
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  cars would carry identities in the 8CM sequence, but not so.
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  The six cylinder engines in these cars set the identity of these cars,
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  not their brand new 8CM chassis.
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  These days, we call these cars 6CMs, that is, six cylinder engines.
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  Monopostos.
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  A caution.
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  The 6CMs referenced above had engines quite different in
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  character from those of the 8CMs from whence they got their chassis.
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  That is, they had six cylinders rather than eight and a
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  displacement beginning at 3.
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  3 liters that eventually reached 3.
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  7 liters.
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  Despite this, they still share the engine numbering sequence of the earlier 8CM 3.
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  3s.
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  Stretch the approximation a little and consider that 3.
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  3 and 3.
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  7 liters are still less than 4 liters.
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  So, the 3.
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  0 bit, as the first two digits of the engine number, is not compromised.
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  Postscript 2.
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  This table follows the 3.
• 18:55
  0 liter 30xx sequence of engines from 1930s onwards,
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  beginning with the HCMs of 1933.
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  These engine numbers start at 30 05.
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  The 30 bit tells us that we are looking at a 3 liter engine, and the 05 bit
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  denotes that this is indeed the 5th engine of that size ever made by Maserati.
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  The table below starts in 1933, and ends with the introduction
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  of the 300S sports cars in 1955.
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  This is not the end of the 30XX series of engines.
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  In 1955, the 300S sports cars appeared in the lists, bringing their engine stream
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  with them, which is not surprising, given the five year gap between the end
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  of the 8CLs and the rise of the 300S.
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  What is surprising is that there is a 14 engine gap in the engine
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  numbering sequence between these two streams of three liter engines.
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  That is a lot of standalone or replacement engines.
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  Any help solving this mystery would be appreciated.
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  Postscript three.
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  These photos show José Freulein González racing an Argentine Mecánica
• 20:10
  Nacionale car at about the same time that Fred was finding his feet with
• 20:16
  the DeSoto Special in New Zealand.
• 20:19
  Half a world apart, yet the resemblance between the two cars is remarkable.
• 20:25
  A situation that often occurs when digging into Argentine and Kiwi race history, a
• 20:30
  topic perhaps for next year's symposium.
• 20:34
  This episode is brought to you in part by the International
• 20:36
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