1957 Maserati 300S

This car competed in the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It’s Burkhard von Schenk’s 1957 Maserati 300S, a model that was built from 1955 to 1959 to compete in the 3-litre class of the World Sportscar Championship. The Maserati 300S has a 6-cylinder inline 2,991cc engine and Burkhard von Schenk’s car is chassis #3082.

1950s Grand Prix Cars

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

These cars are waiting to go out onto the circuit for a qualifying session for the HGPCA Pre-1960 Grand Prix Cars Race. At the front, from left to right, are the 1956 Maserati 250F of Burkhard von Schenk, the 1959 Ferrari 246 Dino of Robin Lodge, the 1954 Maserati 250F of Christian Glaesel, the 1954 Maserati 250F of Dieter Streve-Mülhens and the 1952 Fraser Nash of Peter Mann. Behind the first two cars are the 1960 Ferrari 246 Dinos of Tony Merrick and Nigel Corner, and you can also see a Cooper Bristol T23 and a Connaught A-Type.

Friday's Ferrari(s)

Two Ferraris and a Maserati at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

Burkhard Von Schenk in his 1956 Maserati 250F leading the 1959 Ferrari 246 Dinos of Robin Lodge and Tony Merrick at Luffield corner in the HGPCA Pre '60 GP Car Race.

1958 Maserati 300S

This car competed in the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's the 1958 Maserati 300S of Burkhard von Schenk with the 6-cylinder inline 2,991cc engine derived from that of the Grand Prix Maserati 250F, and is chassis #3082. Its early history is rather sketchy, but it appears to have started off in Angola where it took part in the Angolan Grand Prix five times between 1958 and 1963. Álvaro Lopes drove the car on four of those occasions and in 1962 it was driven by Flávio dos Santos, the best result being when Álvaro Lopes took third place in 1963. It eventually went to South Africa where it remained until the 1980s when it came to the UK and was acquired by the notable German collector and historic racer Burkhard von Schenk.

1958 Lotus Eleven

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's Peter Austin's 1958 Lotus Eleven, about 270 of which were built by the Lotus Company between 1956 and 1958. The Lotus Eleven was built with a variety of engines of different sizes from 750cc to 1500cc, and the programme of the event shows Peter Austin's car to have a 1,089cc engine. The red car at the side of the Lotus is Burkhard von Schenk's 1957 Maserati 300SI, and behind are the 1957 Jaguar D-Type of Sir Anthony Bamford (driven by Frank Sytner) and the 1957 Lotus Eleven of Malcolm Ricketts.

1958 Maserati 300S

This was one of the competitors in the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's the 1958 Maserati 300S of Burkhard von Schenk with the 6-cylinder inline 2,991cc engine derived from that of the Grand Prix Maserati 250F, and is chassis #3082. Its early history is rather sketchy, but it appears to have started off in Angola where it took part in the Angolan Grand Prix five times between 1958 and 1963. Álvaro Lopes drove the car on four of those occasions and in 1962 it was driven by Flávio dos Santos, the best result being when Álvaro Lopes took third place in 1963. It eventually went to South Africa where it remained until the 1980s when it came to the UK and was acquired by the notable German collector and historic racer Burkhard von Schenk. 

Car number 62 in the background is the 1956 Maserati 300S of William Binnie, chassis #3069.

1956 Maserati 250F

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre '60 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1956 Maserati 250F of Burkhard von Schenk, chassis #2521, new for the 1956 season and driven that year by Jean Behra, and the following season was acquired by Bruce Halford. The 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine was designed by Gioacchino Colombo and Vittorio Bellentani, and the tubular frame chassis by Valerio Colotti. 

1964 Porsche 904/6

This car took part in the 2¼ hour long Gentlemen Drivers Race for Pre 1966 GT Cars and Pre 1963 Sports Cars at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It's Burkhard von Schenk's 1964 Porsche 904/6 and he shared the driving in this race with Robertino Wild. The 1963 Porsche 904 of 1993 had a 1,966cc flat-4 engine, but the 904/6 had an engine of 1,996cc that was derived from the 911's flat-6 unit.

On 2 May 2015 I showed a photograph of this car that I had taken at Donington Park in 2004.

Maserati 300S

This car is pictured in the pit lane during a practice session at the HGPCA's International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

It's the Maserati 300S of Burkhard von Schenk, one of the last to be built and is chassis #3082. This car is often described as a 300SI, implying that it has one of the experimental fuel-injection engines that were tested by Maserati, but I've not been able to confirm that this is so. The car behind is the 1962 Lotus Elite that Malcolm Ricketts and Barry Sewell drove in the 2¼ hour long Gentleman Drivers GT and Sports Endurance Race.

On 23 December 2017 I showed photographs of three Maserati 300S sports cars at Silverstone in 1994, including that of Burkhard von Schenk pictured above.

Two Maseratis

These cars both belonged to Burkhard von Schenk and competed in a 10 Lap Scratch Race for 1950s Sports Cars at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

Number 40 is a 1955 Maserati A6GCS which belonged to Maserati's A6 series of cars and was driven in the race by Robertino Wild. The A6GCS was built from 1953 to 1955 to compete in the 2 litre class of the World Sportscar Championship and had a 1,986cc straight-6 engine. Burkhard von Schenk's car is chassis #2098.

Burkhard von Schenk himself drove this car in the Donington Park race, and it's a 1957 Maserati 300S, a car built from 1955 to 1959 to compete in the 3-litre class of the World Sportscar Championship. The 300S had a 2,991cc straight-6 engine and Burkhard von Schenk's car is chassis #3082.

Maserati 300S

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994 included a race for 1950s sports cars - the Classic Car Sports Car Race - and three examples of the Maserati 300S are listed for that race in the programme of the event. The 300S was produced by Maserati from 1955 to 1959 to contend the World Sportcar Championship and had a straight-6 engine based on the 250F Grand Prix car's 2½ litre unit, but with a longer stroke to bring the capacity up to 3 litres.

Car number 20 was entered by Richard Crump to be driven by Willie Green, and may be chassis #3054, a 1955 model.

Number 21 was Hartmut Ibing's car, probably chassis #3066, a 1956 car.

Number 22 was Burkhard von Schenk's entry, a 300SI model from 1959 and chassis #3082.

In addition to these three cars there was another 300S in the race, number 23, which according to the programme was supposed to be Thomas Bscher's Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage.

He had evidently decided to drive his 300S instead, and this is a 1955 car, chassis #3053.

On 22 September 2016 and 31 October 2016 I featured other examples of the Maserati 300S.

Porsche 904/6

This is a car which took part in the 2¼ hour long Gentleman Drivers GT and Sports Endurance Race at the Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting in May 2004 at Donington Park.

It's a 1964 Porsche 904/6 owned by Burkhard von Schenk and carries his customary black and white chequered marking on the nose of the car. The original 904 used the 1996cc flat-four Porsche engine but a limited number of cars were produced using a variant of the 911's flat-six engine of the same capacity.

Burkhard von Schenk drove the car in the race at this meeting with Gregor Fisken as his co-driver.