Maserati Tipo 26M

The Maserati Tipo 26 M was a racing car built by Maserati from 1930 to 1932, also known as the 8C-2500 because it anticipated the official designations of the later 8C series. It debuted on 25 May 1930 at the Reale Premio di Roma, where Luigi Arcangeli won, and the same year it won the Coppa Ciano and the Coppa Acerbo as well as races at Monza and in Spain. Because the earlier Tipo 26 B had reached the largest displacement the crankcase allowed, Alfieri Maserati proposed a new 2.5 litre engine, a straight-eight of 2,495.4 cc producing 185 CV at 5,600 rpm with a Roots supercharger and a dry sump. The car could reach 230 km/h. Besides the single-seat Grand Prix version there was a short-wheelbase two-seat Sport version bodied by Medardo Fantuzzi, a lightweight Zagato spider called Sport Tipo Mille Miglia and a 1932 double phaeton by Castagna Milano, and 13 cars are recorded as built.