Presented in bare aluminium and showing all the dents and repairs of a long and tough competitive life on the circuits, the Maserati 200Si prototype sports car racer stood out from the crowd at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Presented in bare aluminium and showing all the dents and repairs of a long and tough competitive life on the circuits, the Maserati 200Si prototype sports car racer stood out from the crowd at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Regarded as one of Maserati's most beautiful and successful small engined racing cars, the 200Si (chassis and engine no. 2401) example on show at Monterey last month was the factory's test and development prototype for the series of customer specification cars, and carried in its hands the racing debut of the 200Si, at the Imola Sports Car Grand Prix in 1955.

Building customer racing cars helped to keep Maserati in business and fund the Grand Prix team which was at the time campaigning the successful 250F. However the 2.0-litre, 6-cylinder A6GCS with its pre-war heritage was becoming rapidly dated, Maserati looked towards the 4-litre class where Ferrari was having much success with the 500 Mondial. With Maserati's new 1.5-litre supercharged 4-cylinder 4C2F Formula 2 engine being regarded as one of the best of its day, it was only natural that it would be adapted to sports car racing. Using elements of the 250 F chassis, and after heavily revising the engine, the Maserati 150S, and then the 200S were born.

The 150S proved to be very quick out of the box. At its first race, the shorter distance 1955 Nürburgring 500kms, Jean Behra placed it on pole, over 2 seconds faster than any of his rivals, and then went on to comfortably win the race. Against top-class opposition the 150S continued to acquit itself admirably and the potential of fitting a 2-litre engine to the 200S project, now running side by side with the 150S project, to replace the ageing A6GCS wasn't lost on Maserati; and thus the 200S was born, arriving in action at San Marino in 1955. The 200S boasted 195hp from its 1994cc dual overhead camshaft 4-cyliner engine, which was coupled to a 5-speed manual transmission; it also featured 4-wheel drum brakes and a wheelbase of 2200 mm. It was raced by many famous drivers and team owners to campaign the car included Lance Reventlow, Carroll Shelby, Jim Hall, John Firth and Jim Kimberley. In 1957 its name was changed to 200Si (Sport Internazionale) to announce its conformance to new international racing regulations.

This actual car, the factory's test bed, has an interesting history. It was bought in Venezuela by Maserati fancier and historian Joel E. Finn and eventually found its way to Chris Drake in the UK in the early 1970s. It was then sold to a Japanese owner and was put on display in the Kawaguchiko Motor Museum for 22 years. In the illustrious surroundings of Pebble Beach last month, the 200Si was entered by Tony and Belle Schwartz of Calabasas, California, and it attracted constant attention during the Concours.