Alfieri Maserati

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Alfieri Maserati (born September 23, 1887 in Voghera , † March 3, 1932 in Bologna ) was an Italian automotive engineer and racing driver . In 1914 he founded the Officine Alfieri Maserati workshop , which began producing its own racing cars in 1926 and is now part of the Fiat Chrysler Group as Maserati SpA .

biography

family

The Fratelli Maserati - Alfieri, Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore

Alfieri Maserati's parents were Rodolfo Maserati and his wife Carolina, b. Losi. In the 1880s, his father worked as a train driver , and according to other sources as a railway engineer in Lombardy in northern Italy .

Alfieri Maserati was born in 1887 as the fourth child to his parents. In 1885 they had already had a son who was also named Alfieri. However, the child had died a year after its birth. Alfieri and his surviving older brothers Carlo (1881–1910) and Bindo (1883–1980) and the younger siblings Mario (1890–1981), Ettore (1894–1990) and Ernesto (1898–1975) took over from their father the interest in technical developments.

Isotta Fraschini and Bianchi

Alfieri Maserati on an Isotta Fraschini at the 1908 Grand Prix des Voiturettes in Dieppe

In 1903 Alfieri Maserati began training as a mechanic at the car manufacturer Isotta Fraschini in Milan ; the recommendation came from his brother Carlo, who had already found a job there shortly before. A little later Carlo switched to the motor vehicle manufacturer Bianchi and Alfieri followed him in 1905. In addition to his work, he had the opportunity there to be successful in motorsport . After a few years, Alfieri returned to Isotta Fraschini, where he worked as a test driver and service engineer. In 1910 Carlo died of pneumonia and Alfieri Maserati and his brother Bindo went to Argentina to work in the Isotta branch there. Alfieri constructed a racing car with Isotta technology in Buenos Aires , which he himself drove in several local automobile competitions. After a short stay in London , the Maserati brothers returned to Italy in 1914.

Own workshop

On December 1, 1914, Alfieri Maserati founded his own company in Bologna, which was closely associated with Isotta Fraschini for many years. The Officine Alfieri Maserati repaired Isotta Fraschini's customer cars and prepared them for racing. Alfieri's younger brothers Ettore and Ernesto were employed in the company. At least since then, the siblings were known as Fratelli Maserati (Maserati Brothers).

When Italy entered the First World War in the spring of 1915, the workshop's activities largely came to a standstill. Alfieri Maserati returned to Isotta Fraschini and was involved in the development of aircraft engines. At the same time, he developed spark plugs , which he sold under the brand name Trucco e Maserati after the end of the war .

Diatto

Alfieri Maserati at the Coppa Florio 1922

After the end of the war, Alfieri Maserati resumed workshop operations. In addition to looking after customer cars, he designed a racing car on behalf of Isotta Fraschini that "won several important races." With this model, Alfieri Maserati caught the attention of the Turin-based car manufacturer Diatto , whose development engineer he became in the summer of 1921. With the intention of strengthening the company's "not very distinctive image", Maserati was commissioned to develop a racing car for Diatto. Maserati designed the Diatto 20S based on a road vehicle. With him he took part in several races in the Mediterranean, even while sitting at the wheel. The 20S was the subject of a scandal in 1924: Alfieri Maserati had reported the car to the Rabassada hill climb in Spain for the two-liter class and stated that the 20S had a displacement of 2.0 liters. However, a test showed that the car was actually equipped with a much more powerful 3.0-liter engine. Alfieri Maserati was then banned from participating in automobile races for five years. In a way that was no longer known, however, he achieved the lifting of the ban with effect from 1925.

In 1925, Alfieri Maserati designed a new racing car for Diatto, which was only used sporadically because Diatto had now got into economic difficulties. In the early autumn of 1925, Diatto completely gave up his motorsport involvement. Alfieri Maserati took over the design free of charge in September 1925 and continued the motorsport program under his own name from 1926. He further developed a few details of his last Diatto construction and presented the otherwise unchanged car in 1926 as the Maserati Tipo 26 . The name referred to the year of the presentation.

Independent racing car manufacturer with works team

Maserati's logo: Il Tridente , the stylized trident, designed by Alfieri's brother Mario Maserati

From 1926 three brothers Alfieri Maseratis worked in his company. Although only Alfieri's name appeared in the official company name, the company was a family business. Alfieri Maserati's designs had been under the Maserati brand name since 1926, even if they were conceptually based on the last Diatto design until 1932. After the Tipo 26, Alfieri Maserati developed the unique V4 with 16 cylinders as well as the Maserati 8C model family , of which more than a dozen vehicles had been built by 1931. Some of them stayed with the company and were used by Maserati's factory team at grand prizes, mountain races and endurance races. Initially Alfieri Maserati drove his cars himself, later he employed well-known drivers such as Luigi Arcangeli , Baconin Borzacchini , Luigi Fagioli , Aymo Maggi and Achille Varzi . In the late 1920s, Maserati competed primarily with Alfa Romeo and Bugatti , with the works team being quite successful at times.

