The Maserati Tipo 26 was a model of Grand Prix racing car and was the first car built by Italian manufacturer Maserati, for a total of 11 examples, between 1926 and 1932.
The Tipo 26 originated from a Grand Prix car that Alfieri Maserati had designed for Diatto: when the collaboration between Maserati and Diatto ended, Alfieri took his design to the Bologna workshop that he had set up with his brothers in 1914.
The design of the Tipo 26 consisted of a steel ladder-type frame supporting a supercharged inline-eight engine displacing , with a bore and stroke of , with a three-speed manual transmission and aluminium two-seater bodywork made by Medardo Fantuzzi.
The engine featured a crankshaft-driven Roots supercharger, twin gear-driven overhead camshafts and dry sump lubrication; to comply with the 1926 Grand Prix regulations the displacement was fixed to 1.5-litres.
At its debut race in the 1926 Targa Florio, the Maserati Tipo 26, with Alfieri Maserati driving and a young Guerino Bertocchi as riding mechanic, finished first in the Grand Prix class and ninth overall.
Tipo 26 MM For the 1928 Mille Miglia endurance race, two new chassis were fitted with roadster bodies featuring cycle wings, running boards, doors, headlights, a small windshield, a folding canvas top and two spare wheels mounted on the tail. Under the hood the engines were the same as found in the Tipo 26 Grand Prix. Those cars were known as Tipo 26 MM.
Technical Data Source: Tipo 26 T26 T26B T26R T26C T26M Engine: Front mounted 8-cylinder in-line engine displacement: 1493 cm³ 1981 cm³ 1691 cm³ 1079 cm³ 2495 cm³ Bore x stroke: 60 x 66 mm 62 x 82 mm 62 x 70 mm 51 x 66 mm 65 x 94 mm Max power at rpm: 120 hp at 5 300 rpm 128 hp at 6 000 rpm (from 1927)155 hp at 5 300 rpm 140 hp at 6 500 rpm 105 hp at 6 000 rpm 185 hp at 5 600 rpm Valve control: 2 overhead camshafts, 2 valves per cylinder Compression: 5.8:1 5.6:1 5.5:1 Induction: Roots compressor Carburetor: 2 Memini 2 Memini (Weber from 1929)1 Memini Super (Weber from 1929)1 Weber ASSIgnition:Single, Bosch or Scintilla magnetoCooling:Water, centrifugal pump and radiatorLubricationDry sump, pressurised, with delivery and scavenging pumps Gearbox: 3-speed manual 4-speed manual (from 1927) 4-speed manual3-speed manual 4-speed manual Suspension : Stiff axles, longitudinal leaf springs Brakes: Mechanical drum brakes Chassis & body: Box beam frame with aluminum body Wheelbase: 265 cm 258 cm 275 cm Dry weight: 780 kg 720 kg 800 kg 820 kg Top speed: 200 km/h 210 km/h 200 km/h 185 km/h 235 km/h
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