Cars | Homenaje a Juan Manuel Fangio

Cars

FIA FORMULA 1

Five times world champion

SOUTH AMERICAN AND INTERNATIONAL

Maserati 250 F - 1957

Maserati 250F

Technical characteristics

Years of construction: 1954 to 1958

Design: GiulioAlfieri

Engine design: Taddeucci and Nicola

Chassis and suspension: Valerio Colotti

Bodywork: Fanguzzi

Constructed copies: 34

Body type: Aluminum monopod

Chassis Type: Small diameter tubular.

Wheelbase: 2280 mm

Trail: front and rear 1300/1250 mm

Length and width: 4.15 m / 1.65 m (Auto Museum)

Ground clearance: 106 mm

Weight: 630 Kg

Maximum speed: 300 Km / h

Engine: 6 cylinders in line inclined 6 degrees with respect to the vertical axis.

Combustion chamber: hemispherical.

Diameter x Stroke: 84 x 75 mm

Total Displacement: 2494 cc

Maximum power: 275 HP at 8000 RPM.

Compression ratio: Compression ratio: 11.9: 1.

Camshafts: 2 at the head

Valves: 2 per cylinder

Command of the distribution: by a cascade of gears

Power: Three Weber 42 DCO3 double mouth carburetors.

On: 2 spark plugs per cylinder. Double, with two Marelli magnetos with drive key.

Refrigeration: by water, with centrifugal pump and radiator

Clutch: multi-disk. Shift lever to the right of the pilot.

Case: 4 gears (1954) 5 gears (1957) and recoil - side lever - En bloc with differential

Rear bridge: De Dion type. Self-locking differential - With floating bearings - attached to the chassis

Front suspension: Parallel triangular arms - Helical spring - hydraulic arm shock absorbers

Rear suspension: independent - spring - hydraulic shock absorbers Houdaille parallel, two per side - Houdaille hydraulic shock absorbers.

Shock absorbers: Friction and telescopic front and rear.

Brake: drum on all four wheels - double circuit and double pump.

Rims and Tires: of Pirelli front spokes 5.50 x 16; rear 7.00 x 16 (or 17 ").

Fuel tanks: rear and side tank.- capacity 160 lts

Fuel consumption: 57 liters / 100 Km

Lubrication system: dry crankcase with radiator - two delivery pumps and one recovery pump.

Lubricant tank: tank in the tail.

Fangio ran this Maserati 250F in:

The year 1954 - GP of the Argentine Republic - B.A. - GP City of Buenos Aires. - Argentina - GP of Belgium - Spa-Francorchamps - GP Supercortemaggiore - Monza - Italy -

Year 1957 - Grand Prix of the Argentine Republic - Buenos Aires - GP City of Buenos Aires - Argentina - Monaco GP - French GP - Rouen - Reims GP - France - GP of England and Europe - Silverstone - GP of Germany - Nürburgring - GP of Pescara - Italy - GP of Italy - Monza - GP of Morocco - Casablanca -

The year 1958 - GP of the Argentine Republic. - GP of the City of Bs. As. - GP of France - Reims -

THE BEST OF ALL...

This was the title of an Argentine magazine, the great victory that Fangio achieved on August 4 of that year at the Nürburgring. Other European publications had similar headlines: "The great wonder," said the Bildzeitung, Germany, while another important publication of that country, the Nachatausgabe, said "The best flyer of all time." "The greatest race of the Argentinean" qualified the London Daily Express. The Daily Mail said, "What was done by Fangio is a supreme art". The London Daily Telegraph titled "The greatest demonstration of ability and courage of his career", and so other expressions ranging from admiration to amazement, occupied the covers of the main graphics media in the world.

To comment on some aspects of that career, we started by knowing something of the scenario and for that, we reviewed a comment of that time, written by sports journalist Don Pedro Fiore and published by the critical newspaper, in Buenos Aires, on August 28, 1953:

"Nürburgring is not a city, nor a village, nor even a village, it is simply a circuit, built at the foot of the ruins of an old castle on the top of a hill, it was in the 12th century mansion and fortress of the nobles of the province of Eifel, warriors thirsty for conquests that overwhelmed what they saw propitious, to satisfy their appetites of feudal lords. "

"The translation of the name Nürburgring would be" castle circuit. "There is no town or city nearby, only in the valley is the Adenau population and on the opposite side Kelper, where the" suicide "circuit is located. its grandstand, its hotel, six or seven chalets, all of which are inhabited only when there are races. "
"It's called suicide" because it's really the most dangerous track that exists in Europe, because of its slopes, its permanent sinuosity, and its unforeseen corners. At the Nürburgring, everything is laid out in such a way that the wheel is either played entirely or comes in last, for not having the courage to take the risk. "

In 1957, Fangio arrived at the circuit, with the Maserati two and a half liters, in order to secure the fifth title of World Champion. The hard part would be to defeat the Vanwall, who had just won two weeks before in England, and the Ferraris who would use a type of tire that allowed them to do the whole course without changing them, which added to the autonomy of its large fuel tanks that also did not need refueling. Fangio with the Maserati had to stop for both. In exit, he observed during a little more than a lap the gait of the Ferrari of Hawthorn and Collins. Then he surpassed them and began to take advantage that would allow him to make the halted stop midway through the race. For this, he was so fast in his walk that he successively improved the lap record in the second lap, in the third, fifth, sixth, eighth and tenth. On lap twelve he stopped too much on the track again: 48 seconds to which the ones he lost must be added to stop his march and to leave until reaching full speed. This is seen on lap 14 that passes 49 "of the pointers, retaining the third place. In an Italian publication of the journalists Cancellieri and De Agosti it is said that in his arrest in the pits the Argentine agreed with the mechanics of Maserati a risky This was a strategy that, if it worked, could be very positive, that was to moderate a couple of laps so that the people of Ferrari would think that Fangio was out of possibility of success, in fact, on lap fourteen, Hawthorn and Collins were given the poster of "non forzare." Seeing the good result of the strategy, when Fangio passes, he is warned to accelerate in depth. There are almost 23 kilometers in which the British will go calm and the Argentinean to the limit. When Fangio passes in the fifteenth round to 41 "behind the leaders, the Ferrari box will have to wait for another 23 kilometers to warn him that the Argentine is close to them. At the close of lap 16, it is 32 "and although the Ferraris accelerate, the World Champion is willing to chase them and starts to make a higher change in all the places of the circuit, successively making the track record in the laps 17, 18, 19 and 20. Win meters everywhere, on lap 17 it was 26 "; in 18 to 21 ", in 19 to 14"; in the 20th he went to Collins and was 3 "behind Hawthorn, when he overtook Collins his car raised a pebble that splintered a glass of the Englishman's, who lost concentration and fell behind, and in the course of the penultimate lap he overtook Hawthorn and won by just over three seconds.

With this victory, in addition to securing the fifth crown when two races were still missing, he achieved several more compliments, including the name "Master of the Nürburgring" that gave him the Automobile Club of Germany for his third consecutive victory in that tough race.

At the end of the test both Hawthorn and Collins embraced and congratulated the veteran Champion, for whom they felt special esteem. Collins, 26 years old, had shown that affection when in 1956 he gave him the car in Monza. Hawthorn, 28, when he arrived at the Nürburgring said with admiration: "If I had not run, I'm sure" the old devil "today would have overtaken me."

The protagonist of that feat, "the best of all", was then 46 years old.