Maserati has jumped on the track-only supercar bandwagon with the recent announcement of its ‘MCXtrema’. Like the GT2 racecar unveiled last year this is developed from its MC20 road car and the engine is again the 3.0 litre 90 degree V6 ‘Nettuno’ twin turbo engine, which exploits Maserati’s ‘twin combustion’ (MTC) Twin Spark with TJI double combustion control.

This indicates that the engine has pre-chamber combustion. That means a portion of the charge is spark ignited within a secondary chamber, which discharges fast moving heated jets through a series of nozzles into the primary chamber. The system provides multiple ignition sites within the primary chamber which leads to rapid and highly stable combustion. However, this engine also has a second spark plug to directly ignite the primary chamber in situations whereby the operation of the pre-chamber is not required. The MC20 engine also has a twin injection system, meaning both direct and indirect injection are employed.

 

The GT2 version of this engine has a power output determined within the category’s Balance of Performance - in the Fanatec GT2 European Series it outputs less than 650 bhp. Not restricted by racing regulations the MCXextrema engine gives 730 bhp. That is 109 bhp more than the MC20 road car exploits whereas the maximum torque of 730 Nm matches that of the regular version. In essence the additional top end power comes from uprated turbochargers, retuned exhaust and reprogramming of the engine control unit. The power is fed through a six speed sequential racing-type gearbox.

 

Only 62 examples of the MCXtrema will be produced. Maserati adds that this made in Italy track-only machine is the most powerful car ever sold by the marque. It also remarks that this car is the ‘spiritual successor to the MC12 GT1, which had a Ferrari-derived naturally aspired 6.0 litre V12 and was hugely successful in FIA GT racing between 2004 and 2010.