Maserati 4CL

Maserati 4CL
Car Information
Manufacturer	Maserati
Engine	straight-4 supercharged engine
Engine displacement	1,491 cc (91.0 cu in)
Designer	Ernesto Maserati
Formula One World Championship
Years active	1950 & 1951
Constructor	Officine Alfieri Maserati, Enrico Plate, Scuderia Milano, Scuderia Ambrosiana
Grands Prix	33 - 1950
Wins	0 - 1950 (-200909.09%)

The Maserati 4CL was designed and manufactured in 1939 as a rival to the Alfa Romeo 158 and the various models of the ERA. More powerful, wider, lighter and lower the new 4CL was significantly better than predecessor the Maserati 6CM.

The car was raced largely after the war and dominated GP racing at this time with multiple wins for drivers like Johnnie Wakefield, Luigi Villoresi and Raymond Sommer.

In 1948 a variation, the 4CLT/48 was produced. This was the car largely driven at World Championship events by the leading Maserati entrants and constructors but some 4CL models were still present. A later model which also featured in Formula 1 was the 4CLT/50.

During 1950, the various versions of the Maserati 4CL were the most populist on the grid with its entrants starting 33 races from the six rounds they competed in.

4CL

Villoresi and the Officine Alfieri Maserati team

1946 Nuvolari GP des Nations

As the 1930's arrived, motorsport started getting more competitive and the Maserati brothers looked to build a replacement of their 6CM model that had enjoyed GP racing success. The cars to beat were the Alfa Romeo 158 and ERA when Maserati launched the new 4CL.

The car had a new inline-4 engine, an improvement of up to 50bhp on the predecessor with a more powerful supercharger. Wider and Lower due to a new suspension layout and Lighter with more aluminium parts, the car was superior to the 6CM.

With star driver Luigi Villoresi, the 4CL took pole position on its debut at the 1939 Tripoli Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes brand new W165, but all four of the new Maseratis retired with engine troubles. However, two races later, privateer Johnnie Wakefield picked up the car's first victory at the Naples GP. Two more wins were achieved by Wakefield and the factory cars picked up another two before the outbreak of war.

After the war, the Maserati's went through a period of dominance in the absence of the German cars with wins from Luigi Villoresi, Tazio Nuvolari and Giorgio Pelassa but it was in the hands of Frenchman Raymond Sommer that the car was at its most formidable in 1946.

1947 would prove even more successful despite Alfa Romeo fielding the revamped 158, Maserati drivers picking up 10 individual race victories.

In 1948 the Maserati factory team, Oficine Alfieri Maserati and leading Maserati teams switched to the new 4CLT/48, selling their 4CL's to yet more privateer teams and entrants.

Variants

Model 1585

The model was ordered for Enrico Platé in April 1947 to which it was subsequently used by a number of drivers in Grand Prix events over the following two years. In 1949, Platé sold this chassis to Joe Fry whom competed in the car at the 1949 Goodwood Trophy, 1949 BRDC International Trophy and the 1950 British Grand Prix. After Fry's death at the Blandford Hillclimb, the car passed to Duncan Hamilton and Philip Fotheringham-Parker.

The car subsequently was retired from active racing after five seasons and would eventually be used in historic racing by various British owners. Since 2007, the car resides in the Tubingen Motor Museum in Germany.

4CLT/48

Factory Driver Villoresi in competing in a 4CLT/48

Fangio racing his 4CLT/48 at Pau

Prince Bira's modified 4CLT/48 - OSCA engined

In 1947 Maserati started experimenting with a 4CLs and a feature from this experimental car was brought to the new 4CLT/48. T denotes the new innovation, a Tubular Chasis and 48 denotes 1948.

The new car produced 260BHP, an increase in 40BHP from the previous model, brought by the introduction of a Twin-Supercharger. The 4CLT/48 was sometimes refered to as the Sanremo, after winning at the circuit on its debut. Alberto Ascari's victory at the 1948 Sanremo Grand Prix was followed by wins for Reg Parnell and Luigi Villoresi. The car took six wins in 1948 and was also notable for being the car that Juan Manuel Fangio raced in his early European racing career.

