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By Willem Oosthoek. Birdcage Maserati competition history from 1959 to 1965
in World Championship Rounds, SCCA Nationals, Professional West Coast and
Nassau Speedweek.
The book begins with the front-engined Birdcage Maserati
competition history from the middle of 1959 until the end of 1960, covering
World Championship, professional USAC and Nassau Speedweek racing. From there
it progresses into chapters covering the development of the first rear-engined
Birdcage Maserati at the end of 1960 and the background of the private team
owners who bought the first production cars: Briggs Cunningham, Count Giovanni
Volpi and Lucky Casner.
From then on each chapter covers a event in which these cars
were raced, ranging from the World Championship rounds to the U.S. racing scene
as sponsored by SCCA [amateur] and USAC [professional], and including the
British Nassau Speedweek at the end of the year. The subject period covered is
1961 to 1965. Each race report includes a complete entry list, complete
starting grids and complete results. This is information never published beyond
the WSCC events and of great historical value.
Coverage: The competition history and technical
specifications of all 10 rear-engined Birdcages constructed, as well as their
direct competition: Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Lotus, Cooper,
Lister, Scarab, Chaparral, Sting Ray and Old Yaller.
A further boxed and more elaborate Special Edition is available.
- Book Size: Designed by Simon Loxley. Vertical format.
95,000 words and approximately 350 historic, never published black & white
photographs. Page length 332 + index 6 pages.
- Chapters: Twenty-nine chapters, appendices and index.
- Illustrations: Approximately 350 photos of the
rear-engined Birdcages, as well as their front-engined predecessors and their
European and US competitors. A start photo sequence is included of most races.
Most photos were taken in the sixties by top photographers, but there are also
photos of the subsequent restorations of the cars in more recent years.
- Foreword: Written by Jim Sitz, in-house historian of
Vintage Motorsport and Road & Track. Jim is one of the foremost experts on
international motor racing history.
- Appendices: Complete racing histories by individual
chassis number, short-wheelbase versus long wheelbase specs by individual
chassis number.
- Index: Index covers names of all people relevant to the
history of the rear-engined Birdcages.
- Expected Readership: Anybody with an interest in
Maserati competition history, especially the period between 1960 and 1965,
never properly covered before. In addition, any one with an interest in the
SCCA and USAC racing events of the early sixties, again never covered with any
degree of depth, especially in Europe. This means Ferrari, Porsche, etc.
aficionados will find in this book valuable information not previously
available to them. In sum, the target audience is anybody with an interest in
the Golden Age of sports car racing in the early sixties.
- Supercage note: The front-engined Tipo 60 and 61 cars
were nicknamed Birdcages. When the rear-engined Tipo 63 [with independent rear
suspension] was introduced it was also referred to as a Birdcage. However, when
the rear-engined Tipo 64 model was shown to the press in the beginning of 1962,
its Birdcage frame turned out to be made of even smaller tubes and its rear suspension
[a flexible deDion] was also made of a Birdcage structure, sort of a Birdcage
within a Birdcage This led the journalists to nickname this very
complex-looking car a Supercage.
- A limited number of double slipcases are available upon
request that will also hold Willem Oosthoek’s book about the Front-engined Birdcages, Maserati Tipo 60 and 61. The books have been designed to match and
can also be purchased as a pair in the double slipcase for $225.
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Maserati Tipo 63, 64, 65: Birdcage to Supercage 
