Maserati unleashes track-only MCXtrema

No rules or regulations, just 730hp V6 madness. The MC20, uncensored

By Cam Tait / Friday, 18 August 2023 / Loading comments

We’ve driven the road car. We’ve seen the GT2 racer. Now it’s time to see what the MC20 is really capable of with the new Maserati MCXtrema. It’s the Italian marque’s first track-only special since the MC12 Versione Corse back in 2006, and shows us what a Maserati racer would look like if pesky regulations and balance of performance rules were thrown in the bin.

We first saw the MCXtrema as ‘Project 24’ last year, and it’s good to see that little has changed from the wild initial renderings. With no need for headlights (just a pair of LED strips), the nose can sit ultra-low to better manage airflow over the top of the car. Below it sits a sizeable splitter, with turning vanes helping move air around the 18-inch, carbon dinner plate wheels. Deep skirts and bargeboards all work to seal the car to the ground and channel air towards the diffuser and vast side intakes, while a shark fin engine cover aids the efficiency of the gigantic, adjustable rear wing. Maserati hasn’t revealed any downforce figures, but it’ll be somewhere in the region of ‘a lot’.

That all veils a carbon fibre chassis, which is very likely derived from the MC20, with new four-way adjustable racing dampers, springs and anti-roll bars bolted onto it. The geometry of the double-wishbone suspension has also been reworked to work in a variety of track conditions, so it’s essentially plug-in and play for amateur drivers, while carbon fibre racing brakes should mean that fade won’t be too much of an issue while you’re hammering around a circuit all day.

In the middle of the MCXtrema sits the familiar 3.0-litre, twin-turbo Nettuno engine found in the MC20. New turbochargers, racing exhaust and a recalibration of the engine mapping bring power up to 730hp – 110hp more than the road car – at 7,500rpm and 538lb ft from as low down as 3,000rpm. For the full race car effect, Maserati has swapped the road car’s eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox for a six-speed sequential shifter, while a mechanical self-locking limited-slip differential helps distribute power to the rear axle.

Naturally, the cabin is pretty spartan. The MCXtrema comes with a carbon fibre structure crammed full of important-looking buttons that wraps around the driver, giving the cockpit a single-seater-style feel. The road car’s digital dash is gone, instead replaced by a wheel-mounted display and an assortment of buttons and rotary dials to flick between different menus (because a touchscreen with racing gloves on would be nightmarish). It’s a single-seat configuration as standard, but Maserati Corse will fit a second seat if you want to scare a friend senseless.

There’s no word on pricing just yet, but expect something along the lines of ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’. Not that there would be any point in asking, because all 62 examples of the MCXtrema have already sold. It’s good to see you’re taking motorsport seriously again, Maserati, but how about building that GT3 car the MC20 was supposedly designed to facilitate? We’re waiting…

Maserati unleashes track-only MCXtrema

No rules or regulations, just 730hp V6 madness. The MC20, uncensored

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