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Maserati 4CL

Category	Voiturette / Formula One
Constructor	Maserati
Designer(s)	Ernesto Maserati
Production	1939–1950
Predecessor	Maserati 6CM
Successor	Maserati A6GCM
Technical specifications
Chassis	Light alloy ladder
Suspension (front)	Independent, torsion springs and friction dampers
Suspension (rear)	Live axle, leaf springs and friction dampers
Axle track	F: 1,250 mm (49.2 in) R: 1,276 mm (50.2 in)
Wheelbase	2,500 mm (98.4 in)
Engine	1,491 cc (91 cu in) straight-4 single-stage supercharger front-mounted
Transmission	Maserati 4-speed manual
Tyres	Pirelli
Competition history
Notable entrants	Officine Alfieri Maserati Scuderia Platé Scuderia Milano Scuderia Ambrosiana
Notable drivers	Johnnie Wakefield Luigi Villoresi Toulo de Graffenried Reg Parnell B. Bira Pierre Levegh Louis Chiron Giuseppe Farina Juan Manuel Fangio Maurice Trintignant Tazio Nuvolari Raymond Sommer
Debut	1939 Tripoli Grand Prix
Wins 6 (pre-war Voiturette) 25 (post-war Grand Prix) 0 (Formula One)

The Maserati 4CL and its derived sister model the Maserati 4CLT are single-seat open-wheel Grand Prix 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.

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, with a bore and stroke of 78 mm for a total displacement of 1,490.85 cc (1.5 L). 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.

Enveloping this rather conservative chassis was a low, curvaceous alloy-panel body, built in-house by Maserati. Maserati also built a streamlined version of the 4CL from the outset. Continued engine development, in response to Alfa Romeo's post-war introduction of two-stage supercharging, began to expose weaknesses in the chassis design. In an attempt to improve torsional rigidity Maserati began to experiment with tubular section chassis members. These experimental models ran alongside conventional 4CLs throughout the 1947 season, and eventually led to the introduction of the 4CLT in 1948.

In the hands of Luigi Villoresi the streamliner took pole position on the 4CL's race debut at the 1939 Tripoli Grand Prix, ahead of Mercedes' brand new W165s. However, both it and two of the three conventional 4CLs entered retired early in the race with engine troubles, leaving the Silver Arrows to take the victory. Embarrassingly for the works team, following this disappointing debut the 4CL's first taste of victory came in the hands of privateer Johnnie Wakefield at the Naples Grand Prix, two races later. Through the remainder of 1939 voiturette races Wakefield took two further victories, and the works' 4CLs picked up another two, before the outbreak of war curtailed international competition. Villoresi took the 4CL to victory in the 1940 Targa Florio, but with entry restricted to Axis countries, and only Maserati fielding a factory team, the opposition was hardly world class.

On the resumption of competition in 1946 the Maserati 4CL proved the class of the field. Luigi Villoresi immediately returned to winning ways, taking victory in the first race following the cessation of hostilities: the 1946 Nice Grand Prix. Tazio Nuvolari and Giorgio Pelassa both took wins in 4CLs, but it was Raymond Sommer and his 4CL who dominated the season. 1947 would prove to be the 4CL's most successful season and, despite Alfa Romeo fielding the revamped 158 and new 308, Maserati drivers picked up 10 individual race victories.

After the replacement of the factory team's 4CLs by the new 4CLT, many examples of the older cars found their way into privateer hands. It was owing to the 4CL's popularity with privateer entrants that many were still being run in top-flight competition at the outset of the Formula One World Championship in 1950.

Maserati 4CLT

Category	Voiturette / Formula One
Constructor	Maserati
Designer(s)	Ernesto Maserati Alberto Massimino Vittorio Bellentani Arialdo Ruggieri
Technical specifications
Chassis	Light alloy tubular ladder
Suspension (front)	Independent, coil springs and hydraulic dampers
Suspension (rear)	Live axle, leaf springs and hydraulic dampers
Axle track	F: 1,250 mm (49.2 in) R: 1,200 mm (47.2 in)
Wheelbase	2,500 mm (98.4 in)
Engine	Maserati 1491 cc straight-4, two-stage supercharger, front-mounted
Transmission	Maserati 4-speed manual
Tyres	Pirelli / Ernesto / Dunlop
Competition history
Notable entrants	Officine Alfieri Maserati Scuderia Platé Scuderia Ambrosiana Scuderia Achille Varzi Automóvil Club Argentino Scuderia Milano
Notable drivers	Luigi Villoresi Reg Parnell Toulo de Graffenried Juan Manuel Fangio Louis Chiron B. Bira Harry Schell Giuseppe Farina
Debut	1948 San Remo Grand Prix
Wins 18 (post-war Grand Prix) 0 (WC Formula One) 5 (non-Champ F1)

