Trident missile: a definitive two-volume tribute to Maserati’s legendary 250F

It’s not cheap, but this mighty double-volume set of hardback books in slipcase (295mm x 290mm) is a beautifully evocative delve into the story of what must be regarded as the greatest privateer car in Formula 1 history. The Maserati 250F, of course, was also a pretty successful machine when run from the works – good enough to propel Juan Manuel Fangio to the 1957 Formula 1 World Championship crown in the model’s fourth full season of competition. As such, the car has been well-documented over the years.

That said, this sumptuous offering begs to be enjoyed. It is the third work on the marque from Walter Bäumer, nephew of the 1940 Mille Miglia co-winner of the same name, and Maserati historian Jean-François Blachette. Within the pages of the main book from this brace – The Cars, which runs to no fewer than 624 pages – lies the premise of presenting a simple biography of each chassis produced. And, as Trident aficionados will know, that includes plenty of hopping around as identities of the cars change in line with the Italian habit of the time of naming them after their engine numbers.

Companion book The Story, at a relatively svelte 224 pages, provides the background. This runs from the 250F’s predecessor, the A6GCM, to the later Tec-Mec and Cameron Millar cars, with potted biographies of drivers and mechanics as well as a chapter on its life in ‘The Australias’. This latter competition Down Under means that the 250F’s drivers spanned not only those who saw active GP service as early as the 1930s (Luigi Villoresi), but as late as the 1970s (Chris Amon).

It’s the imagery from the less-famous – obscure, even – events that elevates these books. Almost all Motor Sport readers will have seen the famous photos of Fangio in the 250F at Rouen, or with Stirling Moss or Jean Behra at the wheel, but there are beautifully reproduced images from non-championship street races in Europe, and from South America (the car also had a Brazilian ‘afterlife’), Australia and New Zealand.

A favourite is the double-pager of Ross Jensen in 2504/2509, painted blue with a yellow stripe on the tail, heading into the Esses at a rustic-looking Mount Panorama on his way to winning the Bathurst 100 in 1959. This was a chassis with a fascinating history: delivered to Prince Bira in 1954, and from which Ron Flockhart was flung out at Silverstone, raced by Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn before being taken to the southern hemisphere by Jack Brabham in 1956. It’s also the car raced by Amon in 1961-62.

Off-track imagery gives a heady flavour of the ’50s – mechanics unloading a 250F, Fangio showing young lads around his car, Bristolian privateer Horace Gould in a paddock with his ‘Maser’ on a trailer hitched to his Lancia road car. The more you look, the more you see.

For those of a Maserati disposition, the text may be light and, if there is one criticism, it has clearly been written by those for whom English is not their native tongue. But as an artefact, these books are beautiful. Like the 250F, in fact.