By Cam Tait \/ Friday, 18 August 2023 \/ Loading comments<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve driven the road car. We\u2019ve seen the GT2 racer. Now it\u2019s time to see what the MC20 is really capable of with the new Maserati MCXtrema. It\u2019s the Italian marque\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
We first saw the MCXtrema as \u2018Project 24\u2019 last year, and it\u2019s 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\u2019t revealed any downforce figures, but it\u2019ll be somewhere in the region of \u2018a lot\u2019.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s essentially plug-in and play for amateur drivers, while carbon fibre racing brakes should mean that fade won\u2019t be too much of an issue while you\u2019re hammering around a circuit all day.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 110hp more than the road car \u2013 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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\u2019s a single-seat configuration as standard, but Maserati Corse will fit a second seat if you want to scare a friend senseless.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no word on pricing just yet, but expect something along the lines of \u2018if you have to ask, you can\u2019t afford it\u2019. Not that there would be any point in asking, because all 62 examples of the MCXtrema have already sold. It\u2019s good to see you\u2019re taking motorsport seriously again, Maserati, but how about building that GT3 car the MC20 was supposedly designed to facilitate? We\u2019re waiting…<\/p>\n