SUPER INCREDIBLE
THE MOSTLY COMPUTER-DESIGNED CAR IS AS FINE AS ANYTHING FROM TOP-OF-THE-LINE COMPETITORS
Despite its muchstoried name, Maserati doesn’t in fact have all that much experience in supercars. Oh, it has Italian sporting pedigree, but almost all of it comes in the form of Grand Turismo coupes and sedans.
Yes, there have been race cars, some of them famous: the 250G that Stirling Moss later claimed was the best front-engined Formula One car he ever drove, the 420/48 Eldorado (also piloted by Moss), and my favourite, the world famous Tipo 60 Birdcage. But there has only been one mid-engined supercar, the rare-as-hen’s-teeth MC20 that was built in 2004 and 2005. That’s it.
All of which makes the MC20’S bona fides all the more incredible. For one thing, Maserati engineers claim they designed 97 per cent of its mechanics on computers, an impressive feat for any automaker even in this virtual world. That they were feeding that algorithm parameters and coefficients with so little experience of what it is that makes a supercar super, well, that makes the MC20 nothing short of incredible.
Whatever its origins, the MC20’S steering is everything a supercar should be: Light yet precise, responsive yet stable, and direct yet not at all twitchy. I might not quite understand how they managed to design its chassis digitally, but I can certainly appreciate that the MC20’S steering is as fine as anything wearing the Prancing Horse or Raging Bull.
Even more impressive is the MC’S semi-active suspension. Like all such systems, it varies damping according to the mode — Wet, GT, Sport, and Corsa — as well as the size of the bumps and the speed at which it encounters them. In GT mode, the MC20 all but emulates the very best of gran turismos — Aston Martins’ DB11 and Audi RS7 to name a couple — with controlled yet compliant damping. Nothing in the mid-engined world can match its day-to-day ride comfort. But, dial the Maser into Sport or Corsa mode and roll becomes almost nonexistent, the steering I lauded earlier even sharper, and the grip from the front pretty darned amazing.
The MC’S carbon-fibre tub is designed by race car specialist Dallara, which not only created a separate centre chassis for the forthcoming Spyder version (with more torsional rigidity to compensate for its roofless design), but also a completely different tub for a promised battery-powered, fully electric (BEV) version of the MC.
Little has been revealed about the BEV version, other than its performance will at least match the gas-powered version and, thanks to the virtual design of its tub and the low centre of gravity thanks to a floor full of batteries, the handling might even be better.
For now, however, we must make do with the Maserati’s take on internal combustion — and what an engine it is. Perhaps the highest-tech internal-combustion engine in the supercar realm, Maserati’s new Nettuno 3.0-litre V6 is the first piston-powered power plant to incorporate the same pre-chamber combustion technology that powers F1 engines.
At low loads, firing a small pre-chamber allows ultra-lean fuelling for reduced emissions (just 262 grams of CO2 per kilometre) and consumption (Maserati claims 9.4 L/100 km on the highway). Mat the throttle and it’s all hands on deck with both fuel-injection systems — direct injection feeding the main combustion chamber, while a lower-pressure indirect system supplies the pre-chamber — and two big turbochargers kicking in maximum boost.
I’m not sure if the Nettuno is virtually designed or spent thousands of hours of a dyno, but I do know it’s the first internal-combustion engine Maserati has designed all by its lonesome — without any Ferrari input whatsoever — in the past 20 or so years. That makes its exemplary performance yet another incredible accomplishment.
Foot to the floorboard, there’s 621 high-revving horsepower available at its peak and 538 grunty lb-ft of torque down low. In between, there’s immediate throttle response and linear power production, a rarity in turbocharged supercars. Maserati also claims the best power-to-weight ratio in its segment — just 2.4 kg for each one of those 621 hp — thanks to its lean 1,496-kg curb weight. It certainly easily mustered all the power I was willing to direct to the rear wheels, the lesson to be learned that six cylinders are not a performance liability if they are designed with F1 technology.
There’s one last surprise regarding all this supercar goodness. The MC20’S base price will be $248,209. Yes, in Canadian loonies. That’s a whopping $110,000 less than Ferrari’s F8 Tributo which the Maserati not only outperforms, but it is better looking to boot.
Not bad for 97 per cent “virtually” designed.