Maserati Blog

Maserati MC12

2008-09-30T13:25:00.003+08:00

Manufacturer
Maserati
Parent company
Fiat Group
Also called
MC12 Versione Competizione Maserati MC12 Stradale Maserati MCC (development codename)
Production
2004–2005 (50 produced)
Predecessor
Maserati Bora, Maserati Merak
Class
Grand tourer
Body style(s)
Coupe
Layout
Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive
Engine(s)
6 L V12 465 kW (630 bhp)
Transmission(s)
Maserati CambiocorsaSemi-automatic transmission
Wheelbase
2800 mm (110.2 in)
Length
5143 mm (202.5 in)
Width
2100 mm (82.7 in)
Height
1205 mm (47.4 in)
Curb weight
1335 kg (2943 lb)
Fuel capacity
115 L (30 U.S. gal)(25 Imp. gallons)
Related
Enzo Ferrari Ferrari FXX
Designer
Frank Stephenson
The Maserati MC12 is a grand tourer

Subscribe to the Maserati Video Podcast!

2008-09-30T13:23:00.000+08:00

04/16/2007Modena

Maserati's Video Podcast offers a new way of keeping up to date with the GranTurismo and all the other Trident news.

Maserati opens a new channel of video communication for its clients and fans: the Video Podcast.

Joining the Maserati Video Podcast is rather like becoming a subscriber to a magazine: the contents appear on your computer and you can choose to watch, save or transfer them to a portable reader. The Video Podcast allows the automatic download of video and audio files using free software. A selection of the most widely available software for use with

Maserati coupe,more pictures

2008-09-09T14:44:00.003+08:00

The Maserati Coupé and Spyder are grand tourers produced by Italian automaker Maserati from 2002 to 2007. They have now been replaced by the GranTurismo.The two nameplates refer to the four-seater coupé and two-seater roadster versions, respectively. Both models were based on the 3200 GT, which was sold in Europe, but not in the United States. The Coupé and Spyder are both commonly referred to as the 4200 GT,which is an evolution of the prior model name and a reference to the increase in engine displacement from 3.2 L (3217 cc) to 4.2 L (4244 cc).[8]

The Spyder was first unveiled to the public at the 2001 Frankfurt Auto Show with the Coupé's debut following shortly thereafter at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show. Sales in the United States began in March 2002 for the Spyder and in May for the Coupé.The release of the Spyder heralded Maserati's return to the North American market after an 11 year hiatus. Almost as soon as it was introduced, the Spyder was selected by Forbes as the Best GT for 2001.

The Coupé and Spyder were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign, who also designed the Maserati Ghibli. The cars were built at the Viale Ciro Menotti plant in Modena, Italy.

Terror on N-S Highway,S'pore Ferrari Club members hit by thugs in Merc

2008-09-09T14:00:00.000+08:00

ELECTRIC NEWS
Terror on N-S Highway
S'pore Ferrari Club members hit by thugs in Merc
By Karen Wong
September 08, 2008

WAS it the Singapore-registered flashy cars? Or were the harassing, the high-speed chase, the beating and robbery a flash, unplanned by thugs in a Mercedes?

The flash was the fleet of Singapore-registered Ferraris and Maseratis out for a fun drive up to Genting Highlands. Taking part were about 20 members of the Ferrari Club.

But despite safety measures such as keeping together and communicating with walkie-talkies, it turned out to be a trip filled with the terror of high-speed car chases, three attempted robberies capped by a brutal beating of one Ferrari car owner.

The incident happened on Friday afternoon on the North-South Highway between Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.

The Ferrari Club convoy, which included some Maserati drivers, had left Singapore on Friday morning at about 10am, according to its motorsports director Chia Boon Teck, who was part of the group.

The fleet of about 20 cars was led by the president of Ferrari Club's Singapore chapter, Dr Ben Neo, the husband of Member of Parliament Lily Neo.

All was well until the group was nearing Malacca.

That was when a black Mercedes-Benz C-Class, with two men inside, flagged one of the cars down.

One of the men produced an identity card.

Meanwhile, the rest of the convoy - who were all hooked up with walkie-talkies - also pulled up along the road shoulder.

Mr Chia told The New Paper on Sunday that the two men had pretended to be custom officers.

But, he said, when the men saw that all the cars had stopped, they pretended it was a misunderstanding and drove off.

Later, the group pulled into a petrol station near Ayer Keroh to refuel.

About 10 minutes after leaving the station, the drivers in the black Merc tried their luck again, this time targeting the cars at the tail-end of the convoy.

