Maserati MC12 A Winner
Author: John Hartley
Author: John Hartley
Designed to win races, the Maserati MC12 is actually sold as a
road car, albeit it a very impractical one. Still what do you
expect with a 620 bhp exotic car? The car looks just like the
sports racing car that it is. To be fair, it is a real
two-seater while the cars that race at Le Mans are more like
single-seaters.
Only 25 MC12s were built initially, and quite a few were used
for racing. Actually, when they heard about Maserati building
the MC12 for the GTA championship (ooops, sorry for sale as a
road car, was the official line, I think) some of the other
companies threatened to withdraw as they thought the presence
of the MC12 on the starting grid would make a farce of the
whole series.
Although the Maserati MC12, is a true exotic car, it is based
on the Ferrari Enzo. The whole idea was to upgrade Maserati's
image following a checkered history. The glory of the 50s, when
Maserati was a regular winner of Grand Prix, got lost in the
mire of an economic downturn, when the company took the wrong
turn more than once.
As Ferrari and Maserati are both part of the Fiat Group, and
were in fact in the same sub-group, it made sense to modify the
Enzo to get Maserati back as a winner. Now, Ferrari and Maserati
have been put in different sub-groups, so this sort of
collaboration is not expected in the future.
V-12 from Ferrari with 622 bhp
The Maserati MC12 looks completeley different from the Enzo,
though,, with a long nose and very long tail. Where the Enzo is
angular, the MC12 is curved. It has a carbon fiber body
structure with steel sub-frames front and rear. Power comes
from a 6.0 liter V-12 developing 622 bhp @ 7,500 rpm, and 480
lb ft (652 Nm) torque @ 5,500 rpm. A semi-racing engine to be
sure. It is coupled to a semi-automatic six-speed sequential
gearbox, developed by Ferrari in racing.
Suspension is by double wishbones, with inboard spring and
damper units acting through pushrods. These are mounted
horizontally as on the Enzo. The dampers have variable rates.
Quite a car, but not as extreme as the Bugatti Veyron or the
latest Saleen S7.
Following the racing success of the MC12, Maserati is now to
build a more extreme version - the MC12 Corsa. The MC12 Corsa
has a massively uprated Enzo V-12 engine giving about 750bhp.
You can get this for about $1.3 million - or £700,000 or Euros
1 million depending where you live.
But this is not a road car, nor will you be able to race it in
any official categories – so this is a trackday special at a
huge price. Maserati plans to build about 12 MC12 Corsas a
year.
About The Author: John Hartley is editor of
http://www.fast-autos.com, an online magazine devoted to fast
cars and supercars. He has written from many of the world's top
auto magazines, and has written many books about cars and the
auto industry, including 'Suspension and Steering Q&A'.
road car, albeit it a very impractical one. Still what do you
expect with a 620 bhp exotic car? The car looks just like the
sports racing car that it is. To be fair, it is a real
two-seater while the cars that race at Le Mans are more like
single-seaters.
Only 25 MC12s were built initially, and quite a few were used
for racing. Actually, when they heard about Maserati building
the MC12 for the GTA championship (ooops, sorry for sale as a
road car, was the official line, I think) some of the other
companies threatened to withdraw as they thought the presence
of the MC12 on the starting grid would make a farce of the
whole series.
Although the Maserati MC12, is a true exotic car, it is based
on the Ferrari Enzo. The whole idea was to upgrade Maserati's
image following a checkered history. The glory of the 50s, when
Maserati was a regular winner of Grand Prix, got lost in the
mire of an economic downturn, when the company took the wrong
turn more than once.
As Ferrari and Maserati are both part of the Fiat Group, and
were in fact in the same sub-group, it made sense to modify the
Enzo to get Maserati back as a winner. Now, Ferrari and Maserati
have been put in different sub-groups, so this sort of
collaboration is not expected in the future.
V-12 from Ferrari with 622 bhp
The Maserati MC12 looks completeley different from the Enzo,
though,, with a long nose and very long tail. Where the Enzo is
angular, the MC12 is curved. It has a carbon fiber body
structure with steel sub-frames front and rear. Power comes
from a 6.0 liter V-12 developing 622 bhp @ 7,500 rpm, and 480
lb ft (652 Nm) torque @ 5,500 rpm. A semi-racing engine to be
sure. It is coupled to a semi-automatic six-speed sequential
gearbox, developed by Ferrari in racing.
Suspension is by double wishbones, with inboard spring and
damper units acting through pushrods. These are mounted
horizontally as on the Enzo. The dampers have variable rates.
Quite a car, but not as extreme as the Bugatti Veyron or the
latest Saleen S7.
Following the racing success of the MC12, Maserati is now to
build a more extreme version - the MC12 Corsa. The MC12 Corsa
has a massively uprated Enzo V-12 engine giving about 750bhp.
You can get this for about $1.3 million - or £700,000 or Euros
1 million depending where you live.
But this is not a road car, nor will you be able to race it in
any official categories – so this is a trackday special at a
huge price. Maserati plans to build about 12 MC12 Corsas a
year.
About The Author: John Hartley is editor of
http://www.fast-autos.com, an online magazine devoted to fast
cars and supercars. He has written from many of the world's top
auto magazines, and has written many books about cars and the
auto industry, including 'Suspension and Steering Q&A'.
