GranTurismo MC Corse Concept is sure looking nice. i have never been a fan of Maserati grill. but his car sure does look nice. the rear looks like an astonmartin though. but regardless , it looks nice. http://www.worldcarfans.com/9080925....ncept-revealed

The world first caught wind that Maserati were planning something special for the Paris Motor Show earlier this week when they slapped a big message on the front of their site - “We are going to surprise you”. This surprise has now been realised with the release of the first images and basic details of the GranTurismo MC Corse Concept.

The concept has been developed specifically for the racetrack, it is based on the GranTurismo S and possesses the same lightweight 4.7 liter V8 engine. Engineers have gone smashed a little extra out of this power unit with output rising from 440hp to 450hp. The upgrade is attained with a new air intake system, competition-spec catalytic converters, revised airflow and a new exhaust system.

Of course a modest increase like this is hardly going to turn a road car into a serious contender on the track, that is why the Maserati engineers have boosted the model with a new aerodynamically enhancing body kit featuring a new front splitter, an enlarged rear spoiler and road hugging rocker panels. The new 18x12-inch front and 18x13-inch rear wheels hide the an upgraded suspension system and it also sports enlarged brake discs with monobloc racing calipers. The model is completed with a FIA-approved rollcage.

Lookout next week when more pictures and details are released when the model is unveiled.

 

looks very sexy, kind of aston martainish. I like. Its no F430 though

 

I was gonna say it looks very RX-8ish. Similar lines along the fenders and the windsheild/roof. Almost looks like an RX8 stretched without the +2... lower roof (?), wider body, maybe longer too. The first and second pic a lot more than the 3rd and 4th.

I love Maseratis.

 

Next question is, will most of us be able to get one ?

doubtful

 

. my question to Daily is, do you think they will use this car for the LMS?

 

Not bad. Maybe its the raw race look but I think I like this better than the regular Gran Turismo - less luxury, more sport. Curious of what series this would run in. LMS would be good.

 

Unfortunately , all the sources pretty much say that the Maserati GT MC Corse is a concept race car , for now... there was only one blurb from Autoblog stating that it may race on American shores. Unfortunately the article never said what series.... I am sure more info will be out in the next upcoming weeks.

IMO if the car is already outfitted with a FIA approved roll cage and has all the race ready goodies on it, I am sure a team or two already has there eyes on this car to run in the GT Rolex series or ALMS . I think the Koni series is to slow of a class for this car.

 

yah. lol but for some reason i thought Masserti was already in the ALMS. but come to think of it, i think i got them confused with the Panoz car. not sure how that happened. maybe it Europe LMS taht i seent he masserti in, oh well.

btw i hope next session GT1 will get more teams racing in that catagory. only 2 teams racing is kinda of funny lol.

 

Actually the Maserati MC12 ran once last year in the ALMS. It was in the GT1 class with the Corvette and the Aston Martin. I still scratch my head why they withdrew from the class?
ALMS officials are about suspend the GT1 class after the second half of the race season next year, if nobody signs up between now and Sebring 09 for the GT1 class, the Corvettes and Aston Martin will run by themselves up to the 24 hour of Le mans race in June, after the historical race they will drop down to the GT2 class. Aston Martin already has a Gt2 class car , but its constantly plauged with mechanical failure! Its really sad to see manufacture have no interest in running in the GT1 class anymore. The Corvettes will have a helluva time going against Rissi Ferrari's and those Flying Lizard Porsches, not to mention BMW brand new M3 is making its debut again at Sebring to give the Porsche guys hell again. This time lets hope the Porsche teams don't whine like little babies again as they did back in 2001 about BMW cheated by having a V8 in there M3 when they should have been running there I6 motors. BMW kinda sorta new better, inorder for them to run that V8 beast in the ALMS, BMW had to produce only 10 V8 M3's at that time , so BMW did, enetered two of them into the race and now till this day , there are 10 rare E46 V8 powered M3s in the world somewhere. If the Porsches get dominated again, there complaints will fall on deaf ears this time. Next year is going to be another milestone in racing..... now we just have to get our beloved rotaries back in the ALMS, praying and hoping 2010 will be the year!

 

thanks for the clarification, because could of sworn i seen a maserati racing in the ALMS. but when i started to think of the teams for this year, i couldnt remember seeing one racing this year. usually i get panoz and the viper mixed up lol.

I really hope aston does well next year. i find it funny that they do so well in the europe lms, but not the ALMS. Aston is the team i root for , but like you said they either plagued with engine issues, or they end up crashing their car. when that happens i just root for flying lizard over the ferrari team. But since i find the P cars more entertaing, i pretty much just pay attention to penske vs the audi and acura cars. love penske (even though i am not a huge porche fan)

As for BMW, i sure can not wait to see them in action 2009. the car they showed off for lemans looks freaking awesome.

 

They didnt withdraw, it was found that the MC12 didnt meet the specs of the GT1 class in ALMS so instead of changing the car Maserati decided to focus thier attention in the more competitive ELMS GT1, and thats where they stayed...

As for GT1 in ALMS its going away entirely next year. If this car is going to come to America it will most likely go into the now GT class(old GT2)

It is a damn sexy car when I saw the article on Autoblog yesterday I immediately put that top pic on my desktop I love how they fanged out the side intake ducts...

 

check this out this was up on Autoblog several months ago...
I love how all the busy lines in the front grille painted flat black...
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/15/v...-to-the-track/