Maserati’s Mid-Engine ‘Birdcage’
Maserati’s Mid-Engine ‘Birdcage’, Number One Speed, Maserati’s Mid-Engine ‘Birdcage’. In the second half of the 1950s, Maserati switched from producing mainly racing cars to the much more lucrative road-car market. Competition cars were still produced but only for customers as the works team had been disbanded after the disastrous end of the 1957 season.
These customers included such prominent privateers as Scuderia Serenissima, Camoradi and Briggs Cunningham.
Maserati's unique space-frame design made up of small-diameter tubes earned its race cars the nickname "Birdcage." (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
For 1961, they commissioned the construction of the Tipo 63 Birdcage, Maserati's first-ever mid-engine racing cars. While it shared many components with the earlier front-engine Birdcages, the new racer did not inherit the fine handling characteristics of the original space-frame Maseratis.
While the first cars were fitted with four-cylinder engines, a V12 was readied to power the mid-engine racers. This was completed in time for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the sole surviving example finished fourth, which to date is Maserati's best ever result in the legendary endurance race.
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Later in the year, the cars were raced with some success in the United States, but handling and reliability issues resulted in early retirements for most of the seven cars built. Revised Tipo 64s and a sole V8-powered Tipo 65 followed, but they also failed to impress.
Although not particularly successful in period, the Tipo 63 Birdcage V12 is one of the most spectacular Maserati racing cars ever constructed. Over the years we have been fortunate to photograph three examples, resulting in this 24-shot gallery.
The restored ex-Cunningham car was shown at the 2011 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in Italy. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
Maserati returned to racing after a brief break, in 1959 with the sophisticated and highly successful Tipo 60/61 “Birdcage.” Designed by Ing. Giulio Alfieri, the four-cylinder machine earned its nickname because of its spaceframe chassis constructed from a large number of short, small-diameter tubes. Rapid developments in race-car design, specifically the mid-engine revolution, forced Alfieri to start work on a replacement for the Birdcage just a year after it had been introduced.
Dubbed the Tipo 63, the new Maserati racer was one of Italy's first mid-engine sports racers. Despite moving the engine from ahead of the driver's compartment to behind it, Alfieri carried over many of the mechanicals of the still hugely competitive Tipo 60/61.
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The key component, of course, was the sophisticated spaceframe chassis from the front-engine machine. Due to the nature of its construction, the chassis design was relatively easily modified to suit its application. Simply put, the driver's seat and the engine were swapped around.
With the space behind the driver's compartment now filled with the engine and gearbox, there was no room left for the fuel tank. This was split into two separate tanks, mounted laterally on either side of the cockpit.
source: http://www.speedtv.com/
Maserati’s Mid-Engine ‘Birdcage’