Maserati MC12 A Winner

Designed to win races, the Maserati MC12 is actuallynot expected in the future.
sold as a road car, albeit it a very impractical one. StillV-12 from Ferrari with 622 bhp
what do you expect with a 620 bhp exotic car? TheThe Maserati MC12 looks completeley different from
car looks just like the sports racing car that it is. To bethe Enzo, though,, with a long nose and very long tail.
fair, it is a real two-seater while the cars that race atWhere the Enzo is angular, the MC12 is curved. It has
Le Mans are more like single-seaters.a carbon fiber body structure with steel sub-frames
Only 25 MC12s were built initially, and quite a few werefront and rear. Power comes from a 6.0 liter V-12
used for racing. Actually, when they heard aboutdeveloping 622 bhp @ 7,500 rpm, and 480 lb ft (652
Maserati building the MC12 for the GTA championshipNm) torque @ 5,500 rpm. A semi-racing engine to be
(ooops, sorry for sale as a road car, was the officialsure. It is coupled to a semi-automatic six-speed
line, I think) some of the other companies threatened tosequential gearbox, developed by Ferrari in racing.
withdraw as they thought the presence of the MC12Suspension is by double wishbones, with inboard spring
on the starting grid would make a farce of the wholeand damper units acting through pushrods. These are
series.mounted horizontally as on the Enzo. The dampers
Although the Maserati MC12, is a true exotic car, it ishave variable rates. Quite a car, but not as extreme
based on the Ferrari Enzo. The whole idea was toas the Bugatti Veyron or the latest Saleen S7.
upgrade Maserati's image following a checkeredFollowing the racing success of the MC12, Maserati is
history. The glory of the 50s, when Maserati was anow to build a more extreme version - the MC12
regular winner of Grand Prix, got lost in the mire of anCorsa. The MC12 Corsa has a massively uprated
economic downturn, when the company took theEnzo V-12 engine giving about 750bhp. You can get
wrong turn more than once.this for about $1.3 million - or £700,000 or Euros 1
As Ferrari and Maserati are both part of the Fiatmillion depending where you live.
Group, and were in fact in the same sub-group, itBut this is not a road car, nor will you be able to race it
made sense to modify the Enzo to get Maserati backin any official categories - so this is a trackday special
as a winner. Now, Ferrari and Maserati have been putat a huge price. Maserati plans to build about 12 MC12
in different sub-groups, so this sort of collaboration isCorsas a year.