The last time I drove at Millbrook on the Alpine Circuit was at the launch of the latest (then) rather bland Euro saloon from Vauxhall. Pleasing to note their current offerings are far superior, but this is not my point. The Alpine Circuit is designed to highlight and accentuate handling, braking, ride and just about every other performance characteristic of a car, so that with, maybe, only three or four laps you will have experienced just about every vice a car possesses which on normal day to day driving might take weeks to present itself. The said Vauxhall had been proudly presented to the assembled press on video and much emphasis was made of the new fangled ‘stability control system’. While these are commonplace now and much more sophisticated than the simple ‘one wheel independent braking’ systems of that time, this was something of a breakthrough amongst ‘repmobiles’.
Well….as I drove uphill and down dale, over impossible crests and unthinkable hairpins, the chattering of the anti- lock and stability control in harmony was like the combination a demented tap dancer and a polar explorers teeth. As for the chassis it didn’t know whether to stop, go, understeer, oversteer or turn itself inside out! I drove this same car later on the public road. None of this manifested itself. This is what the Alpine Circuit can do to what is seemingly on a normal gentle test drive in a perfectly decent car. Fast forward then to a Maserati test day at the self- same venue in May this year. The opportunity is to drive a selection of the 2014 Maserati range on not only the Alpine circuit, but also the high speed bowl and the one mile acceleration/deceleration straight (you remember, the one James May scared himself silly on in a Bugatti Veyron). Not only this, you would be accompanied and mentored by a proper driver. In my case this was Zack, a pleasant lad in his early twenties I should think, who drove like his trousers were on fire! Turns out Zack was the 2012 Radical SR8 Champion.
First up is the Quattroporte Diesel, Maserati’s first shot at an oil burning limousine, a sub sector hitherto dominated by the Mercedes S Class. True, its Chrysler derived 3 litre V6 is just shy of the sector power benchmark of 300 bhp, but in real life this heavy car conducts itself quite briskly. It’s not going to set the tarmac alight but it won’t embarrass you either in the traffic light Grand Prix. This is in no small part due to the transmission. The ZF sourced 8 speed automatic as used by Jaguar is undoubtedly a technological breakthrough. I have never before experienced a gearbox so perfectly matched to a car as this one. That the new Quattroporte is a handsome vehicle is in no doubt and the interior is sumptuous and practical. If I have to criticise anything it would be the gear selector which is far too sensitive so that the driver not attuned to this will hunt around the box trying to select drive. It also has an electric handbrake which I personally detest, preferring the old fashioned mechanical lever. That said it performed perfectly adequately during my test so I’m sure I’d get used to it. Next up is the Ghibli S. I have already tried the Diesel Ghibli courtesy of new dealer, Bowker Maserati and have toyed with the idea of running one as my daily driver. The petrol powered S however shattered that particular fantasy. This is a worthy contender in the sector created by the BMW M series and AMG Mercedes E Class. Its twin turbo V6 delivers a seemless surge of power with absolutely no turbo lag, just raw power. Again the ZF box stars.
This car feels like it’s hard wired to your brain! Put simply, it has an uncanny ability to select the precise cog from its 8 ratios to suit every circumstance. At one point I missed my braking point and ran wide on a bend, hard on the anchors. Such indiscretions usually leave torque converter gearboxes gasping for revs until the throttle induced kick down decides to take control. Not the ZF……sensing my error it immediately dropped two cogs and we powered through the bend albeit on a sub optimal line. Zack said nothing. Had he noticed?
On the high speed bowl we cruised through our three laps at a steady and quite undramatic 120 mph. The car tracks straight and true. The ride in Sport is firm, with not a sign of body roll, yet it’s comfortable in the way that 80’s BMWs used to be before they got soft. I like this car a lot. It’s possibly the finest, most complete car I have ever experienced, it’s that good!
Still trembling with excitement from the Ghibli S, into the serene yet stunningly accelerative Quattroporte GTS. This is the most powerful in the range and delivers 190 mph with 62 mph arriving in just 4.7 seconds – supercar performance in a limousine body. Zack had dreamt up a super wheeze for demonstrating this car. We lined up at the start of the one mile acceleration straight. The idea was for me to take off and accelerate at full throttle until he shouted now at which point I would come of the throttle and throw out all the anchors! Simple. Demonstrating a laudable if surprising sense of mechanical sensitivity Zack suggested I let the big car roll forward on tickover for a few yards before accelerating to avoid transmission snatch given the awesome amount of power available being transmitted to the road through sticky 21” 285/30 profile tyres. When the road cleared Zack gave the nod and we rolled forward for a few seconds before – whack! The seat hit me between the shoulder blades. The power kept building and building and the last time I looked the speedo was climbing swiftly through 125 mph. I can only liken the sensation to that of a short take-off in a lightly loaded Boeing 747. We flash past the 100 metres to go board and I’m starting to worry. Surely Zack can’t have nodded off! Then “NOW” and I come out of the throttle and press the large brake pedal gradually and smoothly increasing my pressure. There is no sign of any need for anti-lock. At the end of the straight is a steeply banked hairpin. You’d be pushing it to take it at any more than about 20 mph. So I’m going to have to scrub off something in the order of 100 mph in less than 100 yards. I needn’t have worried. The car tracked straight and true and the huge discs pulled us up almost as if we had applied reverse thrust. This is a sensationally competent motorcar. If you could only ever have one car this is it. It has the versatility to be what you want it to be to suit your mood and the occasion.
How about …Saturday duty as a wedding car for your daughter and then Sunday track day at Goodwood. Time for some lunch, laid on by the ever friendly and helpful Maserati GB team.
There is one more car to drive in my set, the GranCabrio MC. Now don’t get me wrong, the GranCabrio is an excellent car, but frankly it is of a type which doesn’t appeal to me. I can see it cruising along the harbour road at Monte Carlo rather than snarling through the tunnel at full chat. It’s a boulevard cruiser rather than a racetrack bruiser.
I’m enjoying my lunch and the banter with the other drivers in my group. Zack appears. “Aren’t you going to try the GranCabrio” he says, rather in the way Oliver would have asked for seconds. His plaintiff plea worked and I was separated from my lunch and installed in the white GranCabrio. This then was the surprise of the day in a day full of nice surprises. This thing is an animal! The noise is awesome. The steering is quick with plenty of feel and precision. Performance and braking are exhilarating. Recall, the Alpine course accentuates any imperfections in ride, handling and brakes. The GranCabrio MC has none. It attacked the course with relish and was undoubtedly the fastest around the course of any of the cars I had driven despite not being the most powerful. If the essence of this car could be captured and implanted in the forthcoming Alfieri it’ll be a winner.
All too soon my Millbrook experience was over and I settled down in the Spyder 4200 for a gentle drive back to the Fens. I am reminded what an excellent car this is even after twelve years.(Many thanks are due to Anna Angelini and her team at Maserati GB for making this test possible. If you are wondering where the photos got to, Millbrook is an industry test centre and as such bristling with manufacturer’s prototypes. Not only do they confiscate your camera at the security gate but they even put a tamper proof seal on your mobile phone camera lens!)