Owner Profile: Nick Mason

We've all imagined meeting our heroes, and some of us are lucky enough to find they live up to expectations. It's often the same when we get to drive the cars we've whiled away quiet hours dreaming of owning if money were no object. Naturally, Maserati features high on that list: a four door GT like the Quattroporte, perhaps, or the MC12 supercar, or maybe something from the marque's long and illustrious racing history.

Our profiled owner this month is a hero to many for both his "day job" and his well deserved reputation as one of the world's foremost car enthusiasts. For him the choice of Maseratis was a clear one, and money really wasn't much of an object. The drummer Nick Mason, you see, is a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd; just one of their albums, Dark Side of the Moon, spent fifteen straight years in the Billboard Top 200, and has sold over 40 million copies.

Nick can afford to indulge in his hobby: motor racing. What's more, he enjoys the luxury of being able to keep anything he wants. His world famous collection currently runs to around 30 cars - including three of the most desirable Maserati racers in existence, and unlike those in many collections, every one of Nick's cars gets used.

The first of the three, both historically and in terms of his collection, is the classic grand prix car, the 250F. This was first introduced in 1954, and in the hands of five times driving world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, won its first two Grands Prix. It went on to carry Fangio and the Trident to the world title in 1957. Mason acquired his almost by accident: "I was buying another car from an American, an ERA R10B, and he wanted to sell the two cars as a package. I could see why: the 250F was a 'basket case', and a good way to get rid of something like that is to sell a complete car along with a project."

The restoration project took a while, not least because it was one of the last cars to leave the factory, and was thus a 'Lightweight' to which, in the intervening years, various people had tried to fit parts from earlier models. "The car had originally been in Europe, and had then been sold to someone in South America," Nick explained. "At some stage, a Chevrolet engine had been fitted. So a lot of work was needed on the car - this wasn't a case of a bit of paint and scraping off bits and pieces. When it was brought back to England, due to import regulations, it was described as a ladder!"

Nick's automotive enthusiasm and his respect for great machinery dates back to his childhood, when he would ride with his father, the documentary film maker and vintage 4½-liter Bentley racer Bill Mason. Chatting with Nick, it becomes obvious that he is not someone who sets out to acquire cars; it is more the case that cars find him, and then simply accumulate. He owns not one, but two, Birdcage Maseratis; the first, a Tipo 60 2-litre car, was again bought as a 'basket case'. "I think I just bought into the dream, and by then if Peter Shaw, who had restored the 250F, said he could do it, then it was fine by me," he said. "I thought it looked great, but it was a very slow process - so slow that I got bored, and when another car which was theoretically ready to go became available, and under the excuse that I really needed both a 2-litre and 3-litre Birdcage, I bought it."

While this one was, as Nick noted, 'theoretically' ready to run, his first drive again revealed that restoration work was in order. "After the first few laps the brakes weren't working, and the engine sounded pretty horrible, but the car felt fantastic, one of those where you realize that this is a great racing car," Nick told us. "We had to sideline it straight away until it could be fixed, but by then Peter had more or less finished the 2-litre - and that was fantastic, the first two or three years were just terrific because it was such a competitive car."

Despite running a stable which includes everything from a 1901 Panhard and a 1927 Bugatti, several pre-war Aston Martins through to an assortment of Ferraris - including a 250GTO, a competition Daytona, an F40 and an Enzo - the 2-litre has remained his favourite car, based in part on a single race. "I had one fantastic result with it, at Silverstone in 1993," he said. "It was a support race to the F1 Grand Prix, and I just had one of those dream races, where the car that should have won - a Lister - spun on the first lap, which held up quite a lot of the field and ensured he could never quite get back, enough people got past him to hold him up. There was Frank Sytner and Gary Pearson in quick D-Type Jaguars, and because Gary was pushing Frank it was luck, really, because they both did their tires in. So I got Gary on the last lap, and I got Frank on the last corner - it was fantastic. You could just see that his car wouldn't stick, and I just managed to go through on the outside."

