The Maserati 300S

Author Walter Bäumer. ISBN  978-1-85443-232-2 . Publication Date, November 2008. Page Size 295mm x 290mm, 360 pages, case bound with dust jacket and slip case. Illustrations: 390 historical black and white and color photographs.

This is the first book devoted exclusively to the Maserati 300S, one of the most beautiful sports racing cars ever built, and the main opponent of the Ferraris in the World Sportscar Championships of 1956 and 1957. Described by Stirling Moss as one of the best race car concepts of the Fifties, the 300S wrote motor sports history. With famous drivers like Juan-Manuel Fangio, Jean Behra, Harry Schell, Carroll Shelby and Stirling Moss, it raced with both great success and disappointing failure. Despite the often confusing and inaccurate records which make it difficult to establish the exact fate of these cars, the history of each of the twenty-eight 300S that were made by Officine Maserati S.p.A. in Modena, is listed chassis by chassis and profusely illustrated with period photographs. A section on the technical specifications of the 300S is also included, and an overview of the sports car racing scene of the time provides historical context.

Walter Bäumer was born in 1954 into a family of car enthusiasts. His uncle, also called Walter, was a Mercedes Grand Prix driver and the winner with Huschke von Hanstein of the 1940 Mille Miglia driving a BMW 328, and his father, Werner, acted as Walter’s manager and business adviser. After high school, Walter studied photography, and for many years worked as a photographer and freelance art director for well-known companies in the fashion and cosmetics industries, and magazines such as Esquire, Lucca, Vogue, Style and Playboy. Since 2003 he has worked full time as a Maserati historian. He lives in Düsseldorf, Germany.