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 Mostro Zagato Coupe
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| Maserati Mostro Zagato Coupe |
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<< Prev Page 2 of 2  The Mostro, a coupé-body design on a sports car chassis, celebrates a rare icon of extreme performance belonging to an automotive era of great design and race engineering developments.The Maserati 450 S Coupé Zagato "Monster" was, until the 90's, the most powerful frontengined race car in the world. At the 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans, amid a competition dominated by light, open-bodied barchettas, the 450 S Coupé Zagato was the only sports car with closed bodywork capable of competing for the final victory. Its futuristic shape (long nose, cockpit and round tail collectively designed to have a very compact volume) represented the most extreme and advanced concepts of aerodynamics at the time. Soon thereafter, Zagato started using the new aerodynamic concept of the truncated tail (or Coda Tronca) extensively, which had been introduced by Professor Wunibald Kamm. The design of the 450 S Coupé Zagato "Monster", traced by Frank Costin and Zagato, aimed to achieve maximum aerodynamic efficiency for the long straight of Hunaudières at Circuit de la Sarthe, where it could take off using all 400 hp of Maserati's V8. Therefore, using Zagato's Milanese school of thought, the body of the 450 S Coupé was designed and stylized accordingly, technically-projected by function before aesthetic. The result was harmonious in both style and technique, though artistically "raw", and spontaneously executed by the carrozzeria's fast drawings on blank sheets of white paper and hand-beaten aluminum sheets modelled into a body. In order to maintain the integrity of the original Monster, pure and essential in design and organically created by a combustion of creativity and fresh ideas, the Zagato Atelier designers precisely outlined their creative process for the new Mostro in advance. The goal was not to create a second "monster" body, but rather implement the same instinctive philosophy and approach towards volume that is at once simple and spontaneous. Thus, Zagato Atelier decided to avoid stylizing the Mostro and simply created a form. The final design of the Mostro is not nostalgic, but rather iconic. Starting from the 450 S Coupé, there were specific design elements more substantial than others that identified its classic design and timeless beauty, then and now, in order to obtain the best aerodynamic result for a modern race car. The proportions of the Mostro are similar to those of the 450 S Coupé Zagato: an enormous frontal part that houses the engine, centrally positioned with exceptional vicinity to the driver for optimal weight distribution. This creates a sensation that there is no division between the interior of the body and its small, rounded tail. The large front fender, running along the entire length of the frontal part, disappears at the door and from there begins the line of the car's massive rear fender. These treatments of the car's volume allow significant stylistic purity to remain with the shape of the bodywork. The body of the Mostro presents a few additional design characteristics:
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