You may know by now that Mikaniki loves its V12 engines. Last month, we sang an ode to those 12 cylinders of epic proportions, and have even begun counting down our five greatest V12s of all time. But thanks to Maserati, we’ll dial it down a little and knock 6 of the 12 cylinders off with a return to the single piece of engine perfection: the V6.
Small, but powerful
Maserati are set to debut their new hot rod; the sleek mid-engine Maserati Corsa 2020, or MC20, in early September. And sitting pretty beneath its hood is a small-ish twin-turbo 3.0L V-6 engine with double overhead camshafts, set at 90 degree angles. They’ve called it Nettuno, or Neptune for you Anglophones who don’t want to make an effort with pronunciation.
Don’t be fooled by Nettuno’s size. It’s powerful enough to compete with 621 ponies at 7500rpm, which is 500 revs short of the 8000-rpm redline, with 538 lb-ft of torque. As with most things Maserati, power isn’t the most impressive feat of this compact engine.
A closer look at the Nettuno
The Nettuno has 3 features:
The pre-chamber: a combustion chamber set between the central electrode and traditional combustion chamber, connected by a series of specially-designed holes
The lateral sparkplug: acting as a support to ensure constant combustion when the engine is operating at a level that doesn’t need the pre-chamber to kick in
A direct and indirect twin injection system: when the fuel supply pressure is at 350bar, the system reduces noise low down on the rev range, lowering emission and improving consumption.
Using Formula 1 technology
Now this is where it gets interesting. The Nettuno uses two spark plugs; one conventional and off-centre in the combustion chamber, the other dead centre featuring a prechamber, for each cylinder, coupled with port and direct fuel injection.
When a prechamber is called to action, a spark in the chamber ignites fuel and generates a star-shaped flame, similar to what you’d see in Formula 1 car engines.
Combine this prechamber combustion with advanced computer controls, and what you have is a setup that fluctuates between efficiency and maximum power.
This is will be the first road legal car to use this fuel injection technology, and we just can’t wait for it.
