Maserati 8CTF
The body took 2 years on and off, much longer than anticipated, mainly because I chose to build the whole body in one piece from GRP.
The Inspiration Car
25 years ago I was invited to an Italian car show with my Fiat Topolino Hotrod and got parked up next to the Lucy O'Riley Schell Maserati 8CTF. I was absolutely smitten and carried that memory, not really doing anything with it until I discovered Cyclekarts.
Having finished my last Hotrod project I needed another project, but not too expensive or time consuming! Cyclekarts fitted the bill perfectly, giving the opportunity to have my own Maserati and letting me justify the project to Mrs G by involving my grand children, everyone’s a winner!
The Chassis
The chassis material was determined by what i had left over from previous projects, quite a bit of 3mm 3 X 2" box section, cut down the middle into channel sections with my plasma cutter and then “adding lightness" with 60 odd holes that saved nearly 2 kilos! Front axle came from Gemini karts with my own spindles etc fabricated, hotrod style 4 bar suspension (I had a lot of hiem joints to buy, McGill motor sport) with rubber band springing as used very effectively on speedway bikes and of course the CK standard, Honda C90 wheels from good old eBay.
Running Gear & Engine choice
A 40mm Rear axle came complete from an old superkart I believe, via Rhys, later narrowed a bit and oilite bushing machined for one hub for rather more predictable steerage. Rear wheels are from a BN125 Kawasaki eliminator, chosen as a bit wider and stronger than C90 and gave me a bit of HotRod rubber rake!
The engine is a Loncin, like a Honda but not a Honda, that 3 carbs later, finally, runs very well into a slightly modified Torque converter, like a Comet but not a Comet, surprisingly hard to find in stock anywhere so I bought 2. A bit of powder coating spivved it all up just in time for a crack at Grimsthorpe, revealing how poor the steering was with a fully keyed back axle and that relocating the fuel tank can cause serious flooding issues, like a crankcase full of petrol!
The driving chassis took about a year to build, with a bit of a break to rebuild my V8 race engine mid season.
The Body
The body took 2 years on and off, much longer than anticipated, mainly because I chose to build the whole body in one piece from GRP. I have worked with the stuff many times over the years but never made a plug/mould before, that took a year!
First step was to lay the keel so to speak, mocking it all up in cardboard, then 3mm ply with bulkheads at critical points, then roughly planked to flesh out the skeleton. A variety of “found" materials were used to fill in the gaps and more detailed areas guttering, cardboard and expanding foam. This mess was then decoupaged with old bed sheets to give a better foundation for the plaster coat that was trowelled on and smoothed over. Rough sanding revealed the low spots, I think I must have gone around the whole body five times before I was happy with the shape and surface finish. The best part, when the body shape was fully revealed, was after coating the whole thing in aluminium foil, how it gleamed after a bit of mould release polish!
You would have thought all thats left now is to slap a bit of mat and resin on, well sort of but then I was back into the endless routine of guide coat, sand ,fill, repeat! Got there in the end though and finally got it painted and mounted to the chassis just in time for Wilton Mill 2022.
Very happy to test it all out and then hand it over to my Fangio inspired grandsons.....it was quite a day!
Looking forward to next year and I’ve a few more granchiddlers growing up.
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