-Arguably one of Maserati's most beautiful creations

-Maserati-blessed faithful recreation of 151 002

-Commissioned by renowned collector Peter Kaus for his Rosso Bianco Museum

-Incorporating the original engine plus other components

-151 002 raced at Le Mans three times from 1962-6 & tested for the 1965 edition

-Also raced in GP of Reims, 12 Hours of Reims, Paris 1000 km & at Clermont Ferrand

Maserati’s Tipo 151 model is a tale of what could have been. The company enjoyed tremendous success during the 1950s in endurance racing, culminating in the fantastic Tipo 60 and 61 “Birdcages”. It then turned its attention to the newly introduced closed-top prototype class at Le Mans. A new model called the Tipo 151 was developed to race in this class. Instead of employing the same exquisitely intricate space-frame chassis design as with the Tipo 60/61, chief engineer Giulio Alfieri opted for a more traditional space frame using larger tubing. Power came from a 3943cc quad-cam V8 making 360 bhp, mated to a 5-speed gearbox. Its long low bonnet, laid-back windscreen, and rounded Kamm tail were refined in the wind tunnel at Milan University with the goal of aerodynamic efficiency. Just three examples were built, two going to Briggs Cunningham’s American team (004 & 006), whilst the final car (002) was for Colonel Johnny Simone’s Maserati France team.

The new model proved as fast as it looked at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Cunningham cars qualifying 3rd (006) and 5th (004). Meanwhile Simone’s car qualified 7th (002) driven by Maurice Trintignant and Lucien Bianchi. The race proved much more frustrating though, with all three cars retiring. Cunningham’s cars returned to the US, with one later being destroyed in a fiery accident at Daytona, but Colonel Simone sent 002 back to Maserati for some upgrades ahead of another attempt at Le Mans in 1963. These included enlarging the engine to 4941cc, swapping the Weber carburettors for Lucas fuel-injection (gaining 70 bhp), reducing weight and revising the suspension.

For 1963 André Simon and Lloyd "Lucky" Casner proved very fast indeed, clocking the highest speed at over 180 mph and qualifying 5th. A bizarre misfortune delayed Simon at the start when he sprinted across the track to 002, only to find the door rubber had glued it shut in the hot sun! It finally flew open, smacking him in the face and badly cutting his nose. Having gotten underway, Simon was clearly furious at his delay and roared his way into the lead before the end of the first lap! He led for the first hour, and again briefly during the next when the field began their pitstops, before Casner took over at 6pm. However less than an hour later he crawled into the pits with the car stuck in 2nd gear. The repairs would have taken nearly 2 hours, and so Colonel Simone retired the car and congratulated his drivers on performing so well. Yet again, its promising speed bore little fruit. Later that season 002 also raced in the GP of Reims (DNF - crash), at Clermont-Ferrand (1st in class and 8th overall) and Brands Hatch (DNF - brakes).

Remarkably Colonel Simone was undeterred, and so sent 002 back to Modena for extensive upgrades for Le Mans 1964. The car was dubbed the 151/3 and featured a svelte new body designed by Pierre Drogo and fabricated by Mario Alegretti. With its long bonnet and flat roof connecting to the redesigned Kamm tail, it was clearly aimed at top speed. The engine was converted to dry-sump lubrication, lowered and set further back, whilst the chassis was lengthened from 2350mm to 2400mm, and its track grew by 100mm. It was decided to also change the car to 15in Borrani” wire wheels and the widest Dunlop tyres possible. After a brief test (another sign of Maserati’s rushed development and lack of budget), the car arrived in Le Mans for the test days. Immediately the scrutineers objected to the rear window, which is understandable since it was the size of a letter box!

Once back in Bologna the offending rear window was enlarged and test driver Bertocchi achieved an incredible 198 mph during a shake down on the Modena-Bologna autostrada. 002 was again tested but with Simon at the wheel and at Monza, but had a minor crash due to losing a wheel exiting the Parabolica at 160 mph. Less than a month later 002 arrived at Le Mans where Simon was to be joined by Maurice Trintignant. The car was clearly not race-ready though as the front tyres soon soon rubbed on the bodywork, requiring fast hammer work to create clearance. Qualifying 15th perhaps wasn’t a surprise. Trintignant was delayed at the start when loose rubber jammed his throttle cable. Once underway he set about making up for lost time however, catching and passing 38 cars in the first hour!