Chassis and engine changes made to the experimental 4CLs eventually coalesced into the 4CLT, the appended T denoting its tubular chassis. The improvements in torsional rigidity that the tubular construction brought were required to counteract the increases in torque and power resulting from the twin-supercharger upgrade of the elderly inline-4 engine. Power was up to approximately 260 bhp (194 kW), from the 4CL's 220. Other changes included the use of roller bearings for the crankshaft, forged (rather than cast) rear suspension components, and the chassis was designed to run with hydraulic dampers from the outset.

The first variant of the 4CLT earned its "Sanremo" nickname from the first race for which it was entered: the 1948 San Remo Grand Prix. The name stuck, as Alberto Ascari took his 4CLT to victory in its maiden race appearance. A portent of things to come, Villoresi and Reg Parnell won five of the 1948 season's remaining races. In the first year of the Formula One World Championship, a Sanremo scored what was to be the Maserati's best Championship finish, when Louis Chiron took third place at his home Grand Prix: the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. The last 4CLT variant to compete in the World Championship was a 4CLT/48 modified by the Arzani-Volpini team, that failed to even qualify for the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

Maserati 4CLT/49 at Goodwood 2010

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For 1949, minor modifications to the brake drums, switching from vanes to slits for cooling, along with small changes to the cockpit control layout and a repositioned oil header-tank resulted in a car sometimes referred to as the 4CLT/49. It was never known as such by the factory. The Ascari/Villoresi/Parnell trio, joined by Juan Manuel Fangio and Toulo de Graffenried, took up where they had left off the previous season, winning nine of the first fifteen races of 1949, including de Graffenried's victory in the British Grand Prix. However, the second half of the season only saw three further wins, as increasingly competitive Ferrari and Talbot cars squeezed out the Maseratis in most major races.

1950 saw the introduction of the FIA World Championship of Drivers. In response to improvements to the Alfa 158 and the already competitive Ferrari and Talbot, Maserati again upgraded the 4CLT's engine. A multi-part crankshaft, lightened and balanced rods, a more powerful pair of superchargers and changes to the ignition timing took engine output up to a claimed 280 bhp (209 kW).^[1] Coupled to shedding 10 kg (22 lb) from the car's weight, this brought the Maserati up to near-Alfa levels of performance. Although moderately competitive in short runs, the final upgrades proved to be too much for the decade-old powerplant's design and the 4CLT's Grand Prix performance was hindered by engine failures. The season's only Formula One wins came in non-Championship events. Fangio won the Pau Grand Prix on the same day as Parnell took the Richmond Trophy at Goodwood. David Hampshire won the Nottingham Trophy later in the year. Fangio also won the Formula Two Ramparts Grand Prix, at Angoulême, in a 4CLT chassis fitted with an A6GCM engine. The Milano team modified a 4CLT for use in 1950 and 1951, but without success.

Also for 1951 B. Bira modified his '49-spec 4CLT to accept a more powerful, 4,450 cc (271.6 cu in), naturally aspirated OSCA V12 engine. This engine developed around 300 bhp (224 kW).^[2] With it Bira won the Goodwood race early in the season, but in its only World Championship appearance, at the 1951 Spanish Grand Prix, it retired on the first lap.

In late 1949 a number (two or three, depending on source) of the remaining Sanremo cars were converted for use in the Temporada series Formula Libre races in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the 1949 to 1950 summer season. This model was referred to as the 4CLT/50; although that name is sometimes also applied to the 1950-specification Formula One cars, the Temporada cars are the only ones that were referred to as such by the factory. The modifications were mostly restricted to enlargement of the engine capacity to 1,719 cc (104.9 cu in).^[1] Despite these improvements the series was dominated by Ferrari, and following the final race the cars were shipped back to Italy and reconverted to Formula One specifications.

A long term campaigner of Maserati automobiles, Enrico Platé recognised the Maserati's shortcomings as a Formula One vehicle, and converted a 4CLT/48 into the Maserati-Platé 4CLT Formula Two variant. As F2 was for naturally aspirated cars, the first step was to remove the superchargers. After this, to counteract the resulting loss in performance, the compression ratio was more than doubled and capacity was upped to the class limit of 2.0 L (122.05 cu in). With the lower power output from the revised engine, weight was shed and handling sharpened by reducing the wheelbase.

