Maserati 8CTF Boyle Special - Model Car

Maserati 8CTF Boyle Special
Designer: Ernesto Maserati
Top speed: 130 miles per hour
Model car maker: Replicarz, 1:18 scale (photos 1, 2, & 3)

With Wilbur Shaw (photo 4) at the wheel, this car won the Indianapolis 500 in 1939 and 1940 under the banner of the Chicago Boyle Racing Headquarters team owned by Michael Joseph “Mike” Boyle. Boyle was the controversial head of the IBEW union in Chicago. After the first two victories, Shaw seemed destined for a historic hat-trick with the Maserati in 1941, but he crashed while leading on lap 152. Going down the mainstretch, the car lost control, and hit the outside wall, rupturing the gas tank. Shaw was drenched with fuel, and suffered a back injury which left him immobile for several minutes. Despite the fuel spill, the fuel did not ignite, and Shaw was brought to safety by the medical staff. It is believed that the morning garage fire had an effect on Shaw's efforts. At some point before the race, Shaw's crew was preparing his tires for race day, and used chalk to write notes on the spare tires. One particular wheel was determined to be out of balance, and rather than being discarded, it was labeled in chalk with the words "USE LAST". However, the firefighters' water hoses are believed to have washed off the chalk message. Shaw inadvertently took on the bad wheel during a pit stop, which caused his crash.[

In 1946, after a break due to the Second World War, the same 8CTF which Shaw had driven finished the Indianapolis race in third place, this time with Ted Horne at the wheel. Horne repeated his third place in 1947, and went on to finish fourth in 1948. These very impressive results confirm the amazing sporting longevity of the initial design developed by Ernesto Maserati in 1938, which remained competitive at the highest levels for a decade.

The 8CTF's racing successes were not restricted to events on the traditional American ovals, since this Maserati model was also victorious in another famous race, the Pikes Peak hill climb in Colorado, where Luis Unser was the winner in 1946 and 1947. The Pikes Peak race was run over an uphill course of about 12 miles, mainly on unpaved roads and with 156 bends which posed a severe test for both driver and car. The starting line was at 4,600 feet above sea level and the finish at 14,000 feet. These results were exceptional for an extraordinary car that proved highly competitive in totally different disciplines.

Here is a newsreel video of the 1939 Indy 500 with a shot of the Boyle Special racing down the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHqSd0GL7g

For the record, a number of model car makers are now making resin-based pieces such as this one. It is not diecast metal.