Motorsport Memorial -

Alfieri Maserati

Complete name: Alfieri Maserati

Birth date: 23.Sep.1887

Birth Place: Voghera (PV), Italy

Death date: 03.Mar.1932

Death Place: Bologna, Italy

Nationality: Italy

Gender: male

Notes:
Alfieri Maserati founded the “Società Anonima Officine Alfieri Maserati” – a company specialised in tuning Isotta Fraschini cars - with his brothers Bindo, Mario, Ettore and Ernesto, in Bologna in 1914. All the Maseratis were involved in the engineering, design and construction of cars – excepting Mario, who was a famous sculptor and painter and is presumed to have invented the company trademark, the famous "trident", borrowed from the statue of the Fountain of Neptune, located in the eponymous square, Piazza del Nettuno, next to Piazza Maggiore, in Bologna. All the seven Maserati brothers were born in the small town of Voghera, province of Pavia, Italy, to Rodolfo Maserati, a train driver of the Regie Ferrovie Italiane (the National Railway of Italy) and his wife Carolina, née Losi. Carlo Maserati, the first, was born in 1881 and died in 1910. Then came Bindo in 1883, and Alfieri in 1885. Sadly the latter died after only a few months, and the next son, who was born in 1887 was christened with the same name. Then followed Mario (1890), Ettore (1894), and Ernesto (1898).

The first to work with engines was Carlo, the eldest brother. He was employed at the Carcano bicycle factory near Milan, where he designed a single-cylinder engine for a velocipede. Carlo also raced on Carcano bicycles equipped with the engine he had designed, winning races and establishing speed records in the first years of the XX Century. He joined Fiat, soon becoming head of its testing department, and then in 1903 Isotta Fraschini, where he worked as a mechanic and test-driver. Sadly Carlo died aged only twenty-nine, and his brother Alfieri soon emerged as Carlo's spiritual heir, with the same extrovert personality and skills as a technician and driver.

Alfieri Maserati at the wheel his Isotta Fraschini, with his riding mechanic S. Pontiroli, before the start of the I Grand Prix des Voiturettes, Circuit de Dieppe, 06 July 1908.
Author: Agence Rol. Agence Photographique (France). Bibliothèque Nationale de France collection, public domain.

In 1908 Isotta Fraschini entrusted Alfieri Maserati, then 21 years old, with a works car for the Grand Prix des Voiturettes in Dieppe, France. In the early stages of the race his performance was impressive, but he lost several positions due to a problem in the car’s carburetor, eventually finishing eighth, far from the winner Albert Guyot in a Delage. Approximately at the same time Bindo and Ettore Maserati had started to work for Isotta Fraschini as well.

In 1912 the company nominated Alfieri Maserati to organize a technical assistance office based in Bologna. Having represented Isotta Fraschini in Argentina, United States and Great Britain too, Alfieri and his brothers founded the “Società Anonima Officine Alfieri Maserati” on 14 December 1914.

During the World War I, the firm produced spark plugs and, soon after the cessation of hostilities, Alfieri, Ettore and Ernesto began to build racing cars using Isotta Fraschini chassis and airplane engines. The Maserati headquarters were moved to the village of Ponte Vecchio, not far from Bologna. Alfieri began a career as professional racing driver and soon proved his worth, winning the Susa-Moncenisio hillclimb three times in a row, between 1921 and 1923, and the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo hillclimb in 1922 and 1923, driving Isotta Fraschini and Diatto cars, modified by his firm. A particularly impressive win occurred at the gruelling Circuito del Mugello in 1922, when Alfieri Maserati soundly beat the best cars and drivers of the time.

These results drew the attention of the Diatto company which offered Alfieri Maserati a chance to design models for them and even to race with their cars. Two years later such collaboration resulted in the construction of a supercharged, eight-cylinder, 2000 cm³ engine; in the same year 1924 Alfieri Maserati dominated the San Sebastian Grand Prix but was disqualified from the race. The following year he took part in the Italian Grand Prix with a Diatto powered by a supercharged 2-litre DOHC 8-cylinder powerplant.

