1954 Maserati 250F

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie’s International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It’s the 1955 Maserati 250F of Jeffrey Pattinson and has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. The chassis number is 2508 and it was originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss.

1954 Maserati 250F

Maserati was the featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005, and in particular the 2½ litre 250F Formula One car. A total of 16 of the 250Fs appeared at the meeting, either competing or being displayed on and off the track, and here is one of them.

This is Josef Rettenmaier at McLean’s Corner during the Celebration Maserati Invitation Race in his 1954 car, chassis #2508, which was once owned by Stirling Moss. There were short notes in the programme of the event giving details for each Maserati 250F chassis number, and this is what it said about Josef Rettenmaier's car:

 

'2508

Ordered by Stirling Moss through the Shell-BP company office in Italy. Raced by Moss until he joined Mercedes-Benz, and later loaned to various drivers including Mike Hawthorn, Bob Gerard and John Fitch. Sold to Ross Jensen in New Zealand and returned to the UK in 1964. Now owned by Josef Rettenmaier in Germany.'

1954 Maserati 250F

This was one if the competitors in the Chopard HGPCA Pre '61 Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It’s the 1955 Maserati 250F of Jeffrey Pattinson and has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. The chassis number is 2508 and it was originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss.

Historic Grand Prix Car racing at Silverstone

This is a photograph that I took at Luffield corner during the Chopard HGPCA 100 Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

Leading is Lindsay Owen-Jones in his 1958 Maserati 250F #2534 followed by Nigel Corner's 1956 Maserati 250F #2528 and John Harper in Vijay Mallya's 1958 Vanwall. The car in the background is another Maserati 250F, and it appears to be Jeffrey Pattinson in #2508, the car originally owned by Stirling Moss.

1954 Maserati 250F

This was one if the competitors in the HGPCA Pre '61 Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It’s the 1955 Maserati 250F of Jeffrey Pattinson and has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. The chassis number is 2508 and it was originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss.

Maseratis and ERA

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Chopard HGPCA 100 Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

Leading is Thomas Bscher's 1957 Maserati 250F V12, a car built with a 2,491cc V12 engine instead of the 250F's usual 6-cylinder inline 2,490 unit. It's chassis #2531 and is one of only 2 cars specifically built to take the V12 engine. The car at the rear is Jeffrey Pattinson's 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis #2508, originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss. The blue car appears to have a number 33 which was an ERA  driven by Duncan Ricketts, and although the programme of the event doesn't identify the four ERAs that appeared in this race, it appears to be R12B. The green car in the background is David Baldock's 1938/39 Alta which was driven by Paul Jaye.

Silverstone 1994

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Chopard HGPCA 100 Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

Leading is Jeffrey Pattinson in his 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis #2508, originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss. The car behind him is the 1949 Maserati 4CLT of Dan Margulies, which was being driven by Peter Hannen, followed by the 1955 Connaught B-Type of Paul Burdell, chassis B4, originally raced by the Rob Walker team.

1957 Maserati 250F V12

This car took part in the Chopard HGPCA 100-Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's Thomas Bscher's 1957 Maserati 250F V12, a car built with a 2,491cc V12 engine instead of the 250F's usual 6-cylinder inline 2,490 unit. It's chassis #2531 and is one of only 2 cars specifically built to take the V12 engine, and the only one to take part in a World Championship race. It was entered for the 1957 Italian Grand Prix and driven by Jean Behra, but retired towards the end of the race with overheating problems.

When Maserati disbanded the team at the end of the 1957 season the engine was removed from the car, which was sold to Brazilian Antonio de Barros who installed a V8 Chevrolet engine and raced it till the mid-1960s. It was eventually rescued by Colin Crabbe and restored by Stephen Griswold with the 3 litre V12 engine from a Maserati T63 sports car. 

The programme of this Silverstone meeting shows the engine capacity of the car to be 2,500cc, but I can't find anything that says it's been reunited with the correct V12 engine.

Here the car's in the pit lane waiting to go out on the track at the start of a practice session. The car next to it is Jeffrey Pattinson's 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis #2508 that was originally owned and campaigned by Stirling Moss.

Maserati 250F

Maserati was a featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005, and more particularly the Maserati 250F Formula One car, 16 examples of which appeared on the track and on display in the paddock. This is one of those cars, receiving attention in the paddock before its scheduled race.

It's Josef Rettenmaier's car, chassis 2508, a 1954 car once owned by Stirling Moss and in which he competed in 1954 before signing for the Mercedes-Benz team the following season. He continued to drive the car in non-Championship races over the next 2 years, as well as allowing other drivers to compete in it, most notably Mike Hawthorn. The Maserati 250F has a 2,490cc straight-6 engine and is the only car to have appeared throughout the whole of the 2½ litre Championship period from the first race of 1954, the Argentine Grand Prix, to the last race of the 1960 season where Bob Drake drove Joe Lubin's car in the United States Grand Prix.

Maserati 250F

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 promoted Maserati as the featured marque, and in particular the 2½ litre 250F Formula One car. A total of 16 of the 250Fs appeared at the meeting, either competing or being displayed on and off the track, and here is one of them.

This is Josef Rettenmaier returning to the paddock after a practice session in his 1954 car, chassis #2508, which was once owned by Stirling Moss. There were short notes in the programme of the event giving details for each Maserati 250F chassis number, and this is what it said about Josef Rettenmaier's car:

'2508

Ordered by Stirling Moss through the Shell-BP company office in Italy. Raced by Moss until he joined Mercedes-Benz, and later loaned to various drivers including Mike Hawthorn, Bob Gerard and John Fitch. Sold to Ross Jensen in New Zealand and returned to the UK in 1964. Now owned by Josef Rettenmaier in Germany.'

Maserati 250F (times two)

The featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 was Maserati with particular emphasis on the 250F as the following note in the programme of the event explained:

'The evocative cars of Maserati will take centre stage at SeeRed this weekend, the main feature being a special race dedicated to the artisan marque.

The glorious 250F Grand Prix car dominates the entry for the Pre-61 Maserati race, the model built between 1954-59 being more common than any other. The rest of the field is made up of cars from the pre-war era.

The 250F is the quintessential front-engined post-war Grand Prix car and was made eligible for the VSCC as early as 1966 when the youngest models were just seven years old! With the oldest now over 50, they will make for a striking comparison with the latest Formula One Ferraris being demonstrated at SeeRed.'

Twelve 250Fs are listed in the Celebration Maserati Invitation Race with a further four being shown as static display or track demonstration cars. Here's a photograph of two of the 250Fs being prepared in the paddock prior to the practice session.

The car at the front is Josef Rettenmaier's and is chassis number 2508, a 1954 car previously owned by Stirling Moss. Its early history is shown in this www.barchetta.cc record, and the programme note about the car says this:

2508

Ordered by Stirling Moss through the Shell-BP company office in Italy. Raced by Moss until he joined Mercedes-Benz, and later loaned to various drivers including Mike Hawthorn, Bob Gerard and John Fitch. Sold to Ross Jensen in New Zealand and returned to the UK in 1964. Now owned by Josef Rettenmaier in Germany.

The car behind is Stefan Rettenmaier's and is chassis number 2520, a 1956 car, and again you can see the early history in the www.barchetta.cc record. This is what the programme note says:

2520

Factory team car for Argentina and raced by Frolian Gonzalez before deal with Stan Jones in Australia. Colin Crabbe brought it to the UK in 1963. Break from historic racing life in the Guido Dubbini collection, and now in Germany with Stefan Rettenmaier.