All six Maserati brothers were born at end of the 19th century, at a time when automobile pioneers were making rapid progress in defining the basic layout of the motorcar. Carlo was the older son, and at age 17 in 1898 he designed a single-cylinder engine that propelled a bicycle to a record average speed of 50 km/h over a distance of 10 km. Carlo, however, was to die prematurely in 1910, but his brothers were to follow in his footsteps of innovation.
Their first ventures in the field of mechanical construction saw them immediately attracted to cars, and it wasn't long before they were swept away by this new adventure. By the early 1920s, four of the five remaining brothers were actively designing and preparing racing cars, and had even registered a spark plug patent. The first complete automobile officially named a Maserati was created in 1926. Its chassis generally followed the accepted practice of the time, but the engine made use sophisticated technology with twin overhead camshafts, two carburetors, 8 in-line cylinders and a Roots-type supercharger. Engine speed was already quite fast – 5,300 rpm - and victories soon started to flood in.
From there on, the Trident marque's history could only be one of constant technical progress, a relentless search for the most competitive and efficient way to overcome national - and international - opponents. Often rapid changes and alterations were made not only from one model type to the next, but for each car built - even in the same series. To cite but one example, in 1929 aluminum and steel were substituted with Elektron to cast crankcases and some sumps. If it is true that racing improves the breed, then Maserati contributed a great deal to automotive development.
The company's private finances never allowed for a big budget to be devoted to research, and to match the huge investments made by the German teams during the 1930s the brothers could only rely on common sense and ingenuity: the challenge was not only to build competitive cars, but to craft them at a low cost and with very simple maintenance in mind. In that, Maserati excelled.
1929: the V16 Tipo V4
The third born of the brothers, Alfieri, was undeniably the driving force - the most technically gifted member of the family - whose vision of the automobile was simply more far reaching. The more enterprising, it was he who suggested the first truly ambitious high-tech solution to come out of the small Bologna works: the coupling of two 8-cylinder blocks in a single crankcase (but with two crankshafts) to create a 4-litre, V16 engine. He had the talent to transform his dreams into reality, and the result was the 1929 Tipo V4. That same year it earned the Trident a stunning class C speed record which would hold for many years, at 246 km/h over 10km from a flying start. The car was not even prepared specifically for the record attempt but was set up for the 200km race which ensued, on the same road circuit near Cremona. Alfieri himself had prepared the fuel mix which incorporated benzene and ether.
Shortly thereafter, the Maserati brothers adopted hydraulic brakes, a further sign of their pioneering spirit. Their fame as racing car manufacturers soon crossed the ocean, and in 1930 they were invited to take part in the Indianapolis 500. Although their performance was forgettable on this first occasion, the Trident would take two resounding victories there in 1939 and 1940 and this experience led to a wealth of fresh ideas and encouraged them in the integration of advanced technical solutions for new models.
1931: front-wheel drive
By 1931, Alfieri was ready to move on to greater things and started work on a front-wheel drive prototype based around the recently introduced 8-cylinder engine of 2.8 liters. Front-wheel drive was certainly not new, even in 1931, but the project was risky as very few racing car manufacturers in Europe had yet tackled the subject and the experience available was very limited. This did nothing to deter Alfieri from his task, but sadly he died a premature death before the project had even turned a wheel. Not only was it the end of that endeavor, but more importantly, the true inspiration behind Maserati's ambitions and quest for technical superiority was gone. Courageously, his brothers Ernesto, Bindo and Ettore decided to carry on and Ernesto became the technical head. The works churned out many new racing cars of various displacements and numbers of cylinders for the rest of the decade, encountering great success with the majority of them. Where would Alfieri have taken the Trident next? Would his FWD challenge have proved a winner? Could the next step be towards all-wheel drive, or perhaps towards new, radical departures in layout? These questions will obviously never be answered, but what is sure is that Alfieri Maserati still had a lot to create when he passed away.
Incidentally, it would not be until 1970 that Maserati would submit a new front-wheel drive design, and that was for the Citroën SM. The Bertone-styled Quattroporte II was supposed to make use of the same drive-train, but only 11 were built before the French manufacturer withdrew. Apart from these efforts, the Trident marque always remained true to the sportier feel of a rear-wheel drive set-up. Four-wheel drive, on the other hand, was only briefly suggested at the turn of the millennium with the Buran and Kubang show cars.
But let us travel back to the 1930s, and chase other significant advances in the company's development history.
1935: the first V8 engine
As a complete departure from its straight-8 cars, in 1935 Maserati introduced a supercharged V8-engine of 4.8 liter capacity and 320 bhp. The Tipo V8RI was considered a failure at first, winning just a single international Grand Prix (at Pau) in 1936, but in post-war US events, two of the four single-seaters made were successfully raced by Phil Cade and George Weaver.
For the 1957 racing season, an entirely new naturally-aspirated V8 of short-stroke design, 4.5 liter capacity and 400 bhp powered the 450S sports racer. The idea for the project had come about four years earlier under the guidance of Gioachino Colombo, but was turned into a reality by Giulio Alfieri who had taken over as technical director by 1956. In the eyes of many, the 450S represents the ultimate sports racing car of the 1950s. The Maserati V8 also powered world championship-winning motorboats (Timossi hulls) that established countless records in eleven consecutive years from 1959 to 1969. For power boat racing, Maserati stretched the V8 as far as 6.5 liters in 1962, rated at a healthy 580 bhp.
The race-bred V8 from the 450S was adapted for use in the 5000 GT specially built for the Shah of Iran in 1959. By 1960 a considerably redesigned 5.0-litre version of the V8 followed, now detuned to 340 bhp. True V8 production got underway with the Quattroporte of 1963, now with 4.2 liters and 260 bhp, later to become available with 4.7 liters and 290 bhp. The 4.9 liter version with dry sump lubrication which appeared in the Ghibli SS survived until 1982 in the Khamsin, while a wet sump unit still propelled the Quattroporte Royale as late as 1990. A new twin-turbo V8 was introduced with the Shamal in December 1989 and was carried over to the Quattroporte Evoluzione and 3200 GT, which ceased production in 2001. The latest generation of Maserati V8s were introduced with the Spyder and Coupé models in 2002.