The race winning form continued into 1949 with victories at 9 of the first 15 races of the season including Toulo de Graffenried winning at the 1949 British Grand Prix but the rest of the season saw a resurgence from the Ferrari and Talbot-Lago teams.

In 1950 the World Championship was launched and the hugely upgraded Alfa Romeo 158 and relaunched the factory team. In reaction to this Maserati fitted bigger superchargers to their car, bringing the pre-war design up to 280BHP and shed some weight but the performance was not there. The season's only Formula One wins came in non-Championship events. whilst The Milano team modified a 4CLT for use in 1950 and 1951, but without success.

In 1951, Prince Bira relaunched his own team and modified his 4CLT/48 to accept a naturally aspirated OSCA V12 engine. This engine developed around 300 bhp and won the Goodwood race early in the season, but in its only World Championship appearance, at the 1951 Spanish Grand Prix, it retired on the first lap.

The 4CLT/48's best Grand Prix result was achieved by Louis Chiron at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, surviving the first lap incident, the Monegasque driver brought his car home 3rd.

4CLT/50

Maserati-Milano 4CLT/50

The 4CLT/50 was a version of the 4CLT/48 car with an enlarged 1.719cc engine, designed to be competed in Argentina, when they returned to Europe they were converted back to the Formula 1 World Championship specification and were used in 1950 by the Scuderia Milano team in two rounds.

The team also used the Maserati-Milano, a modified version of the car at the 1950 Italian Grand Prix with tuned engine and shorter wheelbase.

Race Victories

Year	Event	Driver	Notes

Complete Formula One Results

Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1950
Officine Alfieri Maserati	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	Chiron	Ret	3rd		9th		Ret	Ret
				Rol		Ret				Ret	Ret
Scuderia Ambrosiana			D	Murray	Ret						Ret
				Hampshire	9th					Ret
				Parnell				DNA		Ret	DNA
Enrico Platé			P	de Graffenried	Ret	Ret		6th			6th
				Bira	Ret	5th		4th			Ret
Joe Fry	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	D	Fry	10th†
				Shawe-Taylor	10th†
Scuderia Achille Varzi	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	González		Ret				Ret
				Piàn		DNS
				Pagani				7th
	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s		Branca				11th
Antonio Branca									10th
Scuderia Milano	4CLT/50	Milano 1.5 L4s		Bonetto				5th		Ret
				Comotti							Ret
Paul Pietsch	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s		Pietsch							Ret
1951
Enrico Platé	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	Chiron	7th
				Schell	12th			Ret
				de Graffenried				Ret		Ret
				Pietsch						DNS
Scuderia Milano	4CLT/50	Milano 1.5 L4s		Marimón				Ret
				Godia-Sales								10th
				Jover								DNS
Scuderia Ambrosiana	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	D	Murray					Ret	DNS
John James				James					Ret
Philip Fotheringham-Parker	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s		Fotheringham-Parker					Ret
Antonio Branca	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	D	Branca						Ret
Birabongse Bhanudej		OSCA 4500 4.5 V12		Bira								Ret
1952
Enrico Platé	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	de Graffenried	6th			Ret†	19th			DNQ
				Schell	Ret			Ret†	17th
				Crespo								DNQ
Fadely-Anderson/R.A. Cott		Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F	Forberg		DNQ
1953
Fadely-Anderson/R.A. Cott	4CLT/48	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F	Webb		DNQ
1957
Morgan Engineering	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	F	Kladis			DNQ

• ^† Indicates shared driving.

V T E	Maserati
Founders Alfieri Maserati · Bindo Maserati · Carlo Maserati · Ettore Maserati · Ernesto Maserati
Personnel Gioacchino Colombo · Valerio Colotti
Drivers Juan Manuel Fangio · Stirling Moss
Formula One Cars 4CL · 4CLT/48 · 4CLT/50 · A6GCM · 250F
Indianapolis 500 Cars 8CL · 8CTF · V8RI · 420M/58