After leaving his deal with Diatto, Maserati produced the Tipo 26, the first complete car manufactured by his firm and the first to sport the trident trademark. Powered by a supercharged, eight-cylinder, 1500 cm³ engine, the Tipo 26 was eligible for the new international regulations for Grand Prix racing cars. Also known as Maserati 1500, this model debuted at the Targa Florio held on 25 April 1926 on the Madonie Circuito Medio (Circuito Polizzi); it won its class, finishing the race in 9^th place overall. At its wheel, no one less than Alfieri Maserati himself, sharing the duties with mechanic Guerrino Bertocchi who many years later, in 1939 would become the head of the Maserati Racing Division.

Alfieri Maserati started the next year’s campaign with a third place overall at the III Gran Premio di Tripoli, held on the tough Mellaha Lake circuit in Lybia, then an Italian colony. His Tipo 26 finished in first place in the voiturette class. A month later at the Targa Florio, the Maserati brothers would present a new car, the Tipo 26B, which Alfieri took to second place overall, behind Emilio Materassi, who drove a Bugatti. A few days later Alfieri Maserati filed an entry in the III Coppa Messina, a race held from 1925 to 1932 in the 52-kilometer (32.3-mile) long Monti Peloritani road course, which passed through Messina, Colle San Rizzo, Ponte Gallo, Spartù, Granateri.

On Sunday, 08 May 1927, Alfieri Maserati suffered a huge crash on the first lap of this race, at the wheel of a 2-litre Maserati Tipo 26B; the event went on and was won by Antonio Caliri in a Bugatti. In the accident Maserati suffered a main injury to one his kidneys, which had to be removed. Even with him sidelined, team Maserati still won the 1927 Italian Sportscar Championship for makes, using the sports version of the 26B.

The injuries that Alfieri Maserati suffered in the Messina accident required a long and painful convalescence. Despite that, he continued to head the technical department of the company. Only in 1929 he resumed racing, coming back to the Mugello road race in which he finished in eleventh place, sharing with his brother Ernesto a Maserati 26R, fitted with an eight-cylinder, 1700 cm³ engine. That same year Alfieri designed the Tipo V4. This car had a 4-litre engine with sixteen cylinders - disposed in a 35-degree angle in a single block but with two crankshafts; a main sprocket was used to connect the two crankshafts to the transmission.

Alfieri Maserati decided to drive personally at its debut the V4, in the II Gran Premio di Monza. That event took place in the high speed, banked oval circuit; he finished in second place the third heat – reserved to over 3000 cm³ cars - and sixth in the final race. In the process, he set the fastest lap of the race, averaging exactly 200 km/h (124.3 mi/h) around the track.

On 28 September of that year, Baconin Borzacchini established a new 10-kilometer World speed record with a Maserati V4 in Cremona, completing the challenge at an average of 246.069 km/h (152.9 mi/h). This feat much increased the reputation of Officine Maserati, and the company sped up the development of its cars. The Tipo 26 received a new four-gear transmission, the engine of the 26B was enlarged to 2100 cm³ and the 26C, a new voiturette with an 8-cylinder 1.1-litre engine was introduced, with the specific objective of beating the small French cars such as Salmson, Bugatti and Amilcar which at the time were dominating the voiturette class. Alfieri Maserati had his hands quite full at the time, and his own racing exploits became a secondary concern.

