The Maserati MC20 supercar boasts many attractive features, including a 630hp twin-turbo V6– the first engine to be produced by Maserati after a hiatus of more than 20 years – a sub-1,500kg kerb weight for a power-to-weight ratio of 2.33kg/hp, sophisticated aerodynamics… and its suspension.
Maserati has opted to fit the Bilstein DampTronic X shock absorber system to the MC20. The high adjustment dynamics of the dampers enable the required damping forces to adapt in milliseconds to the changing damping requirements determined by the central control unit. The control system calculates and adjusts the optimal damping forces several hundred times per second, taking into account factors such as agility, ride comfort and safety.
In July 2020 Bilstein’s plant in Mandern, Germany produced the prototype dampers for the first road test of the MC20. The test engineers evaluated whether the first theoretical characteristic design was heading in the right direction for their needs, and found that even the first set of shock absorbers worked ‘amazingly well’ in the car.
“We met expectations right from the start”, stated Marc-Raphael Stratmann, technical project manager at Bilstein. “The performance in terms of both handling and comfort was already at a good level. At the subsequent road test in Nardo a few weeks later, we were already able to fine-tune it.”
As a result, the project team was able to optimise the system together with Maserati. “It is a very good system that offers a wide spread between comfort and taut sporty tuning. We have the only inboard system on the market that works with pilot-operated pressure relief valves in both the rebound and compression stages. The excellent control combined with very high dynamics is impressive,” added Stratmann.
