Maserati’s history has always been shaky in terms of its ownership, but during the 1980s under the leadership of Alejandro de Tomaso the manufacturer entered the mainstream market and elected to go racing.
When owned by Citroen entering the 1970s, Maserati built some beautiful exotics such as the Bora and Merak.
However, when the French manufacturer entered bankruptcy it ended a beneficial partnership trading the technology between the pair.
Purchased by de Tomaso in 1975, who was constructing his own models under his own name based much of the Maserati range on these.
This led to Maserati discarding its mid-engine range in favour of a more conventional set-up to enter the mainstream.
The Biturbo was launched in 1984 featuring the first twin-turbo V6 engine for a production model at the front, Zagato styling on the outside and rear-wheel-drive.
Not remembered best by Maserati fans due to the many reliability and quality problems to arise from the Biturbo, but it essentially kept the company afloat by selling in excess of 40,000 units.
It was decided in 1987 to enter the inaugural World Touring Car Championship using the Maserati Biturbo against the likes of BMW’s M3, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and later RS500 configuration, Alfa Romeo’s turbo 75 and the Holden Commodore.
To cut a long story short, the program was far from a success.
Pro-Team/Imberti’s Biturbo had a lot of promise on paper as weight was not a problem, wheelbase and track were close to ideal, it’s body was a decent size, weight was reasonable and the engine promised much power.
Former Bathurst 1000 winner Armin Hahne, Grand Prix driver Bruno Giacomelli and Aussie ace Kevin Bartlett were three of many called on to attempt to get the most out of the package across the opening nine rounds.
Bartlett’s memories include Giacomelli stating he was frightened by the Biturbo, the suspension had not enough movement and in reaction to the poor development phase of the Maserati, the 1974 winner called in his former Mitsubishi engineer Bob Riley.
Struggling to qualify and when it did finish for much of the season, Maserati pulled out after the Australian leg to never appear again in touring car racing.
Privateer efforts in Italy and Britain had similar results, while Mike Oliver planned an Australian Touring Car Championship attack in a Biturbo, which failed to come to fruition.