Amongst the programs in which Maserati was committed, the most successful was the devolopment of the Tipo 26M. In 1930 the company conquered a series of important wins with this car, powered by a brand new 2500 cm³ powerplant, including the Premio Reale di Roma, held at the Tre Fontane circuit, where Luigi Arcangeli managed to beat the updated Alfa Romeo P2s and the Bugattis. This victory – plus the others earned by Luigi Fagioli at the Coppa Ciano on the Montenero circuit, Livorno, and the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara, were not enough for Tazio Nuvolari and Borzacchini to remain loyal to Maserati, and both left the squad to compete for the Scuderia Ferrari. Trying to replace them, the company hired Achille Varzi - who achieved the most important win for the Scuderia Maserati on 07 September 1930, in the Gran Premio di Monza, where Varzi and Arcangeli got the first and second prizes, whilst tyre problems sidelined the Alfa Romeos of Borzacchini, Nuvolari and Giuseppe Campari. Later Varzi won the final great race of the season, the Gran Premio de San Sebástian at Lasarte, ahead of his team mate Aymo Maggi.

Alfieri Maserati spent his whole racing season around the development of the small 26C, winning the Premio Reale Roma for voiturettes, then finishing runner-up to Count Luigi Premoli's Salmson in the Coppa Acerbo Junior, setting the fastest lap in both races. In the Gran Premio delle Vetturette at Monza on 07 September 1930 he finished in fourth place. That was to became Alfieri Maserati’s last race. The intense development program was stressing Maserati finances – even more as the company heavily relied on the individual craftsmanship of its employees. In parallel, the economic crisis triggered by the 1929 crash of the New York Stock Exchange heavily hit the car industry. These concerns led Alfieri Maserati to focus his attention on the management of the firm, and the reorganization he carried out at the end of 1930 was fundamental to keep the company afloat.

In 1931 the Maserati team faced increasing opposition by Alfa Romeo and Bugatti. A class win by Giuseppe Tuffanelli, paired with Bertocchi, in the Mille Miglia with a Maserati 8C, 22nd place overall, and an outright victory by Ernesto Maserati in the Premio Reale in a Maserati V4, were not enough to appease the frustration caused by many other defeats. Not rarely Maserati drivers Fagioli, Biondetti and Dreyfus had to abandon races after demanding too much from their 26Ms. Aiming to turn the table, Alfieri Maserati decided to increase the size of the V4 engine to 2,811 cm³, giving it additional 20hp. This change helped his brother Ernesto and Fagioli who shared the car in the Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France at Linas-Montlhéry, to lead the first two hours of race, beating the track record of more than ten seconds – just to retire due to a brake problem on 45th of 101 laps. And on 06 September 1931, when Fagioli in the Maserati 26M spectacularly won the Gran Premio di Monza, beating the Alfa Romeos of Borzacchini, Minoia, Nuvolari and Minozzi and the Bugattis of Varzi, Lehoux, Chiron and Ghersi, Alfieri Maserati was duly credited as the technical genius behind the overhauling of the car that made it once again competitive.

Alfieri Maserati was also deeply involved in another project. When he noticed that the use of eight-cylinder engines significantly increased the voiturettes costs, the company decided to replace their classic eight with four-engine plants. This concept led the development of the new 4C TR, fitted with a 1100 cm³ engine with a removable head.

At age forty-four, Alfieri Maserati was probably approaching the peak of his career as an engineer and racing manager. Unfortunately, five years after his huge accident in Messina he developed an infection in his remaining kidney. It is unclear whether his second kidney was also wounded in the 1927 crash. In an attempt to solve his problem he underwent extensive surgery, and remained in serious condition for several weeks.

Complications settled in and Alfieri Maserati died at home in Bologna on Thursday, 03 March 1932. An enormous crowd attended his funeral, including workers from the plant, famous drivers, friends and ordinary people. Burial is in the Cimitero della Certosa in Bologna, Italy.

Alfieri's death did not discourage the Maserati brothers, Bindo, Ettore and Ernesto continued the great adventure started by Alfieri, and Maserati's racing activities continued to be intense and successful for years to come. They sold their shares in the company in 1938 to Adolfo Orsi, industrialists of Modena, who relocated the company headquarters to Viale Ciro Menotti, Modena. The brothers continued in engineering roles with the company and in 1947 they founded in San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, the O.S.C.A. (Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili—Fratelli Maserati S.p.A. usually written Osca) car company.

