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Maserati pulls the plug on Trofeo spec racing series [w/video]

For the past twelve years, customers looking to push their Maserati to the limit have been taking part in the Trofeo series. But the Italian automaker is pulling the plug and stepping into to GT4 competition. The Trofeo World Series kicked off back in 2003 when the field was made up of spec racers based on the old Maserati 4200. The newer GranTurismo MC took its place in 2010, and with it the series expanded from Europe into other locations. This year's calendar saw it race at Paul Ricard in France and the Red Bull Ring in Austria, at Road America, VIR, and Laguna Seca here in America, at Suzuka in Japan and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.This will be the last season for the championship, but that doesn't mean client racers won't have a chance to turn the wheel of a Maserati in anger again. Instead of competing exclusively against identical machinery, Maserati will now support customer teams in two racing series under GT4 regulations: the Pirelli World Challenge here in the US and the European GT4 Championship across the pond. To that end, it's adapting the GranTurismo MC from Trofeo spec to GT4 by reducing the output from the 4.7-liter V8 from 488 horsepower to 430 and tweaking the aero package. Following the Balance of Performance tests to be undertaken under the auspices of the SRO (which runs the Euro GT4 series as well as the Blancpain championships), a good 10 teams will field 20 cars between the two series on both sides of the Atlantic. Those still interested in competing in spec racing series with identical machinery still have plenty of places to turn, including the Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, and the Porsche Supercup. Check out the modified Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 in the gallery above and video below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. MASERATI TO COMPETE IN THE 2016 GT4 CHAMPIONSHIPS 17 December 2015 - The final round of the 2015 Trofeo World Series took place at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit last weekend, bringing the sixth and final season in Maserati's single-make series to a close. This, however, will not be the end of Maserati's sporting activities: the GranTurismo MCs will be back on track in 2016 competing in the international GT4 series run by private teams.

Lazareth LM847 packs a Maserati V8 into a leaning quad frame

You want to know what insanity looks like? This is it. It's called the Lazareth LM847, and to boil it down to its essence, it's basically a sport bike built around a Maserati V8. Now this isn't the first motorcycle we've seen packing a giant car engine. There've been more custom jobs than we could list here, and of course there's the Boss Hoss – an American cruiser with a 5.7-liter Chevy V8 at its heart. And we'd be loathe to leave out the V10-powered Tomahawk concept from this discussion. But this is another matter entirely. The LM847 is made by a French outfit called Lazareth. It's the same company responsible for the Wazuma quad bike, the Wazuma GT roadster, and that bonkers Renault Twingo with the Range Rover V8 in the back. In other words, Lazareth knows crazy, and hasn't skimped on it this time. For its latest project, Lazareth started with a 4.7-liter V8 – the kind you used to find the Quattroporte or Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione before Maserati started downsizing and bolting on turbos. It produces 470 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque, channeled through a single-speed hydraulic coupling in place of a multi-gear transmission. Strictly speaking, it's not a motorcycle, but a quad – owing to the tandem wheels at each end. But it has a saddle and handlebars, and looks like it would lean in a fair bit in the turns. We're not about to find out though, because we don't have a death wish. Related Video:

The Maserati MC20's new Nettuno V6 is a high-tech showpiece

It's been more than two decades since Maserati was in the business of developing an in-house 90-degree V6 engine, and the last one it had traced its genealogy back 30 years. That story started in 1968, when Citroen took a controlling stake in Maserati, and the French requested that the Italians create an engine for the 1970 Citroen SM. Famed Maserati engineer Giulio Alfieri designed a 2.7-liter V6 producing 170 horsepower that could be built using Maserati's existing V8 tooling, hence the 90-degree angle. Alfieri then revised that V6 and bored it out to three liters, upping output to 187 hp, for use in the 1972 Maserati Merak. A decade later, Maserati – now owned by Alejandro de Tomaso, who had fired Alfieri — started with Alfieri's V6 philosophy when developing a mill for a new sports car. The resulting V6 unit, in 2.0-, 2.5-, and 2.8-liter displacements, was the first twin-turbocharged motor put into a production car. That car? The hot, gorgeous mess known as the 1984 Maserati BiTurbo. Almost 10 years on, the 1992 Maserati Ghibli II would get a 2.0-liter version of this 90-degree V6 making 306 horsepower. The 1995 Ghibli Cup turned that mill up to 330 hp, crowning the 2.0-liter V6 as the most power-dense engine in a production car, surpassing 1990s icons like the Jaguar XJ220 and original Bugatti EB110 (both 155 horsepower per liter). When the Ghibli exited production in 1998, Maserati ceded engine development duties to Ferrari by order of Fiat, which owned both automakers. 2022 Maserati MC20 View 47 Photos Nettuno, the new beating heart of Maserati Now we have the Nettuno, a 90-degree 3.0-liter V6 created to power Maserati's renaissance and making its debut in the chunky, aerodynamic form known as the MC20. At 630 horsepower and 538 lb-ft of torque, the engine almost picks up where the Ghibli Cup left off: with 210 horsepower/liter, the Nettuno is one of the most power-dense in the world. The Bugatti Chiron, Ford GT, and McLaren 756LT don't crack 200 hp/l. The only production cars in the ballpark are Euro specials like the Mercedes-AMG A45 (208.4 hp/l). Beyond it are seven-figure hypercars like the SSC Tuatara (229 hp/l) and Koenigsegg Jesko (256 hp/l on gas, 320 hp/l on E85). The word we're looking for in Italian is bentornato. Welcome back, Maserati.