The Maserati MC20 makes 621bhp and revs to 8,000rpm

By topgear, 03 July 2020

Maserati’s got a new sports car coming, and ahead of its reveal in September, this is our glimpse at what’s powering its rear wheels. While the company has promised all-electric stuff in the future, you’ll have spotted this powertrain isn’t a big pile of batteries and wires. It’s an engine. With cylinders.

Six of them, to be precise. It’s a 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine, wearing two turbochargers and built in house by Maserati. No borrowing stuff from other Italian carmakers here. It’ll power a mid-engined coupe called the MC20. Excited? You really should be.

Especially as it’s punching out an extremely healthy 621bhp at a reasonably heady 7,500rpm. The engine tops out at 8,000rpm, which is strong for a modern turbo unit and gives us plenty of hope this’ll be an engine worth wringing every last rev from. But with729Nm of torque from as little as 3,000rpm, it’s unlikely to leave you struggling to overtake a modern turbodiesel either.

Maserati’s not stopped there with the stats. It’s a dry sump engine that weighs ‘less than 220kg’, possesses an 11:1 compression ratio and follows a firing order of 1-6-3-4-2-5. The V angle is 90 degrees and the stroke measures 82mm, the bore 88mm. Yeah, we can hear your clever ‘bore’ jibes at the back of the class.

To wake you back up, this engine has a name, the glorious thing you see pictured being the Maserati Nettuno, which translates as ‘Neptune’.

“The new ‘Made in Modena’ engine has been taken to unheard of power and torque levels and will be used for the first time on the MC20 super sports car. The MC20 will take Maserati back to the world of racing.”

Yeah, now you’re listening. While Maserati’s other cars adopt electrification, this is confirmation there’s going to be a proudly petrol-powered sports car haring round race tracks to keep us enthusiasts on side. Excited?