This was also the beginning of the decades-long racing rivalry between the Maserati company and Scuderia Ferrari : Enzo Ferrari had been a works driver at Alfa Romeo since 1924 and competed in motorsport with Alfieri Maserati and his Diatto and the first Maserati racing cars. The rivalry increased further when Enzo Ferrari founded the Scuderia Ferrari racing team with the help of investors and Alfa Romeo in 1929, thus competing with the Officine Alfieri Maserati.

Accident and death

Alfieri Maserati tombstone

In 1927, Alfieri Maserati suffered a serious racing accident at the Coppa Messina , a long-distance race held on public roads near the Sicilian city ​​of Messina . Due to a driving mistake he got off the very dusty track with his Tipo 26B. His car overturned. In the accident, one kidney was crushed so badly that it had to be removed. In the period that followed, Maserati only drove a few races. Significant complications have occurred over the years. In 1931 his health had deteriorated so much that he hardly ever went to races. On March 3, 1932, he underwent another kidney operation, in the course of which he died. The burial took place on the Cimitero monumentale della Certosa (Cloister IX) in Bologna with great public participation .

heritage

Tribute to the founder of the brand: Maserati Alfieri concept vehicle from 2014

The surviving Maserati brothers initially continued the Officine Alfieri Maserati . According to observers, however, the company no longer achieved the dynamism it had during Alfieri's lifetime. In 1937 they sold the company to the Orsi family of industrialists. In this context, the Maserati headquarters moved from Bologna to Via Emilia in Modena ; the new Maserati plant on the north side of the road was only 500 meters from the Ferrari headquarters on the south side. As agreed, Alfieri Maserati's brothers Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore continued to work in the Maserati company until 1947 under the leadership of the Orsi family; as a result, it finally came to the Fiat group in 1993 via Citroën (1968 to 1975) and Alejandro de Tomaso (from 1975).

In the meantime, the remaining three Maserati brothers reactivated part of the former factory of the Officine Alfieri Maserati in Bologna in 1947: They founded the Officine Specializzata Costruzioni Automobili (OSCA) and built racing and sports cars again, before they sold this company to the motorcycle manufacturer in 1963 due to their age MV Agusta sold.

In 2014, Maserati presented a concept vehicle called the Maserati Alfieri at the Geneva Motor Show .

literature

  • Martin Buckley: Maserati. Italian luxury and flair . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2012, ISBN 978-3-86852-633-2 .
  • Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing . Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
  • David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 . 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English).
  • David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 . Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
  • Hans-Karl Lange: Maserati. The other Italian sports car. Zsolnay, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-552-05102-3 .
  • Mike Lawrence: Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965 . Motor Racing Publications 1998, ISBN 1899870393
  • Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 .
  • David Sparrow, Iain Ayre: Maserati Heritage. Osprey Classic Marques. Auckland 1995, ISBN 1-85532-441-5 .
  • Jill C. Wheeler: Maserati . ABDO Publishing Company, 2010, ISBN 9781617861673 .

Web links

Commons : Alfieri Maserati  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Only with Mario Maserati did the interest remain superficial. He later became a painter and designed, among other things, the Officine Maserati logo, the trident of which is reminiscent of the Neptune Fountain in Bologna.
  2. ↑ The first part of the name refers to the then famous Italian racing driver Vincenzo Trucco , who financially participated in the spark plug project. See Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 , p. 13.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 , p. 10.
  2. ^ A b c Martin Buckley: Maserati. Italian luxury and flair. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2012, ISBN 978-3-86852-633-2 , p. 7.
  3. ^ Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 , p. 11.
  4. ↑ a b c Mike Lawrence: Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965 , Motor Racing Publications 1998, ISBN 1899870393 , p. 201.
  5. ↑ Hans-Karl Lange: Maserati. The other Italian sports car. Zsolnay, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-552-05102-3 , p. 4.
  6. ^ Jill C. Wheeler: Maserati . ABDO Publishing Company, 2010, ISBN 9781617861673 , p. 8.
  7. ^ A b Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 , p. 12.
  8. ^ Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The history of racing, Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 , p. 14.
  9. ↑ David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001, 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 , S-149.
  10. ^ Anthony Pritchard: Maserati. The racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 1st edition 2003, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9 , p. 30.
  11. ^ A b Martin Buckley: Maserati. Italian luxury and flair . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2012, ISBN 978-3-86852-633-2 , p. 10.
  12. ↑ Klaus Nerger: The grave of Alfieri Maserati. In: knerger.de. Retrieved July 14, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Description and illustration of the Alfieri Concept Car on the website www.maserati.com (accessed on September 27, 2016).
personal data
SURNAME Maserati, Alfieri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian automotive engineer and racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Voghera
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1932
Place of death Bologna