Maserati finally delivers: MC12 Versione Corse in Bologna

Frank Filipponio — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:51:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Supercars, Maserati, Misc. Auto Shows

Although it showed the first car in Madrid back in May, Maserati is finally delivering MC12 Corsas and it took the occasion of the Bologna Motor Show to unveil the first customer car. In case you don't remember, the Versione Corse takes the basic MC12 and kicks it up a notch. Maserati is only building a dozen of these Fabergé eggs for special customers on a "build to order" basis. Neither fish nor fowl, the Corsa won't go through the certification process to make it road legal, nor will it qualify for any existing racing series. Similar to Ferrari's FXX, with which it shares a lot of hardware, the Corsa will essentially be a very fast, very rare, and very expensive trackday car.

For your $1.275 million, buyers will not only get exclusive bodywork for their Enzo derivative, but many mechanical upgrades including a horsepower bump from 600 in the standard MC12 to 755. Many will make comparisons to the Bugatti Veyron because of price and performance, but the Veyron is obviously a street legal car with an emphasis on luxury, albeit, very fast luxury. Although the Bug has that wicked 1,001 hp quad-turbo W16, it also has a lot more weight to push around. We see the MC12 Corsa being more of an Italian Saleen S7 TT. The Saleen almost matches the Maser with 750 hp in standard trim (Maserati can't match the 1,000 hp available with the optional Saleen Competition Package), although it also has to carry an additional 400 pounds worth of road regulations with it. We'll try to secure one of each for a comparison. Maybe bring along the Veyron and FXX for the heck of it. Can anybody hook us up? Please.

Release with specs after the jump.

[Source: Maserati]

Continue reading Maserati finally delivers: MC12 Versione Corse in Bologna

Maserati finally delivers: MC12 Versione Corse in Bologna originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SEMA Gallery: Greatest Supercar Display ever from Michelin

Frank Filipponio — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:24:00 EST

Filed under: SEMA Show, Supercars, Bugatti

Michelin is our favorite tire company from now on. Without resorting to the cheap, albeit highly effective and entertaining, trick of hiring booth babes to draw attention to themselves, this French tiremaker still had one of the largest crowds of any vendor at the show. Accomplished with an elegant simplicity that had us drooling from the moment we saw the space. The plan was so breathtakingly simple that we hope others will follow their lead in the future. OK, we wouldn't complain too much if there were still some lovely ladies around as well, but this being an automotive show, putting cars above all else seems to be a pretty good idea.

What they pulled off went a little beyond the ordinary and deserves some kind of award. After working your way past dozens of individual wheel and tire booths with everything from clear rims to those 34-inch monster truck-worthy numbers, you round a corner in the tires and wheels hall and see one of the cleanest, most spectacular sights. Especially if you are a fan of exotics and supercars, but even if you're not, it's quite striking. More story and pics after the jump.

Continue reading SEMA Gallery: Greatest Supercar Display ever from Michelin

SEMA Gallery: Greatest Supercar Display ever from Michelin originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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