Osca MT4
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The Osca MT4 , also OSCA MT4 , was a sports car prototype that was developed by Officine Specializzata Costruzioni Automobili from 1948 .
Development history and technology
The Osca MT4 is an unusual vehicle concept in motorsport history. Due to the variety of engines used with different cubic capacities and the large number of chassis built, the vehicle had a long service life as an emergency vehicle. This resulted in a remarkable success story for the racing car model.
In 1937, five years after Alfieri's death , Ettore and Ernesto Maserati were forced to sell Maserati after financial turmoil. The contract with the new Maserati owner Adolfo Orsi , however, included a ten-year bond between the brothers and their former company. In 1947 the Officine Specializzata Costruzioni Automobili Fratelli Maserati was founded and the first vehicle type was built with the MT4. In its original form, the chassis and engine were based on the Maserati Tipo 4CL , first built in 1939. The 4CL was actually a monoposto racing car that was still being driven in the early 1950s in the then young Formula 1 World Championship . A chassis, 1565, was given a streamlined body, used in record drives and driven by Luigi Villoresi in 1939 at the Gran Premio di Tripoli .
The development of the MT4 began in 1948 with plans and components for the 4CL. OSCA built a total of 77 chassis between 1949 and 1956. All the engines built into the MT4 had an aluminum block and were 4-cylinder in- line engines . The bore and stroke have changed over the years. The engine displacement increased from 1090 cm³, over 1290 cm³, 1340 cm³, 1450 cm³, 1490 cm³ up to 1492 cm³. The four-speed high-speed gearbox was also an in-house design.
OSCA only supplied the chassis, the bodies were manufactured by Italian bodywork companies. That is why there were sometimes larger differences in the external shape, which were mainly due to special customer requests. None of the cars that have been preserved are therefore exactly alike. The MT4 was a sales success and was built for so long, mainly because of that.
Racing history
The starts and racing successes of the MT4 are extensive and go beyond the usual framework of sports car models: 449 entries, 939 race starts, 81 overall and 98 class victories.
The first use of an MT4 was in 1948 at a sports car race in Pescara . At the wheel of chassis 1101 sat Franco Cornacchia , who was unable to finish the race. Victory in this event went to Giovanni Bracco and Alberto Ascari , who drove a factory Maserati A6GCS to overall victory. The first finish came almost six months later at the Targa Florio 1949 , where Cornacchia was 15th overall. The first successes followed in the same year. Giulio Cabianca won a sports car in Ferrara and three weeks later a race in Tigullio . Dorino Serafini and Alberico Cacciari won the Giro delle Calabria ahead of Luigi Fagioli , who also drove an MT4.
From 1950, the MT4 established itself as a fast racing car that was not prone to defects and was difficult to beat in the racing classes below 2 liters. At the 1951 Mille Miglia , Luigi Fagioli won the class for sports cars with a displacement of up to 1.1 liters. In the overall classification, he finished eighth, just under an hour behind the winner Villoresi in the Ferrari 340 America Berlinetta Vignale . Cabianca repeated the class win in 1952 . In the same year , the model was driven for the first time in the Le Mans 24-hour race . Mario Damonte and a French racing driver starting under the pseudonym Martial drove a 1.3-liter MT4 car body by Vignale . Failure after 19 hours of driving due to clutch damage.
With the start of the sports car world championship in 1953 , MT4s were of course also used there. After countless successes in national races in Europe and the United States, 1954 saw the greatest international success for an MT4. In the Sebring 12-hour race , Stirling Moss and Bill Lloyd won the overall standings for Briggs Cunningham's team . To date, it is the only overall victory of a sports car under 1.5-liter displacement in this endurance race .
Especially on narrow and angled tracks, the light and agile racing cars were often on a par with the high-displacement cars. This was shown, for example, at the Mille Miglia 1956, where Cabianca and Umberto Maglioli fought for the lead with the Ferrari and Maserati factory drivers in the early stages of the race . Gianfranco Stanga celebrated the last race win with an MT4 at the Campagnana Vallelunga in 1961 . The last known use outside of historical races was in the sports car world championship in 1966 . Giuseppe Rossi was 38th overall in the Mugello 500 km race and won the racing class for prototypes up to 2-liter displacement.
literature
- Maurizio Tabucchi: Maserati, All Grand Prix, Sports and GT vehicles from 1926 to today . Heel, Königswinter 2004, ISBN 3-89880-211-6
- Anthony Pritchard: Maserati - the racing history . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-7688-2513-9
