The 1954 OSCA MT-4 sports racer is the world ’s most notable sports - racing OSCA . Its dual - overhead - cam four displaced just 1 - 1/2 liters ( 1,452 cc ) , and horsepower totaled only 130 at 6,300 revolutions per minute . No matter – at the 12 hour of Sebring ( Florida ) in 1954 this little OSCA slayed the behemoth .
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Sixty cars set off the race , among them C - Type Jaguars , 4.5 - cubic decimeter Ferraris , a 5.5 - liter Cunningham 4CR , a Cadillac - Allard , and the Aston Martin DB3S team . However , a trio of manufacturing plant 265 - H.P. Lancia D24s – with Fangio , Ascari , and Taruffi driving – was favored to sweep Sebring 1 - 2 - 3 . Among the six OSCAs on hired hand was this one , entered by Briggs Cunningham for drivers Stirling Moss and Bill Lloyd .
From the starting motor ’s masthead the Sebring rate was torrid . The race terminate for the Astons and Jags well before half distance . One by one , other high - powered entrants also fell victim to mechanical ailment . Just 25 cars finish .
Meanwhile , the lithe 86.6 - inch - wheelbase , 1,280 - lb OSCA soldier on in the finest tortoise - and - rabbit tradition . It won the raceway outright in a sensational upset – five lick in front of the 2d - billet car . Two other OSCAs finished 4th and fifth , behind a 3.3 - liter Lancia and an Austin - Healey 2.7 , thus assuring the Index of Performance honor .
OSCA – Officine Specializzate Construzione Automobili – produced cars in Bologna , Italy , from 1947 . Founded by the Maserati brothers – Ernesto , Ettore , and Bindo – after they left the society that bore their name , OSCA continued until 1967 , three years after they retired .
Alas , self-colored commercial-grade winner eluded the Maseratis throughout their OSCA ( or O.S.C.A ) dangerous undertaking . Clearly , 10,000 Yankee dollars was plainly too much to pay for a 1.5 - liter cable car , no matter how fast . It tolerate cite that in the mid-1950s enthusiast road tests indicated that the OSCA ’s 120 - plus mph performance could not be better byanycar ofanydisplacement selling for less . OSCA truly deserved its moment of aureole .
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