Assetto Corsa: 1964 Cooper T61 Maserati at Longford

Starting with the T39 "Bobtail" in 1955, the Cooper Car Company made a series of modestly successful sportscars, culminating in the T49 in 1959, commonly referred to as the Cooper Monaco. Using a Coventry Climax, the cars would compete in sports car and endurance events in the 1.6 to 2 liter events far into the mid 1960s.
After driving a T61, Carroll Shelby made the logical decision to place a high powered Ford 289 into the back. This fleet of "King Cobras" would dominate SCCA racing in the mid 60s before being toppled by the mighty Can Ams in 1966.
Tommy Atkins and Harry Pearce decided on a similar approach, ordering a T61 and mating it to a Maserati 151 engine, freshly removed from a crashed Tipo 151/2. The all aluminium 4.9 liter V8 was not only capable of over 400 horsepower, but barely weighed more than a 2 liter Climax. In theory this gave the car a better power to weight ratio than Shelby's version, but as the car was prepared and raced in England, the two never faced off.
Roy Salvadori finished 2nd in the Cooper T61 Maserati's debut at Silverstone in 1964, then won the following race at Goodwood. After finishing 3rd at Brands Hatch, the car began suffering mechanical failures, which would not be solved for another 40 years. Team owner Tommy Atkins fell ill and passed away in 1965, and chief mechanic Harry Pearce left to join the new McLaren outfit.
After sitting in a German museum for nearly 30 years, the car was revived into racing shape in 2007 and has been running in historic events ever since.
The T61 would turn out to be Coopers final sportscar, as Charles Cooper would pass away in 1964, leaving his son with no desire to move forward, selling the company in 1965.
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[@Racer-X-090]

Beautiful machine!

[@supadre3239]

Thank you 😊

[@Grand_Prix_TV]

Oh those downshifts! 🤩

[@Michael_Lorenson]

Excellent, thanks

[@JURacing]

cool stuff...only yesterday I've put the Aston Martin DBR1 through its paces at that very track