The Maserati family's grave in the Cimitero della Certosa in Bologna, Italy, where Alfieri Maserati was laid to rest.
Photos taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

The monument dedicated to Alfieri Maserati in the Cimitero della Certosa in Bologna, Italy.
Photos taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

Career Summary:

1908
Grand Prix des Voiturette de Dieppe, in a Diatto, 8^th place

1921
Susa-Moncenisio Hillclimb, 1^st place
Circuito del Mugello, 4^th place, in a Fiat
Gran Premio Gentlemen (Brescia), 4^th place, in an Isotta Fraschini

1922
Circuito del Mugello, 1^st place, in an Isotta Fraschini
Susa-Moncenisio Hillclimb, 1^st place
Aosta-Gran San Bernardo Hillclimb, 1^st place
Gran Premio di Monza, DNF (accident), in a Diatto
Gran Premio d'Autunno (Monza), 3^rd place, in a Diatto

1923
Susa-Moncenisio Hillclimb, 1^st place
Aosta-Gran San Bernardo Hillclimb, 1^st place
Circuit di Cremona, 2^nd place, in a Diatto
Circuito del Mugello, DNF, in a Diatto
Gran Premio delle Vetturette (Brescia), DNF, in a Chiribiri

1924
Gran Prémio de San Sebastian, DNF (mechanical) and disqualified, in a Diatto
Circuito del Mugello, DNF (clutch), in a Diatto

1925
Italian Grand Prix, DNF (mechanical), in a Diatto

1926
Targa Florio, 9^th place overall, 1^st place in class in a Maserati shared with Guerrino Bertocchi
Circuito del Garda, DNF, in a Maserati (fastest lap)

1927
Gran Premio di Tripoli, 3^rd place Targa Florio, 2^nd place in a Maserati
III Coppa Messina, serious accident on first lap, suffering internal injuries that likely contributed to his death five years later.

1929
Circuito del Mugello, 11^th place, in a Maserati shared with Ernesto Maserati
Gran Premio di Monza, 6^th place, in a Maserati (fastest lap)

1930
Premio Reale di Roma (for voiturettes), 1^st place, in a Maserati (fastest lap)
Coppa Acerbo Junior, 2^nd place, in a Maserati (fastest lap)
Gran Premio delle Vetturette (Monza), 4^th place, in a Maserati

Sources:

Book "Settant'anni di gare automobilistiche in Italia" by Emanuele Alberto Carli, Automobile Club d'Italia-L'Editrice dell'Automobile, Italy, 1967.
Book "Albo della Gloria: Al Piloti Caduti in Tutto il Mondo al Loro Posto di Combattimento", by Emanuele Carli, Modena, Italy, 1972, page 19.
Book "Enciclopédia do Automóvel", Volume 6, published by Editora Abril Cultural, São Paulo, Brasil, 1974, article "Maserati", pages 1374 to 1377.
Website Archivio Storia delle Case Automobilistiche, page http://www.lanciaflavia.it/archivio_caseautoita/Storia-Maserati.php .
Website Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino Biscaretti di Ruffia, thread "Alfieri Maserati", posting by "centrodoc", page http://72.14.221.104/search?q=cache:Qyd9hsT-S84J:www.museoauto.it/forum/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D85%26view%3Dprevious%26sid%3Df59e40d3bf6133dd2e98dff96d62d0a9+alfieri-maserati+museo+auto&hl=it&ct=clnk&cd=1 citing Donatella Biffignandi's article of September 2002.
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1927.html#mes .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1908/1908.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1921.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1922.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1923.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1924.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1925.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1926.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1927.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1929.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1930.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page, by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1931.html .
E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 30 August 2023 (five messages).