Maserati 450S were nine racing cars made by Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

 of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and used in FIA's endurance World Sportscar Championship

World Sportscar Championship

The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...

 racing.

Their design started in 1954 (thus the internal designation «Tipo 54») led by Alberto Bellentani and Guido Taddeucci. Their intent was to use larger engines than those then used by Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

.

One was the 3.5-litre to be used in Maserati 350S

Maserati 350S

Maserati 350S were three racing cars made by Maserati of Italy, built by Giulio Alfieri, aluminum body design by Medardo Fantuzzi, both Maserati engineers....

, the other to be used in the 450S, had a 4.478-litre short-stroke V8 engine with
four Weber carburetor

Weber carburetor

Weber is an Italian company producing carburetors, currently owned by Magneti Marelli Powertrain S.p.A., in turn part of the Fiat Group.The company was established as...

 45 IDM (400 bhp at 7200).