LITTLE RED ROADSTER

With an incredible history in some of the world's greatest road races, this tiny Osca MT4 is ready to take on its next competitive challenge

- MICK WALSH

Everyone loves a giant-killer, an underdog who trounces the big guns. The Osca MT4 was just such a junior sportsracer, the creation of the Maserati brothers after they had sold their eponymous first business to the Orsi family. Most famous of this little barchetta's impressive victories was not around the sinuous mountain roads of Sicily, but pounding the desolate flatlands of Florida in 1954 for the third 12 Hours of Sebring.

The twin-cam, 1452cc Latin compact was entered by the dashing American millionaire sportsman Briggs Cunningham, with his sonin-law Bill Lloyd teamed ace Stirling Moss, who jumped at the chance of escaping austere England for the sunny warmth of the American south. Against an international 60-car field, including factory-team Aston Martins and Lancias plus a clutch of privateer Ferraris, the little white MT4 was never judged to be a contender. Moss always relished such a situation, and was determined to prove the pundits wrong with this jewel from Bologna. “Briggs' Osca was quite amazing," the maestro told historian Doug Nye. "You could drive it as hard as you liked, slinging it sideways was no trouble.” In his diary, Moss recorded that the Osca was: 'A little beauty – 5900 in top and 5600 in gears.' Only insufficient brakes and a weak clutch spoiled the MT4's potential, but the brilliant handling continually delighted Moss.

As expected, the Lancia D24s set the pace at Sebring, duelling away out in front, but after four hours of racing, Moss and Lloyd were up to seventh - despite a spin. And when the Lancias began to suffer mechanical problems, the tiny Osca rasped into the Florida twilight. With the chilly darkness enveloping the circuit, it steadily climbed the leaderboard to an amazing second as the race entered the final nocturnal hour. By now totally without brakes, Moss delighted the 14,000-strong crowd as he slid into the turns broadside to scrub off speed.