The Maserati 4CLT was a single-seat racing cars that were designed and built by Maserati. The 4CL was introduced at the beginning of the 1939 season, as a rival to the Alfa Romeo 158 and various ERA models in the voiturette class of international Grand Prix motor racing. Although racing ceased during World War II, the 4CL was one of the front running models at the resumption of racing in the late 1940s. Experiments with two-stage supercharging and tubular chassis construction eventually led to the introduction of the revised 4CLT model in 1948. The 4CLT was steadily upgraded and updated over the following two years, resulting in the ultimate 4CLT/50 model, introduced for the inaugural year of the Formula One World Championship in 1950. In the immediate post-war period, and the first two years of the Formula One category, the 4CLT was the car of choice for many privateer entrants, leading to numerous examples being involved in most races during this period.
Overview[]
In the late 1930s, continued rapid development in the increasingly competitive international voiturette class, and the introduction of the Alfa Romeo 158 and ERA B- and C-type models, forced the Maserati brothers into designing a new, square-bore, inline-4-cylinder engine. This new engine developed 30–50 bhp more than the previous inline-6, the increase mostly achieved through an increase to four valves per cylinder, coupled to the use of a more powerful supercharger and a small increase in the compression ratio. Following customary Maserati practice, the engine was mounted into a chassis design almost identical to that of the 4CL's predecessor: the Maserati 6CM. Conventional in its architecture, twin box-section spars ran the length of the car joined, ladder-fashion, by smaller cross members, although the 4CL design did incorporate more aluminium componentry than its forebear. Although near-identical in its wheelbase, the 4CL's track was a full 5 cm (1.97 in) wider than the 6CM, and sat lower thanks to repositioned spring hangers.
James Bond's 1948 Maserati 4CL[]
Ian Fleming's character James Bond was to drive one in the TV James Bond episode Murder On Wheels (it was never made and abandoned after the films success). However he drives one in the Anthony Horowitz 2015 James Bond novel Trigger Mortis .
Murder on Wheels[]
In Fleming's original unpublished notes, Bond is at the Nürburgring in Germany, the infamous race track to stop SMERSH agents from deliberately sabotaging a race which will kill the British race car driver Stirling Moss and make it look like an unfortunate accident . He is trained to drive the Maserati by a female racer to tackle the course and he eventually defeats the agent by making him lose control of his vehicle and saves Moss's life.
Trigger Mortis[]
In the Anthony Horowitz novel, Bond is at the Nürburgring in Germany, the infamous race track to stop SMERSH agents Ivan Dimitrov and Colonel Vladimir Gaspanov from deliberately sabotaging a race which will kill the British race car driving Champion Lancey Smith. He is trained to drive the Maserati by Logan Fairfax, a female racer to tackle the course and gains advice from Bernardo Hoggs and he eventually defeats Dimitrov by making him lose control of his vehicle and it explodes seriously injuring Dimitrov but saving Smith's life. Later Bond celebrates with Smith and encounters a mysterious woman called Jeopardy Lane.[1]
References[]
- ↑ "James Bond's secret mission: to save Stirling Moss". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-06-29