Maserati MC12 Corsa

Fancy yourself as an FIA GT Series driver? Want a car with a true badge of exclusivity? Well, Italian supercar manufacturer Maserati has just the car for you – or for a dozen lucky and very well-heeled customers, anyway. It’s building a limited edition run of the breathtakingly-beautiful mid-engined car pictured.

The car is the MC12 Corsa (literally, MC12 racer), which Maserati says is a “build-to-order supercar for a very select number of Maserati clients who will enjoy the possibility to test their driving capability in the most exclusive gentlemen drivers’ environment”. Sound a bit poncey? What it really means is here’s a car for a good old full-throttle, balls-out, hoonish thrash on selected racetracks.

You’ll need to be a well-heeled hoon, though. An MC12 Corsa will set its buyers back one million Euros – that’s two million New Zealand dollars. And you won’t even be able to park the car in your driveway. It’s not road legal. In its spec sheet for the MC12 Corsa, Maserati answers its rhetorical question, “Road homologation?”, with a bluntly direct “no”.

The MC12 Corsa has been developed from the MC12 GT1 sports racing car which won the 2005 FIA GT Manufacturers’ Cup for Maserati. It will be used exclusively on track during private test sessions, or exhibition activities organised by Maserati. As well as not being street-legal, the MC12 Corsa will also not be homologated for any racing activity.

It will be available in the official Maserati Blue Victory colour, but unlike Henry Ford’s edict that buyers could have their Model Ts in any colour so long as it was black, Maserati is being more flexible. It says buyers can personalise their MC12 Corsa  with several option items, starting with a different colour. Maserati says total MC12 production won’t exceed 12.