Tuesday 13th January 2004

Maserati Racer

Enzo like racer to join FIA GT

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Last weekend Maserati were out testing with their latest - and until now top secret - racer. "Project MCC" will take part in the FIA GT Championship and will get a proper launch at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show.

Many believe the car to be based on the Ferrari Enzo and Maserati make no secret of the fact that the development was done in conjunction with Ferrari.

[DustyC]

Hope they keep the black theme, looks excellent. Look forward to seeing it.

[FourWheelDrift]

Don't FIA GT racers have to be production models? I haven't seen a Maserati on the road looking like that.

[levensnevel]

www.gazzetta.it/primi_piani/motori/2004/pp_1.0.269601189.shtml
Will be in the 2nd part of the season.
But well worth the wait I guess

levensnevel

a smile every mile and
gammal karlek rostar aldri !

[Robbo1]

FourWheelDrift said:

Don't FIA GT racers have to be production models?

Surely you're not suggesting the FIA would bend the rules for Ferrari?
That would never happen...

[FourWheelDrift]

would I?

Hate to jump on the "it looks like a" bandwagon, but it does remind me of the Stealth from the British GT series a couple of years back.

[Robbo1]

FourWheelDrift said:

but it does remind me of the Stealth

It does, doesn't it?

[anorakmode=on]
With a hint of Sintura S99 at the back
[anorakmode=off]

[rubystone]

It's an Enzo witha big wing and it'll kill FIA GTs stone dead if Ratel doesn't get his sums right - but then since both Porsche and Mercedes put the boot into this series, it's really only fair that Ferrari gets to have a go too!

[Marki]

But at least they engineered the cam covers and badge together

[danmangt40]

am I the only one who cares whether this car is badged a ferrari or a maserati? Clearly this car is based on the ferrari with the most evocative name of all, Enzo Ferrari. The production car is the ultimate production of the current supercar powerhouse we all call ferrari, and on this car, that word is listed TWICE. how in the world can they keep a straight face and just sign it off as a maser? Not to mention that the racer has some very attractive panels in place of the slightly gawky details on the Enzo. But there's no denying the lineage. I think Ferrari planned to take the Enzo racing, but for whatever reason, they've labeled this car a maser against what I think everyone would prefer. My money's on two theories:
1. They want to succeed with this car and then brag about maserati's racing success, as ferrari has plenty of recent stuff to brag about, Even though this is so clearly based on agonizing work by the prancing horse
2. There's some hidden legal stipulation/ contract that ferrari gets around by labeling this car a maser. Sure, I'm sure that maserati engineers collaborated, I'm not trying to put down maserati, but this simply isn't their car, unless they intentionally created a car to evoque the image of someone else's.

grrrr.... this is as bad as the speed 8 being called a bentley and not an audi.

[danmangt40]

doh... just checked out some pix over at supercars.net....I retract what I said earlier. This could genuinely be a coincidence of styling... It looks considerably different that it could only loosely be related to the enzo....

[rubystone]

No, Ferrari have been very open that the car is based around the Enzo tub. The reason why it's a Maser and not a Ferrari? I believe 'cos they don't want to pi$$ on their own sales of the 575 GTC and also 'cos it's been what, nigh on 50 years since Maser won anything meaningful on track (450SS?) and they need to get the "halo" sales that come with success in motor racing.

You only have to look to how Jaguar has been cleverly utilising its profile in F1 to develop and shift performance versions of its models...the X Type estate (diesel of course)comes to mind....

[maclf01]

NO, Ferrari is so caught up in image and how well they do in F1, they are afraid to lose now. Think about it. If this was the Enzo and some random car beat it, Ferrari would lose it's image as totally dominating almost anything racing. What do you think people would do with the car that beat the Enzo?? There would be waiting list's longer than that of any other car on the market. Not to mention some of Ferrari's reputation is damaged.