This is the Maserati GranTurismo MC. It costs about £120,000 plus VAT and can be bought from October by rich folk who enjoy a jolly good race once in a while. Specifically, the 2010 GT4 European Cup is the race this bad boy can compete in, but if potential buyers don't fancy that, or don't like the car for that matter, Maser has signalled its intention to start a single make race series, for which a different car will be developed.
The GranTurismo MC is based on the
MC Concept first shown last September, which in turn was based on the sublime
GranTurismo S road car. It has an electro-actuated auto 'box and no anti-lock brakes; that's pretty hardcore for a car packing a 4.7-litre V8 with well in excess of 400bhp. (There's no official power figure yet, but the GranTurismo S boasts 434bhp.) It also gets a roll cage, lightweight alloys, carbon fibre aplenty and plastic windows.
It was fine tuned by Andrea Bertolini - he's the current FIA GT Champion in a Maserati MC12 - and former F1 driver-turned-Maserati technical advisor Ivan Capelli, so it probably handles ok. All things considered then, we don't think £120k-odd is too bad a price for something this focussed on being properly mental.
Mark Nichol - 17 Apr 2009