Matrix 1:43 1960 Maserati Tipo61 Birdcage #7: Grand Prix Winner Cuba 1960, Stirling Moss

The Maserati Tipo 60/61 (commonly referred to as the Maserati Birdcage) are a series of sports racing cars produced between 1959 and 1961 by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati for privateers racing in sports car events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 2-litre and 3-litre racing category. It used an intricate tubular space frame chassis, containing about 200 chro-moly steel tubes welded together, arranged triangular formation at high stress areas of the chassis, hence the nickname "Birdcage". This method of construction provided a more rigid and, at the same time, lighter chassis than other racing cars of the time.

By recessing the windscreen base into the bodywork, Maserati was able to reduce the effect of new Le Mans rules demanding a tall windscreen. The Camoradi team became famous racing the Tipo 61s but, despite being very competitive, the Birdcage was somewhat unreliable and retired from many races due to problems with the drivetrain.

The road legal version of the Maserati MC 12 was available in a white colour with blue stripes livery as a tribute to the Tipo 61 and the Camoradi racing team.

The Tipo 60/61 were succeeded by the Tipo 151 which used a more conventional tubular chassis.

The Cuban Grand Prix, also known as the Havana Grand Prix, was a sports car motor race held for a brief period in the late 1950s in Havana, Cuba, last raced in 1960. The 1958 race is best remembered as the backdrop to the kidnapping of Formula One World Champion driver Juan Manuel Fangio by anti-government rebels linked to the 26th of July Movement. There is an exclusive report in the newspaper Zig Zag by the man who allegedly kidnapped Fangio and a note by Fangio.

The race was established in 1957 as Fulgencio Batista envisioned creating an event to attract tourists, particularly from the United States. A street circuit was established on the Malecon. The first race was a success; it was won by Fangio driving a Maserati 300S, leading home Carroll Shelby driving a Ferrari 410 S and Alfonso de Portago in a Ferrari 860 Monza.

Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss OBE (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition and has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and in third place the other three times.

Moss died in London on 12 April 2020, aged 90, following a long illness.