Last September, Maserati launched their brand-new super sports car the Maserati MC20, with MC standing for Maserati Corse and 20 for 2020, to mark the year of Maserati’s new era.
The new car certainly marks a new direction for the Italian car manufacturer with its beautiful looks, giving it incredible aerodynamic efficiency, and a new 630 bhp V6 Nettuno engine with a torque of 730 Nm. giving the MC20 a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of under 2.9 seconds and a top speed over 325 kph.
The Nettuno twin turbo V6 engine is a technological gem that has already been awarded an international patent, with its ground-breaking MTC (Maserati Twin Combustion) system.
The MC20 is also extremely lightweight, weighing in at under 1,500 kg, giving it a weight/power ratio of just 2.33 kg/hp. This has been achieved through the use of high quality lightweight and strong materials such as carbon fibre without sacrificing passenger comfort.
We know the MC20 performs extremely well on tarmac, so it was interesting to see that Maserati decided to take to the snow and ice recently to see how the new MC20 would perform on low-grip surfaces as part of a series of reliability tests performed both on the road and track, in various driving conditions as well as intensive cold-weather testing on the snow-covered roads of the Valtellina and at the Ghiacciodromo Livigno (Sondrio), Italy’s most notable snow and ice circuit.
Tests were carried out to evaluate engine cold starting, the low-temperature performance of its elastic components and the car’s handling on cold and low-grip asphalt surfaces. Engineers also wanted to test the performance and correct functioning of the Climate Control System in cold conditions as well as testing the battery, suspension and brakes.
So far, the results have been extremely encouraging and so far not stopped the new MC20. On the contrary, they have enhanced the opposing personalities of this car, born from Maserati’s racing DNA but designed for series production.
Author Bio:
Simon Burrell is Editor of Our Man Behind The Wheel, a professional photographer and former saloon car racing driver.
Images courtesy of Maserati
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