Maserati 250F
Year:
1954
Manufacturer:
Officine Alfieri Maserati S.p.A., Modena, Italy
Number Produced:
26
Specifications:
2500cc Inline 6 cylinder DOHC engine
240 BHP (176.64 KW) @ 7200 RPM
Triple Weber DCO Twin-choke Carburettors
Two spark plugs per cylinder
Multi-tubular space frame chassis
Top speed 290 km/h ( 180mph)
Description:
Driven by Juan-Manuel Fangio, the Maserati 250F won its debut race, the Argentine Grand Prix.
In all the 250F won 8 world Championship Grand Prix races driven by Fangio and Stirling Moss and two World Championship Titles.
This particular car, shortly after achieving 3rd in the Argentine GP of 1956 in the hands of then BRM driver Mike Hawthorn, was bought by Australian Jack Brabham . Brabham then brought the car to New Zealand for the 1956-57 season and it was sold to Gavin Quirk of Te Awamutu (8th in 1958 NZGP), and then to Hamilton’s Lenny Gilbert (5= NZ Gold Star 1961).
However next to campaign the Maserati was nineteen-year-old Chris Amon of Bulls having traded an early Cooper through Tony Shelley to acquire it. Bruce Wilson of Hunterville rebuilt the car (now painted red) for the 1962 season and Amon drove it with such verve that he was spotted by English former driver and then team manager Reg Parnell, who was said to have remarked that he had not seen a 250F driven like that since (five-times world champion) Juan Manuel Fangio.
So was launched the career of the driver who many say was New Zealand’s most talented, and indeed one of the most naturally gifted Formula One drivers of all time – Chris Amon