gt2 stradale

already posted in MC20 thread



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How many of them are being made?

 

I heard 1000 with 500 coming to the US.

not sure why street cars that are track focused have to now all have stuck on vents, wings, and scoops. I still like the original clean lines.

the 360 challenge stradale was subtle mods compared to the original 360. I like that type of difference…

not the mansory rediculous versions

 

If it had a Ferrari badge, it would certainly be a home run, but the damage to the Maserati brand in general was already too significant. That said, I don't believe the MC20 will be depreciating any better or worse than Mclaren's or Porsche turbo offerings, and I do see the MC20 as more collectible. Once the MC20 is around $150k I am definitely wanting in on one, my wife actually like it and she doesn't like any of these cars.

 

I got the feeling that this reviewer was going to piss on this car now matter what it was. Why in the hell is he referencing such an old and not very well made car like the Lamborghini Miura SV? That's a non sequitur. But I think It does reveal a 55 year old bias towards mid engine Maseratis. They pooh poohed the Bora too and still do because it wasn't quite as fast or wild as the other mid engine cars. If Maserati was trying to knock Lamborghini, Mclaren or Ferrari off of their perches then yeah they probably missed that goal. But I'm not convinced that's what they were trying to do with the MC20. There are quite a few people on this forum who really like this car. I think the biggest problems for Maserati are their manufacturing costs, pricing and crappy US dealer network. It's also become something of a sport to piss on their cars in the motoring press. If I were in the market for a MC20 I wouldn't get such an extreme version as this one. I'd go for a tastefully optioned standard MC20 but I'm not really even interested in this sort of car anymore regardless of the manufacturer. I wanted them to build the Alfieri but they probably were directed to give that design to Ferrari. That would have been successful I think as it would be part of a long lineage of 2+2 front engined gt coupes.

 

Forget all the stpuid reviews of these sort of cars, made by people who can not really drive (aka test) these cars. These are more or less hobby-motoring journalists.Their only intention is to catch followers.
Every test by a serious car-magazine gives you more info than all this blah-blah on YouTube, Tic-Toc, Instagram etc etc.

 

Absolutely correct. Too many amateur reviewers out there who just muddy the waters.

 

Ok, but the GT2 Stradale is still a crappy car.

 

LOL ... so you've driven it?

 

Its not a crappy car but they will sell more like 50 of them than 500 in the US.

 

Well enjoyable is a very subjective term. I bet I'd enjoy the standard car more too maybe they are looking at it as a track day car and the upgraded brakes weren't enough of an upgrade for that. I'll look at their video to see what they're talking about.

 

So I watched Smoking Tire ... that was a weird review but their big grip is the braking setup. Maserati should listen because they love the stock model a LOT. They have also loved the higher HP version of Maserati's SUVs which is where all the money is. But Maserati is now in so much trouble that their sales numbers have fallen off a cliff. I got some really good financial news yesterday so I'll probably be shopping for a nice Levante soon. But a used one!

 

They are only making 914 of them world wide. I had heard they were all pre-sold, but no idea of that is true.

With regards to the brakes, the carbon brakes on the standard MC20 were slammed by most journalists. And I have a hunch those journalists, including Matt Farrah, have never driven a pro level race car with a non-boosted braking system, which requires a huge pedal effort but offers better modulation. I have raced those cars, and it took me all of three corners to figure out the brakes in the MC20. They clearly programmed the brake by wire system to give the feel of a non-boosted race car, and for me I felt right at home and love the brakes in this car.

If one wants to argue that this feel is inconsistent with the road going nature of the car, I can see some validity in that argument. But to simply dismiss the brakes out of hand without understanding what Maserati was trying to accomplish with this decision and without acknowledging the benefit (better modulation), simply tells me you lack experience in behind the wheel. (Breadth of experience is not the same as depth)

 

No, the journalists SPECULATED that this was the reason they asked them to do this. They may have simply done this for safety reasons, not knowing the experience level of those driving. I think they also kept them from running in the most aggressive Corsa modes? None of us know the real reason why the test runs were done this way,

Keep in mind Maserati won the GT2 Euro Championship in the race version of this car. They certainly know how to make a braking system last the length of a race.

 

Sure, but we're talking about the street car here.

 

So the regular MC20 has no reported issue of fade on track and the racing MC20 GT2 car has no signs of fade on track, but somehow they released the GT2 Stradale with brake fade issues. This makes sense and seems probable to you?

I am in the industry and I get invited to tire testing events that are run similar to vehicle product launch events. I am also a nationally certified driving instructor and have been the paid professional driver in the right seat for a couple of vehicle manufacturers hosting these events. So I have attended lots of events and have experience in both the left and right seat. There is a lot of variability in how the events are run. Sometimes they turn you loose, sometimes they are highly restrictive, and most fall in the middle.

This one was clearly very restrictive. The braking was limited. The Corsa modes were limited. The track utilized cones to keep speeds down. And there have been multiple reports from other journalists who participated who simply summed up the experience as too controlled and a general inability to test the limits of the car. To say the reason for this was that they were afraid of brake fade is PURE SPECULATION and goes against the common sense noted in my first paragraph.

Having been in both seats for these events, this looks more like an overly conservative effort to introduce the car to the press. Which, IMO, is a horrible idea and a complete marketing failure. But let's face it, marketing failures are pretty much on-brand for Maserati. It's what they do best, they consistently fail to let the world know they make a pretty good car, and then price them well above public perception. So don't you think it's more likely they simply had yet another marketing failure, consistent with past performance as opposed to an outlier with regards to brake fade?