FIRSTSTRIKE

MASERATI TRANSFERS RACING TECHNOLOGY TO A SWIFT, ELEGANT GRAND TOURING COUPE FOR ITS "LIGHTNING" ELECTRIC SUBBRAND

- FRANK MARKUS

The fratelli Maserati got their automotive start building 2.0-liter grand prix racers for Diatto while overseeing their own spark plug manufacturing business. In 1926, when Diatto suspended racing operations, the brothers started building highly successful Maserati race cars. To improve profits and ensure funding for their racing efforts, the brothers set about adapting their winning 1.5-liter racing engine and chassis for road use in 1941, with the resulting A6 1500 Gran Turismo appearing in 1947.

Today, circumstances are once more forcing Maserati down a new path-this time toward electrification and the brand will again incorporate motorsports tech on its first production EV. Fittingly, it will be a grand tourer. But rather than adapting a competition car for road use, this time Maserati co-developed a Formula E race car alongside the GranTurismo Folgore ("lightning" in Italian). The racer will run in the ninth e-Prix season in early 2023. The road car arrives later in the year, and we just got a chance to test it out on Maserati's home track-Autodromo di Modena.

The heart of any racing or performance car is its powertrain, and just as motorsports has always done for combustion engines, Formula E racing development is unlocking new ways to maximize power and minimize energy use. The solutions aren't always cheap, but big racing budgets and luxury grand-tourer sticker prices can help incubate innovation.

The GranTurismo Folgore employs three motors, designed and built by Maserati. Each arrays 100 permanent magnets in intricate vee formations within the rotors. Note: These are traditional barrel-shaped radial-flux motors, not the pancake-style axial-flux type; none can be declutched, so they're always powered, and all those magnets make these motors too pricey for mainstream Maserati EVs like the forthcoming Grecale Folgore SUV.