His enthusiasm for the cars shone through our conversation. Nick is clearly someone for whom racing is not just a hobby, it's a passion, which explains the depth of his knowledge. When asked about his view of the Maserati brand, he was equally clear. "For me, Maserati is about tradition, and for me, it's motor racing, that's exactly what it means. I've probably done more racing in Maseratis than in any other car, in terms of number of races done, and my favourite racing car of all time is the Birdcage. As for the modern cars, although I don't own a current Maserati, I think the opportunities to use a sports car on the road are very limited, whereas with a GT car there's much more chance to do things. And for that reason, I think Maserati are going in the right direction."

It was interesting to learn that while he agrees with the company's direction, Mason has yet to drive the current lineup of Maseratis. He explained that while the Quattroporte, in particular, is a car of interest for which he had some praise as a genuinely practical high performance machine, he has not yet had the time to take one for a spin. During this discussion we mentioned that the car in which we had come, V8 MTY, is the very Quattroporte that had won evo's recent World Class comparison test. Ever the enthusiast, Nick stopped by to have a look at the car on his way to his next meeting, evidencing a genuine interest.

His knowledge, enthusiasm and passion brought Mason a rather special Trident experience when he was asked to drive the 75th Anniversary Birdcage - a joint Maserati and Pininfarina concept car based on the MC12 - at the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed. As with the ones he owns, this Maserati didn't disappoint. "It is the most wonderful looking car of all, although in terms of reality I don't think you could ever build something like it - just practical things, like how you would design a windscreen wiper for that screen. I've driven a number of real concept cars, and this was streets ahead; I've driven some that look fabulous but were simply awful to drive, whereas the Birdcage was a complete car."

Despite his relaxed demeanor and quick sense of humor, Mason is a pretty competitive character. Despite the 2-litre Birdcage being his favourite car of all, he is considering selling it because it is no longer competitive - historic racing regulations now allow cars such as the Cooper Monaco to race in the same category, causing it to slip down the grid. When asked if there were any cars he would still like to own, his first thought goes to what would give him the chance of winning. "My wife has got a really nice Fraser Nash Le Mans Replica, which we took back to Le Mans this year for the support race, but it's not quick enough for that category of racing; I'd like something drum-braked - an Aston Martin DB3 perhaps, or ideally a Maserati 300S."

Committed not only to using the cars but to sharing the experience with other enthusiasts, Nick co-authored At The Limit, with racing driver Mark Hales. The format is simple: take 21 of Nick's cars, have Mark drive each of them on a circuit and write about the experience, while Nick contributes a short piece on his ownership of each, all accompanied by truly stunning photography. It is wonderfully readable, gives an excellent sense of Mason's lively sense of humor, and is equally suited to dipping in for ten minutes or to prolonged study. For the full experience, you may wish to find the UK edition, titled Into The Red, which comes with an audio CD dedicated to the sounds of eighteen of the cars.

Both the 250F and the 3-litre Birdcage are covered in the book. Perhaps the last word in this piece on Nick Mason and his cars should be left to Mark Hales. For the sake of the book, he had to drive everything from a Type 35 Bugatti and a D-Type Jaguar through to the mighty Porsche 962, a pair of genuine Formula One cars, a Ferrari F40 and the McLaren GTR road car. So what was his opinion? "Of the 21 cars, the Birdcage was probably my ultimate favourite."

His favourite drink: vodka martini straight up, with an olive
His favourite meal: anything curried
His favourite TV show: Blackadder
His favourite movie: Le Mans, because it's got my car in it!
The last movie he watched: The Constant Gardener
His favourite composers: Stravinsky, Berlioz, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan
His favourite book: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E. Lawrence
The last book he read: The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
His favourite hobby: Motor racing
The person he most admires: Bob Geldof
The other job he would most like to have: Hedge fund manager, then I could definitely run my own Le Mans team
Different cars with which he would replace his Maseratis if he had to: The 250F would have to be replaced by a Ferrari 246 Dino; if it was the Birdcage, I would really like a Maserati 300S

His Maseratis: 250F "Lightweight", Tipo 60 2-liter Birdcage, Tipo 61 3-liter Birdcage

With thanks to Maserati UK.