They stopped a Maserati. But another Maserati also pulled up. (See other report).

Mr Chia was one of those who had pulled up along the road shoulder. But he stopped several metres ahead of the two Maseratis.

On hearing through his walkie-talkie that the two men were aggressive, he called the Johor police, he said.

To give the police a point of reference to their location, he drove further up where there were road signs.

Meanwhile, another Maserati driver who had stopped ahead of the two Maseratis decided to reverse his car, along the road shoulder, to back them up.

The two thugs found themselves outnumbered and left - but not before one of them snatched one of the Maseratis' keys from its ignition and made off with it.

Luckily the driver of that Maserati had brought his spare key along.

Meanwhile Mr Chia, who was on the phone with the police, did not realise that the thugs had left the group of Maserati drivers.

Suddenly, he said, while he was on the phone, the black Merc cut in front of his car.

'One of them flagged me down aggressively.

'But I quickly put my car into reverse and shot off.'

Car chase

Mr Chia said that the Merc driver then gave chase.

'I was travelling close to 200kmh, zig-zagging in between traffic. Then I hit a patch of heavy rain and lost him.'

The rest of the convoy were waiting for them at the Sungei Besi toll, the exit point for Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Chia said that while all that was unfolding, the members of the convoy knew what was happening as they were in communication with one another.

But, they did not realise that another Ferrari Club member was also making his way up to Genting. He was part of the trip, but not part of the convoy, Mr Chia said. It is not clear if he had a walkie-talkie.

As it turned out, this man was driving up behind the group.

Somehow, this driver caught up with the black Merc, whose robbery attempts had been foiled so far.

When the black Merc started chasing this driver, he sensed he was in trouble and he started speeding, hoping to lose the thugs.

'The Merc tried to bump his car three times, unsuccessfully,' Mr Chia said.

But when heavy rain came, the Ferrari driver lost control of his car and spun around, before crashing into the rail and another car.

The Ferrari driver and his wife, in the passenger seat, were shaken but fine.

Then, another danger - the black Merc pulled up alongside and used a crowbar to smash the window of his metallic-grey Ferrari.

The two thugs dragged him out of the car, and started punching and kicking him.

Mr Chia said that four more thugs joined the two men in beating the Ferrari owner, who is Malaysian. They then fled with his two watches.

By then, the Ferrari owner's wife had run off and to get help from passers-by. She was unharmed.

The Maseratis came upon the scene and helped the injured man before making their way to Genting Highlands.

Fearing for the group's safety, the group called for the representatives from the hotel to escort them to the next toll booth, Karak, from which they were escorted by the police for the rest of their journey.

He said that it was not clear to them if the attack had been pre-planned or just out of the blue.

Another Ferrari owner, who is also a member of the club but was not on this trip, said that going to Malaysia in a flashy car like a Ferrari is like 'an open ticket for any robber'.

'When there are more than 10 cars in a group, we are going to draw attention.'

This owner, who has been on more than 20 convoy trips, said that one of the safety measures was that they always drove in a group. 'The buddy-system has kept me safe so far.'

Hooked up

Mr Chia added that apart from ensuring that every member of the convoy is hooked up with walkie-talkies, they also try to drive 'tight', so that each car is not more than 2-km away from the other.

He said: 'The robbery victim was oblivious to what had happened to our convoy and he was very unfortunate to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.'

1ST ATTEMPT

North-South Highway before Malacca - a black Mercedes-Benz cornered two Ferraris. When they stopped, the rest of the convoy also pulled up.

The robbers then pretended that it was a misunderstanding and drove off.

2ND ATTEMPT

3RD ATTEMPT

After leaving the group of Maserati drivers, the drivers of the Merc came across the Ferrari driver who was liaising on the phone with the police.

They gestured at him aggressively and tried to block his car.

He quickly put his car into reverse and shot off. But they gave chase.

Then, when he hit a patch of rain, they fell behind. He escaped unharmed.

Ayer Keroh exit along the highway - the same black Mercedes-Benz blocked a black Maserati which was at the tail-end of the convoy. Another Maserati driver stopped at the same time.

So did the driver of a Ferrari, who stopped by the road shoulder further ahead.

The driver of the Mercedes-Benz was aggressive and threatened to handcuff the two Maserati drivers. Meanwhile, the Ferrari driver was on the phone with the Johor Baru police.

Then, one more Maserati driver who was ahead of the two who were stopped, reversed his car along the road shoulder, to where the two Maseratis were. The thugs, after making some threats, left the group.

