The Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale Is a Track Car For The Street - Or Is it？ - TheSmokingTire

What's up everybody, Matt Farah here, and welcome to Willow Springs International Raceway. Three years ago, Zach and I were here to drive the then-new Maserati MC20, and our conclusions were that it was a fabulous daily drivable supercar up to about 7 tenths, and when you really started to push it, it fell apart a little bit. But now Maserati has come out with a new version that supposedly fixes it. This is the Maserati GT2 Stradale, and it is the tracky version of the MC20, and it's obvious they have made some changes. Starting at the front, we have a completely new fascia and pass-through cooling that unfortunately does eliminate the frunk. We have these wheel arch top vents like you see in a McLaren that relieve pressure that builds up in those wheel arches. We've got forged center-locking wheels that save 42 pounds of unsprung weight across the whole car, which contributes to everything getting better. We'll talk about that on the track. And these ceramic brakes, which are comically optional in a car like this, are both a little bit bigger and a little bit thicker than the regular MC20's ceramic brakes. The side of the car, mostly the same except for a reshaped lower rocker panel here, but then we've got these big scoops on the haunches, which feed the cooling for track work just a little better. We've got a Lexan rear window over the engine bay, and then if you come to the back, we've got a resculpted lower diffuser and this big old carbon gooseneck wang. The combined effect is that we go from 320 pounds of downforce at 175 miles an hour to 1120 pounds of downforce at that same speed. So we have basically tripled the downforce using this package. But there is a problem. You see, Maserati have delivered me this car with a very flat-looking wing position, and it seems that we can adjust it here. I'm going to see if I can get us a little more downforce. I don't know if they'll want me doing this, but we're doing it anyway. This must have been like this from factory. You know what I mean? Like, someone didn't just do that. That's been like that for a while. There we go. Hey. Oh. Well, yeah. Of course, that's how it's supposed to look. That makes a lot more sense. I must have been getting lift. Now that we have downforce, we are ready to go to the track. Guys, this is nuts. Zach and I are giving away a Porsche 992 Turbo S, fully loaded and then further upgraded by The Smoking Tire and our partners here in California. That's right. The winner will get the car plus $75,000 for the federal taxes, and the giveaway in part benefits New Beginning Children's Homes, making your donation tax deductible where allowed. It's very easy to enter. You don't have to buy any merch that you're not going to wear or get any more coffee cups. The game ends on August 20th, 2026. All the rules, details on the car, photos and the upgrades can be seen at the giveaway page. But stick around for videos on what Zach and I did with the car and more importantly, why we did it and how it changes the character of how an already phenomenal $275,000 car drives. Hit the link in the video description to get entered and one of you is going to win this unbelievable car upgraded by us. It's going to be something. And enjoy this video. The way that the GT2 Stradale will impact your everyday life the most is actually not what you're thinking. It's really the doors and the seats. You see, you get these optional carbon buckets in here. And when you have like a McLaren coupe and you have a dihedral door, part of the roof opens with the door. So if you have a bucket seat, you can kind of plop down into it. Here, the roof doesn't open. So come on down here. This space that you need to get into the car is quite small. So although the seats are interesting once you're in them, getting in and out of them is legitimately hard. Then once you're into them, there's no support in the lumbar, but there's a ton of support in the middle back area that pushes your back in a really weird position and would actually be exacerbated by having harnesses, which would push your shoulders down in a very awkward way. I don't know if Maserati makes these seats for each owner, but if so, you need to make sure that the lumbar has more padding and the mid-back has less. Lastly, you see these fabric door pulls here and it says very clearly pull. The thing is you pull to close the door and almost everyone who gets in this car thinks you pull to open the door. When you don't, you press this button. That is how old people die in fires. And lastly, unlike other cars with butterfly doors, the door on this car swings out really far. So you could be parked well within the lines of your space and have a real world concern that your door is going to smash into the car next to you. One of the things that's actually nice about the regular MC20 is the ride quality. If you wanted a supercar to drive every day and you didn't want to pay up for a McLaren 750, the MC20 rides beautifully. And here on the ring road around the track, which is very, very crappy tarmac, we can feel that. In GT mode, it really pulls all the damper out of it and it just lets it go like this. Now the downside is you don't want to find yourself in a handling situation in GT mode because the car will behave terribly. I learned that in a weird situation on a freeway exit ramp. I was in GT and it took a very strange hop. So you can set your powertrain and your suspension settings separately. So this is one of the very few cars where, in many cases, you actually do want to set your shocks to sport even while the powertrain is in GT. And that is because GT is quite sloppy, for lack of a better word, the suspension. If the road is terrible, it will drastically improve the ride. But if the road is okay, it will make the car not handle very well. On the track, I put the powertrain in Corsa and the shocks in medium. Also on the street, I put the powertrain in GT and the shocks also in medium. So it seems that medium is the best case of the shocks for everything. Now, because there's less sound deadening in here, the suede is actually thinner than the regular MC20. More noise does come in here. And frankly, you know, the V6 powertrain, when it's just puttering around at low RPMs, it doesn't really sound great. And then you hear all the gravel coming through there. So at regular speeds, it's not particularly inspiring. It doesn't have a purr or something that really is interesting or makes me want to go. But I do have to respect the ride. And in fact, if I go to hard