De Graffenried won the Richmond Trophy, and Giuseppe Farina the Paris Grand Prix, in 1951, but with the switch to Formula Two rules for the World Championship from 1952 onwards, the old 4CLT chassis were found to be overweight and underpowered in comparison to their newer rivals. Despite having been the mainstay of top-flight racing since the end of the 1930s, the 4CL and 4CLT rapidly fell from favour, as smaller and lighter machines began to emerge from European factories still recovering from the effects of war.

Today, many 4CL and 4CLT models survive and are regularly campaigned in historic motorsport events, as well as being on static display in museums.

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	1	2	3	4
1939	P. Pietsch	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s		BEL	FRA	GER	SUI
				Paul Pietsch				Ret
	J. Wakefield	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	John Wakefield				12
	G. Rocco	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	Giovanni Rocco				Ret
Source:[3]

(key)

Year	Entrant/s	Chassis/	Engine	Tyres	Driver/s	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1950	Scuderia Ambrosiana	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	D		GBR	MON	500	SUI	BEL	FRA	ITA
					David Murray	Ret						Ret
					David Hampshire	9					Ret
					Reg Parnell						Ret
	Officine Alfieri Maserati	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	Louis Chiron	Ret	3		9		Ret	Ret
					Franco Rol		Ret				Ret	Ret
	Enrico Platé	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	Toulo de Graffenried	Ret	Ret		6			6
					B. Bira	Ret	5		4			Ret
	Joe Fry	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	D	Joe Fry	101
					Brian Shawe-Taylor	101
	Scuderia Achille Varzi	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	José Froilán González		Ret				Ret
					Alfredo Pián		DNS
					Nello Pagani				7
		4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s		Toni Branca				11
	Scuderia Milano	4CLT/50	Speluzzi 1.5 L4s	P	Felice Bonetto				5		Ret
					Franco Comotti							Ret
	Antonio Branca	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	P	Toni Branca					10
	Paul Pietsch	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	Paul Pietsch							Ret
1951	Enrico Platé	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P		SUI	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	ESP
					Louis Chiron	7
					Harry Schell	12			Ret
					Toulo de Graffenried				Ret		Ret
					Paul Pietsch						DNS
	Scuderia Milano	4CLT/50	Speluzzi 1.5 L4s	P	Onofre Marimón				Ret
					Paco Godia								10
					Juan Jover								DNS
	Scuderia Ambrosiana	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	D	David Murray					Ret	DNS
	John James	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	D	John James					Ret
	Philip Fotheringham-Parker	4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	D	Philip Fotheringham-Parker					Ret
	Antonio Branca	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	P	Toni Branca						Ret
	Prince Bira	4CLT/48	OSCA 4500 4.5 V12	P	B. Bira								Ret
1952	Enrico Platé	4CLT/48	Platé 2.0 L4	P		SUI	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	ITA
					Toulo de Graffenried	6			Ret1	19			DNQ
					Harry Schell	Ret			Ret1	17
					Alberto Crespo								DNQ
	Fadely-Anderson/R.A. Cott	4CLT/48	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F	Carl Forberg		DNQ
1953	Fadely-Anderson/R.A. Cott	4CLT/48	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F		ARG	500	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	SUI	ITA
					Spider Webb		DNQ
1957	Morgan Engineering	4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	F		ARG	MON	500	FRA	GBR	GER	PES	ITA
					Danny Kladis			DNQ
Source:[4][5]

Notes

• ^1 – Indicates shared drive

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maserati 4CL.

• Parker, Paul (2011). Formula 1 In Camera: 1950–59. Haynes Publishing. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-84425-553-5.
• "Maserati Tipo 4CL Specifications". The Maserati Race Car Gallery. Archived from the original on 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
• "Maserati 4CL". Ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
• "Maserati 4CLT/48". Ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
• "Maserati Tipo 4CLT/48 and 4CLT/49 "Sanremo" Specifications". The Maserati Race Car Gallery. Archived from the original on 2001-02-20. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
• "Maserati Tipo 4CLT/50 Specifications". The Maserati Race Car Gallery. Archived from the original on 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
• "Maserati 4CL -T, Milano, Plate". Grand Prix Racing – the whole story. Archived from the original on 2007-04-21. Retrieved 2007-03-16.

• Forix Post-war Pre-championship constructor history
• GRAND PRIX WINNERS 1934–1949 Archived 2018-11-09 at the Wayback Machine