Maserati MCXtrema: £936,000 track car revealed with 730bhp

Maserati has revealed its most powerful model yet – a 730bhp, 1300kg, track-only supercar.

Derived from the Maserati MC20, the boldly named MCXtrema has been conceived as a spiritual successor to the legendary Maserati MC12 racer of the early 2000s.

The MCXtrema “reflects the desire to create a racing car capable of passing on the legacy”, the brand said, adding it “celebrates the past and sets the pace for the future of the Italian luxury brand”.

Complete with an aero-clad, downforced-focused bodywork and a futuristic cockpit, the track car is limited to just 62 examples (all already sold) priced at £963,000 each (after tax). A standard MC20 starts from £197,994. 

Unveiled at The Quail during Monterey Car Week, the aggressive-looking, Italian-made super-sports car arrives with a dramatically overhauled design and massively upgraded underpinnings over the standard MC20 – so much so that not much of the original car remains.

One primary reason for the visual changes has been the increase in downforce. Key features of the new aerodynamically focused design include deep bonnet airflow scoops (in the shape of the brand’s trident badge), big diffusers front and back, and a huge adjustable spoiler. 

A large roof-mounted scoop, which connects to the spoiler via a shark fin, cools the same 3.0-litre V6 Nettuno engine as found in the MC20, but the addition of two new turbochargers, plus the extra airflow, boosts it from 621bhp to a monstrous 730bhp. This grunt is sent to 18in rear wheels via a six-speed sequential racing gearbox.

A low nose with slim LED lights, integrated race twin exhausts and a large bonnet-mounted emblem all add to the extreme look. Elsewhere, the Italian brand has added new double-wishbone suspension along with track-tuned four-way racing dampers, springs and an anti-roll bar. All can all be fully adjusted.

That the car weighs only 1300kg is down to the brand’s focus on cutting fat from the standard 1540kg MC20 to make it as “competitive” as the MC12. This is thanks to new bodywork and an upgraded chassis, both now constructed of ultra-light carbonfibre.

A huge focus has been placed on the interior, too. A single left-hand seat –  complete with a carbonfibre racing wheel with built-in display – is surrounded by different clusters of control knobs and buttons. These control an array of settings, from steering calibration to traction control levels, brake balance, engine strategies and the pit limiter. 

This extreme and minimalistic cockpit has been designed through feedback from customers to “achieve the utmost performance and emotions from its unique track ‘toy’”, the brand says.

Although the car is a track-focused racer, a host of interior options, such as a passenger's seat, rear-view camera display, telemetry recording, and tyre pressure monitoring system, point to the Maserati’s luxury positioning. 

Additional upgrades include carbon-ceramic Brembo CCMR ventilated brakes.

"Maserati MCXtrema was created with the aim of offering an incredibly exclusive product that can set a new paradigm for our track cars,” said Maserati CEO Davide Grasso.

“MCXtrema embodies the sporting spirit typical of Maserati's DNA, a declaration of a new pathway for our brand, devoted to superlative manufacturing and able to stand out in the world of luxury engine production with uncompromising performance."