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