High Maserati attendance at Louwman Museum
Maserati MC12 with license plate!
A total of 75 examples of the Maserati MC12 were produced, including 12 Corsa versions. This particular example is one of those 12 Corsa versions and even one of the three street-legal Corsas! Yep, this blue trident just has a license plate!
Unimaginable
“When the MC12 Corsa arrived at the Louwman Museum, colleagues were looking strangely. Amazed that this car is allowed on public roads like this. It’s also hard to imagine what it’s like when this pops up in your rear view mirror. And it does drive. The MC12 even drove into the trailer. Mind you, it is 2.10 meters wide. Also unimaginable. You never cease to be amazed by the MC12. All the more fun to put this supercar in the spotlight. Most enthusiasts know the car from magazines and websites,” said Sjoerd van Bilsen, curator of the Louwman Museum in The Hague.
Special Guests
Van Bilsen continues: “The MC12 Corsa is the first in a series of Special Guests at the Louwman Museum. We are already working on the next cars. They are all automobiles with a special story and a unique character. At the end of this year, we are planning a mini-exhibition with various Italian supercars and supporting the story of the latest supercar with its classic brethren.”
Maserati MC12 CORSA
Did you know that the design of the Maserati MC12 comes from Frank Stephenson, who is also responsible for the designs of the Mini (2001) and Fiat 500 (2008)? Maserati decided to build the MC12 in 2004 for participation in the GT1 championship. With success: the car dominated on the track. To celebrate that success with loyal customers, Maserati came up with the MC12 Corsa: a track version of the MC12 that you were not allowed to use for official races. Only twelve examples were built in Modena.
MC12 stands for Maserati Corse (the racing division) and refers to the twelve-cylinder engine. This particular version bears the name “Corsa,” Italian for “race. What makes this Corsa so special: it has been made street-legal. You could stroll down the boulevard with it or even drive it through the McDrive – although the small side windows are not really practical for that. Getting in is a challenge anyway.
Three variants of MC12
The MC12 exists in three variants. First came the GT1 race car, developed by Maserati Corse. To use those twelve race cars, Maserati had to produce a minimum of 25 street versions each year. That became a total of fifty, under the Stradale name. After winning the GT1 championship in 2005, Maserati released the Corsa version, a car purely for the track. Not intended for racing and not street-legal – though this particular example is thus an exception. The Corsa was built as a tribute to the GT1 success. Like the other versions, the Corsa is based on a carbon-fiber monocoque shared with the Ferrari Enzo. Unlike the Enzo, which has wing doors, the MC12 has regular doors and a removable roof panel. Under the hood is a modified Ferrari V12, here boosted to 555 kW (755 hp). That engine sits centrally in the car, which is a whopping 5.14 meters long and 2.10 meters wide.
A total of 74 examples of the MC12 were built: twelve GT1 race cars, fifty street versions (Stradale) and twelve Corsas. In 2013, a thirteenth GT1 was built with leftover parts.