In the immediate post-war period, because of the
attentions turned to Guido Barbieri’s 6CS/' 46, Maserati came back to a more
incisive engagement in the Sport category. But in spite of its successes, the
car was not seen as a good one: Enzo Ferrari had announced his enter in the
Sport category with a new car, a 12 cylinders sport spider with his name: the
125 S; moreover, the technological development of the cars was very fast, and it
was increased by the interest and the fascination that this kind of contests
provoked
. Maserati did not remain insensitive to these spurs and gave life to an intense
program of development. Since the beginning, it was decided to discard the
employment of a DOCH 6, and it was preferred to give attention to the possible
evolutions of the line-4 engine of the berlinetta A6, on which it was decided to
increase the displacement to 2000 cc.; it was obtained with a new camshaft and a
modification of the bore. Using three Weber carburetors and the increase of the
compression ratio, such to impose the use of a metilico alcool mixture like fuel,
carried to increase the power from 65 to 120 hp (ulteriorly increasable with new
modifications). The single head with two valves for cylinder remained the same.
The first official test for the new car had to be the circuit of Pescara ( May
11th 1947): Ferrari took sides with his 125 S with 1,5 liters 12 cylinders,
driven by Franco Cortese. Villoresi, who would have had to race on the new Sport
Maserati, did not succeed in doing it because the development of the car was not
considered satisfactory. The more important characteristic of the car was its
closed auto body, in order to search of an exasperated aerodinamichal research.
Even if it was still without an exact identity, the car took part in the 1947
Mille Miglia and in the circuit of Varese but without having any success. The
first reason was due to the auto body which was very heavy and so this penalised
the agility and the brakes. Consequently, during the summer of 1947, Ing.
Massimino redesigned all the chassis and the closed auto body became a spider
two-seat called A6GCS where "G" indicated the fusion in cast iron of
the base and "CS" the destination of the car: "Race and
Sport".
The chassis was formed with “Mannesmann” tubes with elliptic section and
made by the Gilco of Milan. The suspensions were very similar to the ones of the
berlinetta but they were modified in order to improve the grip. The engine has
been installed a little on the right, so the engine-tree could have been built
near the pilot on the left; for this reason the barycentre has been lowered and
this could give great advantage to the handling (most of all during the curves
which were conducted towards right. On this interesting mechanics, Fantuzzi
created a dressed type " torpedo " with mudguards of motorcycle type
detached from the body car. Embedded in the front template of classic Maserati
style, there was the only light, which was surely in compliance with the rules
of the Sport category but it equally penalized races of long duration in which
it was necessary to add two lights in the sides of the front part. In the
meantime also Ferrari with its 159 S reached the 2 litres displacement. The duel
between the two factories from Modena, which hadn’t happened at the Mille
Miglia, was repeated at the 1947 circuit of Modena of during which the Maserati
was placed to the first two places with Ascari and Villoresi but they lost to
the following contest in Turin.
For 1948 the competition demonstrated itself ready to create problems to the
Maserati, but Maserati decided not to develop the car. This carried to a
disastrous result during the first raceof the season at the circuit of Sicily:
the cars of Villoresi and Ascari lost the contest in disappointing way. At the
Mille Miglia, the Maserati took four official cars which had been modified by
Ing. Massimino: because of the "circuit " had fast fields and highway
sections, it was decided to carry out some modifies of aerodynamic character in
order to increase the pure speed and protect much more the pilot from the sprays
in rain case; so four mudguards joined together to the central body of the car
through bolts were built. A solution, this, which was imitated from many
factories, but that the same Maserati abandoned soon in order to return to the
previous configuration; in fact the car had great qualities and could be driven
very easily along tormented distances, in which it had great agility, torque and
almost perfect weight distribution. And in fact, when to these characteristics
was added the sublime qualities of Giovanni Bracco, great pilot on circuits, the
successes arrived plentiful: among them, surely the most important one was the
Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti; the winning of Bracco had been made more
extraordinary with the 2nd place of Villoresi. Ascari, instead, won the race at
the circuit of Pescara.
In parallel with the official engagements, Maserati dedicated itself with great
efforts in developing the seme-officials cars and those for the customers,
engaged in the 2 litres “Corsa” category, next to become Formula 2. The
A6GCS could be used as a two seats spider 2, as a single-seat: it was sufficient
to remove the mudguards, to cover the seat of the passenger with a small roof in
sheet and to eliminate the spare wheel. In this last configuration, the 2 liters
cars gained many duels with the Gordini, the Single-seat Cisitalia D46 and the
Ferrari 166 F2. In the meantime the development of the A6GCS "Monofaro"
went on: new cylinders blocks were adopted (made with light alloy) and dry
Carter was adopted. With these modifications the power increased to 140 hp.
Unfortunately, because of more important interests, the single-seater did not
receive these new solutions, blocking every future. In the same time a phase of
technical stall was produced and "Monofaro " continued the activity
exclusively in the hands of the private pilots which went on in obtaining a
certain success.
The problems that in those days were running over the factory refrained the
production: only 13 cars had been built; 7 cars had been built in 1947-48, the
others 6 in the two following years. In 1952 the activity went again to full
regimen: It was decided to participate directly in the F2 category with the
A6GCM with DOHC line-6 and double ignition. With light modifications, the same
engines were ready to be installed also in the A6GCS. This happened to the
chassis n. 2019 (which was sent to Brazil) and 2039 in 1953 (it had been ordered
by Antonio Pompeo of New York). This car, beyond to the new engine, had a new
wrapping auto body and, in the intentions of the factory, it represented the
first A6GCS/' 53 whose presentation was imminent.
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