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StarLight Garage presents a very Maserati, the Maserati Bora Group 4 from 1973. This competition version was used during the Tour de France and at Le Mans 1973.
But although the car was very competitive, it never raced due homologation problems and financial issues as usual with this kind of racing cars.
A shame because the Maserati was truly a potential car who maybe could defeat the competitors and was called the "Ferrari and Porsche Killer".
A fantastic Maserati with a sad story, who deserves to be present in the GT series.
Idea for this car given by CostasDrifter.
The Bora's mid-mounted engine was Maserati's familiar twin-cam V8, which had originally been developed for the company's great sports racers of the 1950s. In the Bora specification, the all-aluminium engine displaced just over 4.7 litre and featured single spark ignition. Breathing through four Weber carburettors, it produced around 310 hp. This power was transferred to the rear wheels by a five-speed manual gearbox. The very potent engine and slippery body enabled the Bora to achieve speeds of up to 280 km/h.
Although introduced early in 1971, Bora production did not start in earnest until the end of the year. Compared to its rivals, the new Maserati was remarkably comfortable and quiet, and at the same time had very competitive performance figures and characteristics. As the first cars rolled off the line, development continued and in addition to the earlier changes, a slightly larger version of the V8 was added as an option in 1975. At 4.9 litre, it produced both a little more and torque, and, most importantly, was already homologated in the United States.
At the end of 1972, Maserati's French importer Thepenier requested a competition version to race in the Tour de France and at Le Mans. Two cars, fitted with a dry-sump, high compression version of the 4.9 litre V8, were prepared by the relatively small staff in Modena. Built to Group 4 regulations, the car was immediately competitive but its career was cut short due to homologation problems as well as financial issues. When properly sorted, the Bora could have formed a real threat for the Ferrari Daytonas and Porsche 911s.
That leak is because the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale de la FIA) does not believe that there are already 500 copies of 'ordinary' Bora built. A crucial requirement for homologation Group IV is that 500 cars had been built. In a year of course, that production quantity was not reached, because Maserati's time were only sparsely built and from 1971 to 1980 of all Bora's together build.
Only 530 pieces, problem was that the CSI with two sizes to measure, because the homologated indeed, presented in 1968 were never respected Ferrari Daytona 500 units per year built ...
Enzo Ferrari, however, had got wind of the tests with the Bora (which was in fact just ridden the Autodromo of Modena, the same track where also Ferrari models are tested), and since the Bora a formidable opponent of the Daytona promised to be decided he is pulling some strings with the FIA and the CSI.
As a result of this political game created an extremely slow pace homologation procedure for Maserati. And, no homologation does not race. Hence, the Bora's conspicuous by their absence at Le Mans. If Porsche also put his influence left and right is not known, but the fact is that the car was significantly faster than the cars from Zuffenhausen and a potential danger posed to the Carrera RSR and Porsche knew that the Maserati were faster.
Production of the Bora lasted until 1978 but like many other high performance vehicles, the mid-engined Maserati struggled in the era dominated by various oil-crises. Eventually a combined 524 examples were built of both engine variants. Today these relatively understated machines are still very affordable, especially considering the prices of the often inferior contemporaries. Unfortunately Maserati never really replaced the Bora, leaving the supercar market to Ferrari and Lamborghini.
The sad story continues
Then the "cursed" Maserati stays for years in Thepenier until a member of the Maserati Club Holland the car discovered. But in 1984 Thepenier goes bankrupt and the Maserati was sold to a rich Swiss who would transform the race into a road car. Until 1995 the road car only worked for about 15 hours.
Later the car would be sold again, this time to Jean Guikas who restored the road car into the original racing specifications from 1973 to enter the Le Mans Classic in 2007.
But again the car stays in the pit box.
Jean Guikas tells why the Maserati could not race at the Le Mans Classic in 2007: "They currently refuse of approval is because the Bora would have never raced. I have papers that shows that the car has indeed trained for the Le Mans 1973 and that the car is registered for the Tour de France. But probably it's just the same old story, the collaborative Group IV sees a threat and several owners have objected that I was driving with a car that was not yet certified "at Le Mans."
After spending more than 100.000 euro on the restoration of the Maserati Bora, Jean Guikas put the "cursed" Maserati again on sale.
Specifications
Country of origin: Italy
Produced in: 1973
Numbers built: 2
Internal name: AM 117
Engine
Configuration: AM 107.07.49 Comp 90º V8
Location: Mid, longitudinally mounted
Construction: Light alloy block and head
Displacement: 4.93 liter / 300.8 cu in
Bore: 93.9 mm (3.7 in)
Stroke: 89.0 mm (3.5 in)
Valvetrain: 2 valves / cylinder, DOHC
Fuel: Ffeed4 Weber 50 IDA Carburettors
Lubrication: Dry sump
Aspiration: Naturally Aspirated
Power: 428 bhp / 319 KW
Torque: 490 Nm / 361 ft lbs
BHP/Liter: 87 bhp / liter
Drivetrain
Chassis: Steel monocoque with subframes
Suspension (front/rear): Double wishbones, coil springs over dampers, anti-roll bar
Steering: Rack-and-pinion
Brakes: Ventilated discs, all-round
Gearbox: 5 speed Manual
Drive: Rear wheel drive
Dimensions
Weight: 1250 kilo / 2755.8 lbs
Performance figures
Power to weight: 0.34 bhp / kg
THE OTHER MASERATIS ARE HERE
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