FINAL HIT

Meanwhile, a Malaysian driving a Singapore-registered metallic grey Ferrari was making his way to join the group in Genting Highlands.

He was not part of the convoy.

Suddenly, a black Merc tried to block his car. He knew something was amiss and he drove faster. There was a high-speed chase, during which the black Merc tried to bump his car off three times.

Then, the driver ran into the patch of rain and lost control of his car. His car spun around several times. When it came to a stop, the thugs in the black Merc used a crowbar and smashed his window. They pulled him out of the car, beat him up badly and stole his watches. His wife, who ran in the opposite direction and got help from a passing motorist, was unharmed.

Maserati,the story behind it.

2008-09-09T09:26:00.000+08:00

Maserati is an Italian manufacturer of racing cars and sports cars, established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It is a luxury car manufacturer competing directly with Aston Martin and Jaguar, and sometimes with large German mass-producers, including Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993. Inside the Fiat Group, Maserati has been initially associated with Ferrari S.p.A., but more recently it has become part of the sports car group including Alfa Romeo.
Maserati Brothers
The Maserati brothers, Alfieri Maserati, Bindo Maserati, Carlo Maserati, Ettore Maserati, Ernesto Maserati and Mario Maserati, were all involved with automobiles from the beginning of the 20th century. Alfieri, Bindo and Ernesto built 2-litre Grand Prix cars for Diatto. In 1926, Diatto suspended the production of race cars, leading to the creation of the first Maserati and the founding of the Maserati marque. One of the first Maseratis, driven by Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio. Maserati began making race cars with 4, 6, 8 and 16 cylinders (actually two straight eights mounted parallel to one another). Mario, an artist, is believed to have devised the company's trident emblem, based on one the Fontana del Nettuno, Bologna. Alfieri Maserati died in 1932 but three other brothers, Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore, kept the firm going, building cars that won races.
Orsi ownership
In 1937, the remaining Maserati brothers sold their shares in the company to the Adolfo Orsi family, who in 1940 relocated the company headquarters to their hometown of Modena, where it remains to this day. The brothers continued in engineering roles with the company. Racing successes continued, even against the giants of German racing, Auto Union and Mercedes. In 1939, a Maserati 8CTF won the Indianapolis 500, a feat repeated the following year.
The war then intervened, Maserati abandoning cars to produce components for the Italian war effort. During this time, Maserati worked in fierce competition to construct a V16 towncar for Benito Mussolini before Ferry Porsche of Volkswagen built one for Adolf Hitler. This failed, and the plans were scrapped. Once peace was restored, Maserati returned to making cars; the Maserati A6 series did well in the post-war racing scene.
Key people joined the Maserati team. Alberto Massimino, an old Fiat engineer, with both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari experiences oversaw the design of all racing models for the next ten years. With him joined engineers Giulio Alfieri, Vittorio Bellentani, and Gioacchino Colombo. The focus was on the best engines and chassis to succeed in car racing. These new projects saw the last contributions of the Maserati brothers, who after their 10-year contract with Orsi expired went on to form O.S.C.A.. This new team at Maserati worked on several projects: the 4CLT, the A6 series, the 8CLT, and, pivotally for the future success of the company, the A6GCM.
The famous Argentinian driver Juan-Manuel Fangio raced for Maserati for a number of years in the 1950s, producing a number of stunning victories including winning the world championship in 1957 in the Maserati 250F alongside Toulo de Graffenried, Louis Chiron, Prince Bira, Enrico Platé, and a few others. Other racing projects in the 1950s were the 200S, 300S (with several famous pilots, among them Benoit Musy), 350S, and 450S, followed in 1961 by the famous Tipo 61.
Maserati had retired from factory racing participation due to the Guidizzolo accident in 1957, though they continued to build cars for privateers. After 1957, Maserati became more and more focussed on road cars, and chief engineer Giulio Alfieri built the 6-cylinder 3500 2+2 coupé, which featured an aluminum body over Carrozzeria Touring's superleggera structure, a design also used for the small-volume V8-powered 5000. Next came the Vignale-bodied Sebring, launched in 1962, the Mistrall Coupé in 1963 and Spider in 1964, both designed by Pietro Frua, and also in 1963, the company's first four-door, the Quattroporte, designed by Frua as well. The two-seat Ghibli coupé was launched in 1967, followed by a convertible in 1969.

Maserati,the story behind it.

2008-09-09T09:22:00.000+08:00