The Maserati Chubasco - the forgotten super sports car
11/07/2013
In 1990, Maserati presented the Chubasco. It was a mid-engined sports car with a 3.2-liter V8 engine and a chassis that was very similar to that of the De Tomaso Vallelunga . This was no surprise, as Alejandro de Tomaso was the owner of Maserati at the time.
The design of the bodywork was left to Marcello Gandini, so it is no coincidence that the Bugatti EB 110, which was presented a year later, had some similarities in design.
Due to the high air flow requirements (cooling, turbocharger, catalytic converters, air conditioning, etc.), this aspect was given particular weight in the design. The suspensions were based on the Formula 1 designs of the time, so it was no wonder that one of the onlookers commented: "That's a Formula 1 with air conditioning!".
With the planned 430 hp, very competitive driving performance would certainly have been possible at the time, but the Maserati management decided not to go ahead with the project as the development costs would have been too high. At least the technology survived, as the Maserati Barchetta model inherited the technical concept of the Chubasco. However, only a few drawings and a mock-up of the Chubasco remained. What a pity!
