Photo: Maserati
It's been a while since Italian carmaker Maserati revealed the MCXtrema, one of the most daring non-street legal projects it had ever undertaken, and we were kind of losing hope we will get to see it anytime soon do what it was meant to do: tear up the track. Luckily, Maserati just blew all our concerns away by confirming the project is still on track.
The MCXtrema debuted in August last year at The Quail after rumors about it had been circulating for months before that. Initially called Project24, the race car arrived into this world as one of the most extreme variations of the MC20 sports cars that have ever been made.
But whereas the core of the thing is an MC20, pretty much everything else about it is not. A lightweight carbon-fiber monocoque, a rear wing for the ages, roof-mounted air intake, and a central fin running the length of the rear deck make it immediately clear this car is supposed to be something truly special.
And special it is, as the car's engine, based on that of the road-going sports car, is no regular Nettuno. Tweaked into oblivion, the powerplant, in its 3.0-liter V6 configuration, is now capable of generating 730 horsepower, plenty for whatever its drivers expect it to do on the track and significantly more than the power developed by the base car (621 hp on the MC20).
After its unveiling in August the MCXtrema kind of went under. Last time it surfaced was back in February, when it took to the track for testing purposes for the first time. That happened at the Autodromo Varano de' Melegari in Parma, Italy, with Maserati chief test driver Andrea Bertolini behind the wheel.
And now we get news of the car getting ready for another outing, this time targeted at a more comprehensive series of tests. Already out and about in undisclosed locations, the MCXtrema will be put to the test extensively throughout April as the first production model gets ready to be delivered to its owner.
Maserati expects that to happen in late summer, meaning a full year would have passed from the unveiling to the first delivery.
The MCXtrema will be a very limited machine, with just 62 of them planned for production. As usual with such high-profile vehicles, the entire production run was already spoken for at the time the model came out into the open.
The Italian carmaker never said officially how much the MCXtrema costs to buy, with estimates placing its value at anywhere between $1.5 million and $3 million. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but it ultimately matters little for those who rushed at the chance of getting behind the wheel of one of these things.
But whereas the core of the thing is an MC20, pretty much everything else about it is not. A lightweight carbon-fiber monocoque, a rear wing for the ages, roof-mounted air intake, and a central fin running the length of the rear deck make it immediately clear this car is supposed to be something truly special.
And special it is, as the car's engine, based on that of the road-going sports car, is no regular Nettuno. Tweaked into oblivion, the powerplant, in its 3.0-liter V6 configuration, is now capable of generating 730 horsepower, plenty for whatever its drivers expect it to do on the track and significantly more than the power developed by the base car (621 hp on the MC20).
After its unveiling in August the MCXtrema kind of went under. Last time it surfaced was back in February, when it took to the track for testing purposes for the first time. That happened at the Autodromo Varano de' Melegari in Parma, Italy, with Maserati chief test driver Andrea Bertolini behind the wheel.
And now we get news of the car getting ready for another outing, this time targeted at a more comprehensive series of tests. Already out and about in undisclosed locations, the MCXtrema will be put to the test extensively throughout April as the first production model gets ready to be delivered to its owner.
Maserati expects that to happen in late summer, meaning a full year would have passed from the unveiling to the first delivery.
The MCXtrema will be a very limited machine, with just 62 of them planned for production. As usual with such high-profile vehicles, the entire production run was already spoken for at the time the model came out into the open.
The Italian carmaker never said officially how much the MCXtrema costs to buy, with estimates placing its value at anywhere between $1.5 million and $3 million. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but it ultimately matters little for those who rushed at the chance of getting behind the wheel of one of these things.
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