1957 Talbot Maserati

I came across this car in one of the pit garages at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's a 1957 Talbot Maserati, one of only two cars that were built in 1956 with 2,493cc straight-6 Maserati 250F engines and entered for the Le Mans 24 Hour race that year, though neither car managed to finish the race. The cars were sold to André Dubonnet, and for the 1957 Le Mans race the cars were rebodied by Carrozzeria Campana of Modena and entered by Ecurie Dubonnet with race numbers 22 and 23. The car numbered 22 was due to be driven by Jean Blanc and Georges Burggraff but suffered mechanical problems during practice and didn't start the race. The number 23 car, due to be driven by Bruce Halford and Franco Bordoni, broke its transmission at the start and was out of the race before the leaders were round the first corner. I can find no trace of either of the cars competing in any other race. It isn't mentioned in the programme of this Silverstone event and as far as I'm aware it didn't take part in any of the races - the race it would have competed in was the Louis Vuitton 1950s Sports Car Race, and number 23 in that race was an Aston Martin DBR1. The yellow car behind this car is the 1950 Talbot Lago T26C of François d'Huart and it's possible that he was the owner of the car at that time, though I can't find any evidence that shows he was.