Designed to win races, the Maserati MC12 is actually sold as a road car, albeit a highly impractical one. Still, what do you expect from a 620bhp exotic car? The car looks like the sports racing car that it is. To be fair, it is a true two-seater, whereas the cars that race at Le Mans are more like single-seaters.
Initially, only 25 MC12s were built, with quite a few being used for racing. Actually when they found out that Maserati was building the MC12 for the GTA championship (oops sorry for selling it as a road car, it was the official line I think) some of the other companies threatened to pull out because they thought the MC12’s presence on the starting grid would make a farce of the entire series.
Although the Maserati MC12 is a true exotic car, it is based on the Ferrari Enzo. The general idea was to improve Maserati’s image by following a proven track record. The glory of the 1950s, when Maserati was a regular Grand Prix winner, was lost in the mire of an economic downturn, as the company took the wrong turn more than once.
As Ferrari and Maserati are part of the Fiat Group and were in fact in the same sub-group, it made sense to modify the Enzo so that Maserati was once again a winner. Now, Ferrari and Maserati have been placed in different subgroups, so this type of collaboration is not expected in the future.
Ferrari V-12 with 622 hp
However, the Maserati MC12 looks completely different from the Enzo, with a long nose and a very long tail. Where the Enzo is angular, the MC12 is curved. It has a carbon fiber body structure with steel subframes front and rear. Power comes from a 6.0-liter V-12 engine that develops 622 bhp at 7,500 rpm and 480 lb-ft (652 Nm) of torque at 5,500 rpm. A semi-racing engine to be sure. It is mated to a six-speed semi-automatic sequential gearbox, developed by Ferrari in racing.
The suspension is double wishbone, with internal springs and shock absorber units acting through pushrods. These mount horizontally like on the Enzo. Shock absorbers 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 will now build a more extreme version: the MC12 Corsa. The MC12 Corsa has a vastly improved Enzo V-12 engine that makes around 750 hp. You can get this for around $1.3 million, or £700,000 or €1 million, depending on where you live.
But this is not a road car, nor will you be able to compete with it in any official category, so it is a special trackday at a huge price. Maserati plans to build about 12 MC12 Corsas a year.