Maserati has previewed its forthcoming Project24, a track-only take on the brilliant MC20 supercar that’s to be built in the mould of a one-make racer, like a Lamborghini Squadra Corse car. Maserati has not mentioned whether it intends to create a race series based around the Project24, instead just calling the car the ultimate expression of the MC20’s on-track potential.

Being based on the MC20 road car, the Project24 will share its technical foundation, including the carbonfibre monocoque made by Italian racing outfit Dallara. In combination with this is a revised version of the Nettuno V6 engine, here connected to a competition-level drivetrain. As in the road car, the Nettuno unit features a clever pre-combustion chamber system that increases both performance and efficiency, making it one of the most powerful V6 engines on sale. 

In the Project24, however, Maserati has taken things to even more of an extreme, employing new turbochargers to develop a peak power figure of 729bhp – 108bhp higher than the road car. Fundamentally, the Nettuno is otherwise much the same, with the same 90-degree V angle, 3000cc swept capacity and dry sump lubrication system. Maserati has replaced the standard eight-speed automatic transmission in favour of a motorsport-style six-speed sequential system, with power reaching the rear wheels via a mechanical limited-slip differential. 

The suspension has been overhauled, with new mechanically adjustable dampers on all corners replacing the road car’s electronically controlled adaptive setup, plus there’s adjustable anti-roll bars and a built-in air jack system. The brakes are also new, with race-spec Brembo calipers and CCRM rotors sitting snugly behind smaller, 18-inch centre-lock competition rims and slick tyres. 

Something that has been changed quite substantially between Project24 and MC20 is the styling, with almost no relation between them in either design or detailing. As revealed in these sketches, the Project24 has an aggressive motorsport-derived design, with new carbon panels making up all the exterior bodywork. Aero has obviously been a key focus, as elements such as the static rear wing, diffuser, splitter and bonnet look quite substantially different, and do without typical road-car components like headlights.

What Project24 might do, however, is reveal what design motifs we could see on future iterations of the MC20, perhaps leading to a stripped-out lightweight derivative in the mould of Lamborghini’s brilliant Huracán STO. For now we’ll have to wait a little longer to see the Project24 in the flesh, the ‘24’ in its moniker perhaps suggesting it’ll reach customers some time in 2024. 

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