That Looks Fast - Very Fast
Maserati 8CTF, 1938. The car that achieved 2 consecutive victories at the Indianapolis 500, on May 30, 1939 and May 30, 1940. Powered by a straight 8-cylinder engine whose cylinders were cast in a monoblock with the head (hence the name “8CTF”, or 8 cylinders “testa fissa” - fixed head). The car which won the Indianapolis 500 in 1939 and 1940 was run by the Chicago Boyle Racing Headquarters team owned by Michael Joseph “Mike” Boyle and was entered in the race as a “Boyle Special”.
Oh gawd that's beautiful. I wanna snuggle up to it, whisper sweet nothings, and slip into its lovely cockpit.
ReplyDeleteArt, poetry, science, speed, in one package.
ReplyDeleteMake it "street legal" and I'll sell my 1st born to buy it.
ReplyDeleteI've never even heard of a cylinder block / head mono-casting, and am scratching my head about how it might be done. I wonder what the compression ratio was.....it must have had a pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe only mono castings I knew of before this were Offenhausers, four-cylinder racers that were famous in the US for quite a few years.
DeleteVery nice. My Grandfathers first cousin was Al Miller and he drove in those very races in a Schafer which I think had a Buick Wildcat straight 8. He came in 6th in the 34 Indy 500 and that car was on top of the sign of his gas station/garage in Pinconning Michigan for many years. I remember seeing it there sometime in the early 70's.
ReplyDeleteWhen men were men, women were women and cars looked like cars.
ReplyDeleteThey neglected to mention the 2, count 'em, 1, 2, direct-drive superchargers hiding on the front of the engine. No wonder they weren't fussy about the header tube lengths...
ReplyDelete'smore info here: https://www.automoblog.net/2019/06/02/maserati-8ctf-indy-500/