Maserati Tipo 61 at the Nürburgring

Almost exactly 60 years ago, on May 28, 1961, Maserati scored a major race victory at the Nürburgring. The seventh edition of the 1000-kilometer endurance race on the Nordschleife was held there. Maserati had already won the previous year with the Tipo 60 ‘Birdcage’ and the driver pairing of Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney. Now the factory team returned to the Eifel with the significantly enhanced Tipo 61. Under the direction of technical director Giulio Alfieri, the frame chassis, which was composed of around 200 individual tube sections, had received significant modifications. Since some parts of the frame could be seen around the cockpit, the car in all of its five iterations got the nickname ‘Birdcage’ immediately after its debut.

Although the Tipo 60 only debuted in March 1960, the modifications to the Tipo 61 had become necessary in November of the same year to comply with new regulations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition to the frame, the Maserati team also took care of the four-cylinder engine, which was bored out to 2.9 liters of displacement. This meant that around 250 hp was available at 7,000 rpm, which was sufficient for a topspeed of 177 mph. A five-speed manual transmission sat blocked on the rear axle differential. Compared to the Tipo 60, the kerb weight increased by 30 to 600 kilograms. Nevertheless, the Tipo 61 was very fuel-efficient and therefore had to make fewer fuel stops than some of its competitors. At the Nürburgring, this helped Masten Gregory and Lloyd Casner in their drive to overall victory. Maserati resumed the white-and-blue color scheme of their race car in 2004 for the limited edition supercar MC12.

Images: Maserati