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Monte DeLeon Motorworks presents

The CORSARIO

A racing car of the old school, built by hand to order, for one owner at a time

Sales begin2030

Ink-wash newspaper illustration of the CORSARIO seen from the right front three-quarter: a long, smooth front-engined single-seater with an oval grille, wire wheels, a small windscreen and a roll hoop behind the cockpit.
The CORSARIOThree-quarter view from the right front. A design illustration.

Bespoke from the first line

There is no showroom floor and no stock of finished cars waiting for a buyer. Every CORSARIO begins with a conversation and is custom built to order for the client who will drive it: the seat, the controls, the colour and the finish are settled with you before the first tube is cut.

Nothing is hurried and nothing is copied from the car before. That is how a car should be built by hand.

4130 chromoly, honestly worked

The heart of the CORSARIO will be a hand-fabricated tubular spaceframe in 4130 chromoly, the alloy long used for aircraft tubing. Each joint will be TIG-welded by hand and inspected.

Over the frame will go a body of hand-formed aluminium in the form of the 1957 250F. It will be a new car, made by hand in a small shop, honouring an old and great shape.

Designed to HSR vintage regulations

The CORSARIO is designed for historic racing, to HSR vintage regulations; eligibility to be confirmed with HSR (Historic Sportscar Racing). Under the period skin, the safety materials and methods will be modern.

Whether a car may race is for HSR alone to decide, and we will never claim otherwise. What we can promise is that the rule book sits on the bench beside the drawings.

Hand-built in Florida

Each car will be built by hand to order at Monte DeLeon Motorworks in DeLeon Springs, Florida, by a small team who will know every part of it by name. The CORSARIO is presently in development; the drawings on this page show the car as it is designed.

If a car of this kind is something you have long wanted, we would be glad to hear from you.

Specifications

CORSARIO specifications (design targets)
ChassisTubular spaceframe in 4130 chromoly steel, the alloy long used for aircraft tubing; TIG-welded
BodyHand-formed aluminium in the form of the 1957 Grand Prix car
EngineFront-mounted in-line six, mechanical fuel injection, magneto ignition
Anticipated outputApprox. 270 bhp (benchmark: the 1957 works 250F six, about 270 bhp at 8,000 rpm)
GearboxManual H-pattern synchromesh, 5- or 6-speed; rear transaxle
Front suspensionIndependent, unequal-length double wishbones; coil-over dampers
Rear suspensionDe Dion axle; radius rods; transverse leaf spring
BrakesModern four-wheel discs behind period-style wheels
Wheels15 × 4.0 in front, 16 × 5.5 in rear; historic-pattern racing tyres
WheelbaseApprox. 2,280 mm
FuelSafety fuel cell, sized for 20- to 30-minute historic races
ConstructionBuilt to order, with modern safety materials and methods under the period skin

Specifications are design targets and subject to change.

The CORSARIO in elevation

Ink-wash illustration of the CORSARIO in left side profile, nose to the left, showing the long bonnet, side exhaust, cockpit and tapering tail.
Fig. 1Left elevation.
Ink-wash illustration of the CORSARIO in right side profile, nose to the right, showing the roll hoop and wire wheels.
Fig. 2Right elevation.

From the shop at DeLeon Springs

Made for the Man Who Drives Himself.

Artist’s impression in the style of a 1950s press photograph: the pilot, El Conde de Manantiales de León, seated in the CORSARIO at a pit stop with goggles raised on his open-face helmet, keeps his eyes on the pit crew while his raised right arm, in a dark leather glove, points far off down the pit road; his other hand stays on the wheel.
Plate IEl Conde de Manantiales de León.The Sultan of Speed.At the pits, every second is earned.

Some men are content to watch. The CORSARIO will be made for the other kind.

It will be built by hand, to order, at Monte DeLeon Motorworks: one car for one owner, every tube cut, every joint welded and every panel formed by craftsmen who put their name to the work.

Honest machinery, with nothing to hide. An in-line six up front, wire wheels at each corner, and a cockpit cut to the measure of the gentleman who will sit in it.

Picture the paddock in the early light: the engine warm, the crew stepping back, the road ahead. That moment will be yours, and the car will be ready for it.

One car. One owner. Built to order.

Artist’s impression in the style of a 1950s workshop photograph: the CORSARIO, number 46 on its nose and engine exposed, hanging from a chain hoist while the pilot, El Conde de Manantiales de León, in a work shirt, crouches beside the front wheel; a pickup truck is parked behind.
Plate IIEl Conde de Manantiales de León.The Sultan of Speed.Lifted, inspected, ready. Nothing will leave the shop half done.

Artist’s impressions. The CORSARIO is in design and built to order.