OK, maybe I chose a title with a bit of puffery to grab your attention, but if you don’t have the Maserati MC12 on your list of the coolest race cars in history, you’re dead wrong. This beast has a 6-liter Ferrari V12 under its decklid making over 600 naturally-aspirated horsepower, it looks like a sleek undersea monster unleashed with Frank Stephenson’s incredible design, and sounds better than any race car in at least the 25 years I’ve been going to race tracks. It’s difficult to believe that this car was racing twenty years ago, it looks as fresh today as anything else on track, and with its championship-winning track record winning six FIA GT championships in a row, it’s one of the most successful Italian race cars in history. 40 wins from 94 races is a pretty slick batting average.
The best time to learn about the MC12 GT1 was in 2004, but the second best time is right now. Based on the same chassis and using the same drivetrain as Ferrari’s all-conquering Enzo supercar, the MC12 was an even more rare racing homologation monster with just 50 road cars and 12 race cars produced. While all of the cars for the road were built in 2004 and 2005, the car remained a successful motorsport campaign for the trident brand through 2010, and it’s easy to see why. Longer, lower, wider, and more aerodynamically efficient than the Enzo, the MC12 was objectively the better car for the track, though Ferrari basically told Maserati that it couldn’t be quicker or faster than the Enzo it was based on. As such the MC12 was fitted with a 7,500 RPM redline versus the Enzo’s 8,000 RPM, which gave the Maser a 12MPH slower top speed at 205 miles per hour. None of that mattered for racing, though, as Ferrari wouldn’t enter the Enzo in competition.
Exhaust flames galore!
This recent video from Gumbal shows three different MC12 GT1s entered at a Spa-Francorchamps expensive car exercising day. While the main focus of the video is the glorious Masers on track and at speed, the other cars attending that day are seriously impressive metal. It’s interesting to see the MC12 trying to keep up with a Bugatti Bolide through Eau Rouge, for example. One of the Maserati’s period competitors, a Saleen S7 GT1 is also in attendance and adds some NASCAR grunt to the high-rev European soundtrack. This video just might be the happiest place on earth for a car fanatic. I could sit and watch it all day.