By 8pm 002 was up to 7th overall, and by 9pm it was incredibly in 3rd. Just after 10pm however things began to unravel, with an alternator failure, battery issue and brake problems, losing the team half an hour in the pits. 002 motored on until around midnight when a short-circuit forced the team to retire the car again. Le Mans had once again proven frustrating for the 151, although its performance had shown the redesign to be worthwhile. The accolade of official top speed at 192mph (curiously not recorded at the fastest point of the track) was at least a consolation prize. 002 returned to Reims for the 12 Hours, where it split the Shelby Cobra Daytonas, and beat all the 250 GTOs in qualifying, only to retire with ignition issues. At Montlhery it suffered another DNF and with that the team shifted their focus to the next year’s Le Mans effort.

Developments for 1965 were plentiful and ranged from chassis, to engine, suspension and body. Amongst other tweaks, the chassis was again redesigned, the body had a smoother nose, higher wing arches and larger rear window and the engine had twin-spark ignition (in an attempt to solve 1964’s recurrent issue). Maserati called the updated car the 151/4, whilst Simone dubbed it the 154. Casner was joined by compatriot Masten Gregory. Painted in crisp white with blue and red stripes, the car arrived in Le Mans looking absolutely stunning and the team no doubt cautiously optimistic.

In first practice and on a cool clear morning, Casner set off. After a few exploratory laps he set off on a fast one. Tragedy struck however when cresting the rise at the end of the Hunaudiere straight, Casner lost control, and the car barrel-rolled into two trees before coming to rest. Trintignant later commented that he believed Casner had fully lifted off the throttle instead of only partially doing so (a necessity for most cars to avoid the risk of aviating). He felt this was what had severely destabilised the car and resulted in the roll that ultimately claimed Casner’s life. Rather staggeringly Colonel Simone insisted upon his team participating in the race itself, and so Maserati hastily built a new car for him in less than two months. Predictably the car was terrible and retired after only three laps when it crashed attempting to keep up with the Ford GTs.

Skipping forward in time to roughly 1980 and the story of 151 002’s rebirth begins. Famed collector and visionary Peter Kaus, the man behind what was for many years the finest sports car collection in the world (Rosso Bianco Museum), wished to celebrate Maserati’s sports car history. Having acquired many iconic and famous models from the 50s and 60s, he wished to bookend things by recreating the final iteration of the 151 to have raced at Le Mans in 1964. After discussions with former Maserati boss Adolfo Orsi, he was put onto original designs and the fact that an original engine resided in the University of Bari. Kaus felt an urgency to try and locate as many 151 parts as possible because at the time Maserati were scrapping huge amounts of old parts to make space for the BiTurbo production.

Maserati's new owner, Alejandro de Tomaso, officially blessed Kaus' 151/3 reconstruction project. The chassis was constructed in Germany to original designs, then commissioned Allegretti of Modena fabricate the body using original recommissioned bucks (which had been cut up but stored all the years). Kaus found the finished car to indeed be fearsome to drive, and after a wild spin and minor barrier altercation on the Nurburgring’s short circuit during a race, he elected to retire it to his museum. Rather curiously however the body never appeared to sit on the chassis as it had in the photos from 1964.

When Kaus decided to wind up his museum in the 2000s, several of the Maseratis were consigned to Bonhams’ Gstaad sale in 2006. Passionate Maserati historic racer Barrier Baxter acquired Kaus’ recreation from the auction and immediately sent it to leading UK specialist Steve Hart for restoration. The process would ultimately take over five years because it was discovered that the body fitted so poorly because drawings from an earlier iteration had been used, not those from 1964! It was decided that the best course of action was to fabricate a new chassis from scratch rather than rework the existing one (since it was of course not original), and at this point it was decided to put the car into the very final specification from the Le Mans tests of 1965.

During the restoration Baxter learned that the original engine from Casner’s wrecked 1965 test car was in Italy, remarkably untouched and surviving intact ever since that fateful day. Fortuitously it seemed it had been part of the parts sold ‘out of the back door’ rather than being crushed. It was duly acquired and incorporated into the car which made its historic racing debut at the 2012 Goodwood Revival in bare metal. The body was later painted exactly as per 1965 and is how the car is presented today. 151 002 as it stands today represents a fascinating period of Maserati’s competition history and is truly unique. Eligible for many of the world’s finest historic racing and concours events, from Goodwood’s Revival and Members Meeting events, to Le Mans Classic, Peter Auto’s The Greatest’ Trophy, Masters Gentlemen Drivers, The Quail, Salon Privé, to name a few. 151 002 will not only provide thrilling motoring for its next custodian, but a real talking point wherever it is shown. It is one of those cars people almost always pause and look back at lustfully.