The Maserati Barchetta is a

mid-engine In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

, like the 350 and

450S The 450s decade ran from January 1, 450, to December 31, 459. Significant people References {{Reflist ...

, that was designed by Carlo Gaino of the Synthesis Design, an Italian design house. The Barchetta was designed and developed for the one-make racing series ''Grantrofeo Barchetta'' which was held 1992 and 1993 throughout Italy and Europe. It featured sixteen races in total, most of them in Italy. The Barchetta had a backbone chassis made of

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

which was unusual for a

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

automobile for a time considering that the cars offered by Maserati had a

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

unibody construction. It had a

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

suspension geometry and body panels made of

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

which resulted in a total weight of . The Barchetta was one of the last Maserati models built under

De Tomaso De Tomaso Automobili ltd. (previously known as De Tomaso Modena SpA) is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso (1928–2003) in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes a ...

ownership. 1991 Maserati Barchetta

16 examples of the racing model were produced by hand at the De Tomaso factory in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, plus two prototypes (one racing-corsa, one street-stradale model). It featured a mid-mounted Maserati ''AM501'' V6 engine displacing 1,996 cc and was shared with the local 2.0 L engine offered in the Italian market on the

Biturbo Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...

and the

Ghibli Ghibli (Italian: , also used in English), the name of a hot desert wind also known as sirocco, derived from Libyan Arabic (, ). Ghibli may refer to: Vehicles * Maserati Ghibli, a model of car made by Italian auto manufacturer Maserati * Capron ...

. The engine had a peak power output of at 7,250 rpm. The engine was mated to a 6-speed manual transmission manufactured by

ZF Friedrichshafen ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally ''Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen'', and commonly abbreviated to ZF (ZF = "Zahnradfabrik" = "Cogwheel Factory"), is a German car parts maker headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south- ...

and having straight cut gears. These modifications allowed the car to attain a top speed of . Having a true open top design, driver protection was only provided by a small air deflector. The central-frame concept was carried over in the

De Tomaso Guarà The De Tomaso Guarà is a sports car and the last project the founder and owner Alejandro de Tomaso put into the market. Presented at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show, the Guarà was initially available in coupé body-style. Later a roadster and an open ...

, but the frame was around longer because it was fitted with a larger

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

. This was thought as a way to inject much needed excitement and enthusiasm for Maserati that saw its reputation badly ruined by years of exciting but

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

sensitive products,cf. e.g. ''Car & Driver'', Dec. 1998 issue (Vol. 44, No.6), page 88 eventually culminating in Maserati's withdrawal from the

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

market at this time.

References

External links

Official Maserati Barchetta page

Maserati Barchetta report QV500

AM 501 Engine

Maserati Barchetta

Maserati Barchetta Stradale - Road version

{{Maserati

Barchetta Barchetta () is an Italian word commonly translated into English as "little boat". The term originally referred to a small skiff used for recreational purposes. It is also applied to some items of clothing, as well as being used in automobile styli ...

Sports racing cars Automobiles with backbone chassis