1992 Maserati Barchetta

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | September 5, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Maserati Barchetta was a purpose-built race car from Maserati intended to compete in a one-make racing series, the Grantrofeo Monomarca Barchetta Maserati. They only built 17 of these and they went to well-heeled semi-professional drivers who competed against each other at tracks around Europe, but mostly in Italy. The series ran in 1992 and 1993 only.

All Barchettas are powered by a twin-turbo 2.0-liter V6 good for 315 horsepower. They’re very light, with fiberglass and carbon fiber bodies. The whole thing really wasn’t much of a success and Maserati wasn’t exactly flying high in 1992 to begin with.

They tried to make a road car variant, but only one prototype was built, although some of these are currently road-registered in Europe. The project sort of lived on briefly as the similar-looking De Tomaso Guara, but they had a slightly different body and engine. This particular chassis finished 4th in the first year of the Championship and you can read more here and see more from RM Sotheby’s in London here.

Update: Not sold.