Page 8 - Maserati 450S book by Walter Baumer and Jean-Francois Blachette

Completed: July 1956 Engine number: #4501 Engine capacity: 4.5 Liter Color: Red
#4501 was initially a 350S, #3501. Stirling Moss with Denis Jenkinson, his companion from his epic Mille Miglia drive with Mercedes-Benz the previous year, was assigned #3501 to compete in the 1956 1,000-mile road race. Two days prior to the Mille Miglia, #3501 was not fully prepared and so Moss, along with Guerino Bertocchi, Maserati’s chief mechanic, used a second 350S for a test drive up and down the nearby Raticosa Pass where the car clearly showed its superior speed potential over the 300S. But it had a strong tendency to understeer and, according to Moss, was “very vague” on the front axle, leaving no margin for error, as reported by Jenkinson in his feature in the June 1956 issue of Motor Sport. Moss’ car, #3501, was now quickly prepared, including the addition of a spoiler under the nose to stop it from lifting. To the surprise of
OPPOSITE: Moss and his trusted co-driver, journalist Denis Jenkinson, on the ramp in Brescia for the start of the 1956 Mille Miglia. They hoped to repeat their triumph from the previous year when they won the legendary race in a Mercedes 300SLR. (Walter Bäumer Collection)
Finished at the last moment, #3501 headed off to Brescia from behind the factory in Modena. Maserati chief mechanic Guerino Bertocchi is behind the wheel, partnered by an unknown person. Luigi Bellucci follows in the works Maserati 200S. (Unknown photographer)
the drivers, the spoiler was removed just before the race started, and when Moss complained, he was told that “it just did not look good!”
Nevertheless, Moss and Jenkinson were at the start at Brescia with race number 554 on April 28, 1956. Moss was still not pleased with the way the car handled and treated it with great care, but even on long straights, it was wandering badly from left to right even though the engine was running well. Both men were lucky to escape injury when the car left the road in heavy rain near Antrodoco when the brakes locked while taking a right-hand bend. They crashed through a small stone wall, shot downhill and came to rest by a small tree, 300 feet above a river. #3501 was out of the race.
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