on the shocks, oh boy, this gets very, very, very, very far. In fact, hard is too hard for the track. So interestingly, if you just go into regular sport mode, sport powertrain, sport shock, the throttle gets almost too sensitive. So I'll put it in sport here. And when I hit bumps, it moves my foot just enough that it ends up changing the input of the throttle. So you'd think, you know, GT for the city, sport for the canyons, and Corsa for the track. But actually, sport is too stiff or too sharp combined with the shocks for the canyons. So there isn't really a great canyon mode. Now we understand where we're coming from on the road. It's not bad, actually. Pretty soft on the road. We have a track. Let us go use it. Once again, I get to pinch myself at how spoiled I am getting all of Willow Springs to myself to do a little track work in a little Maserati. Sitting in here, it does feel very tracky with the carbon everywhere, the shift lights across the dashboard, this big central drive mode controller. So we're going to go from GT into sport, and then we'll hold it for Corsa. And then within Corsa, you've got 4, 3, 2, 1, which is less and less and less traction control until you get to 1, which is off. So we're going to drive in Corsa full off, but that's not all, because the suspension in Corsa is so stiff that you then go back to the shocks and you put those in the middle. And so now we're just going to start by putting her in launch mode, and we'll do a little traction control off launch. So it'll build up the boost and that's burnout, that's burnout. It does burnouts with traction control off. Okay. I'm sure it'll do good launches too. Zero to 60 in the low threes, they say. This car has obviously cut to our tires, which are mighty sticky and won't last you very long, but we're going to get some heat into them, running some laps here. Great handling circuit. The MC20 and the GT2 have the paddle shifters on the column, not on the wheel itself. So shifting the 8-speed Tremec gearbox is a little bit of a reach of the fingertips sometimes. Big ceramic brakes, not a ton of pedal feel or initial bite, but they do get the car pulled down. The engine, as you can hear or not hear, it doesn't really sound like much in here. And a little, whoo, a little of that. Unless you wait, so mid-engine car, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now I have grip. And if you get on the throttle even a little bit early, you will not have grip at the front. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now, whoo, here we go. It is fast. I mean, look at this thing go. 631 horsepower ain't nothing. But we're talking numbers, prices that start with a three. And for a number that starts with a three, to me, I need my mind blown. I need to be absolutely blown away with what this thing is doing. And look, it's a carbon tub, great. It's got good power to weight, great. It has solid dynamics. When you turn off the traction control, it doesn't have any terrible habits, but it's also not blowing my hair back all that much. The sound isn't all that interesting. The steering is effective, but not inspiring. The ride is very good for an everyday supercar, but in the stiffer modes, it's too stiff. So when you're on the track, it's kind of bouncy. And it's not as precise, certainly, as anything like a GT3 RS. It doesn't have that. I mean, the GT3 RS is showing this thing taillights all day. I don't love the brake feel. It just doesn't have that initial bite that I want from a supercar. It has good mid-corner balance, I'll give them that. And with these carbon bucket seats, I do get to steer with just my fingers. They stay in place pretty good. And when it steps out, it's progressive and easy. It's competent. It's extremely competent. It just doesn't have that last bit of ultra-fizz that I really want from a super sports car, particularly one with the name, you know, GT2 in it. And this wing and these seats, you know, I'm expecting something ridiculously busy. And unfortunately, I just don't have it. And for a lot less money, either new or specially used, you can get the regular car, which is honestly most of the way to this. Most of the way to this. For a lot less money and you have comfort seats. For a week people have been asking me, what's that like? And I go, seats are hard, car is soft. And that's kind of how I feel about it. This car was really great at what it did when it was just a little too soft to be a track star. And now they've kind of tried to make it be a track star at the expense of the other stuff it's good for. And it's only somewhat more focused than that other car at some expense of practicality and usability. Don't get me wrong folks, like I am having a good time objectively, but I'm trying to see how I didn't like the brake pedal feel here at all. But if it's my own money I'm spending. Even though it is fun to over throttle it and move it around a little, I mean sliding anything is a good time. Yes it will do fun slides, I'll give it that. So where does that leave us? Kind of a tough spot actually, because the idea of making the MC20 more suitable on track is very appealing. This is more suitable on track, but only just. And I don't like getting in and out of it or really using it as a street car all that much, despite the fact that the GT mode shocks, which have no damper in them at all, are awfully luxurious. I mean even with these seats. The rest of this car is really cool, but when you start talking about MSRPs in the 3s, I need an extra level of fizz that's coming from somewhere. I like it, I just don't love it, and when I give it back I imagine I will not dream about it anymore. Having said that, it is much prettier than the Ferraris. It is easier to live with on the street than a GT3 RS by a lot, and it's less darty than the last generation of Lambo STOs and stuff like that. And so if you wanted to be a little different at your track day, a little something outside the box, if you wanted something that wasn't one of the obvious choices, and there is something to be said for that, this is an interesting one. And I wouldn't hate it if you did it. It's just that for all of the improvements, we've ended up in kind of the same place, which is that this car is great at 7 tenths, even when you're sliding and having fun, and less great when you're trying to really push it. It doesn't keep up the pace with a 3 RS, and it doesn't give me the kind of fizz I get from a McLaren. But thank you to Maserati for letting us have a go for a week. Really neat car. Shout out to my Willow Springs membership making this video possible, and we'll see you guys next time. Bye.