Saturday, 6 February 2016

Maserati MC12

Introduction

Right, lets start off with the Enzo Ferrari, a true legend. The people of Ferrari named it after the founder of the company, so there's some real heritage there. How does the top of the line Ferrari relate with the Maserati ?, Well the Maserati IS an Enzo in a tracksuit to say the least.
The MC12 is a race-car, built to compete in the FIA GT Championship. This was a breakthrough for Maserati as they were returning to racing after a staggering 37 year break. The regulations only allow cars who have be sold to the general public(a minimum of 25 road going units have to be sold to call it a production car). That's exactly what Maserati did, but then again it was a Ferrari based Maserati, who wouldn't want that, for that reason all 50 of the production cars were called for even before any of them rolled off the assembly line.

Carbon-Fiber clad interior 

Interior

It is actually a race-car and a minimalist interior would be what one excepts, but on the contrary, Maserati have crafted most of the interior out of Carbon-Fiber, which does not only look cool but it also saves weight off the car. Luxuries like Air Conditioner are also available. There is an array of buttons on the center console referring to different modes and traction control and stuff. The ride height can also be controlled from within the car.
No radio, car stereo system, then again who needs it when you can revv the glorious Ferrari \V12 up-to 7700 RPM.
For the real world however, there is a big flaw, the rear windshield is not really practical, but maybe is shouldn't be, because if someone wants practicality, they should go and buy a Suzuki Liana.


Exterior

One would expect it to resemble the Enzo Ferrari, but they would be wrong, the only thing visibly in common is the front windshield. MC12 is larger in every dimension, with a sharper front end, the aggressive grooves and edges of the Enzo are lost in favor of a much smoother overall design. 
This was achieved after rigorous testing in the wind tunnel. These enhancements gives the car a lower drag coefficient than the Enzo. The body is entirely made out of Carbon-Fiber  (as stated before, the interior is as well). The track(distance b/w front and rear wheel) is the same as for the Enzo. The rear wing is something one won't miss, really necessary for the performance and responsible for keeping the car on the ground in the corners and a high speeds. The down-force created by the wing actually shifts the cars weight distribution to the rear as the car speeds up.
The air-intake is located on-top of the cabin, in form of a roof-scoop, which looks pretty radical. A feature most of the people miss is that this car has a removable roof, just like a targa top !
All but one of the cars were finished in White/Blue, the one being in black.

Performance

Featuring the same V12 power-plant from the Enzo, the engine has been derated from 650 to 620 hp
The PowerHouse
@ 7500 rpm and 657 to 652 N.m @ 5500 rpm. The redline is reduced from 8200 to 7700 rpm. It uses the same transmission as-well, just gave it a fancy name. This translated into a 0-100 kmph (62mph) time of 3.7 seconds. In every aspect, may it be 0-100 or 200, or the top speed, the Ferrari is faster.

Features

Not many features to talk about here, because RACECAR.

The hard work did actually pay off for Maserati, the MC12 wining 40 out of the 92 races it entered at FIA.





PhotoCredits : http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/alfieri100/mc12-0007a.jpg

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