The Maserati Birdcage 75th, a Pininfarina designed concept car based on the Maserati MC12 and built in collaboration with Motorola has made its official driving debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The gorgeous car, which received the "Best Concept" award at this year’s Geneva Motorshow and features in the "Ten coolest concept cars" classification by Forbes, took part in the Supercar hillclimb at the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed, in West Sussex, England, in front of 150,000 people.

Maserati’s CEO Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, 5th Gear TV presenter Tom Ford and Pink Floyd’s drummer Nick Mason (below) took it in turn behind the wheel. Nick, who also owns a Maserati Birdcage Tipo 61, took a break from the rehearsals for the Live 8 concert due to take place in London and other cities next weekend to be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Interviewed by Italian television RAI, he commented: "It’s a real honour to drive this amazing concept car which draws inspiration from a golden era for Maserati. The original Birdcage, the Tipo 61, was a perfectly balanced car, so ahead of its time. I can see the same spirit in the design and execution of the Birdcage 75th."



Designed to celebrate Pininfarina’s 75th anniversary, the Maserati Birdcage 75th returns to the tradition of extreme sports prototypes, which highlighted the Italian renaissance of car design, started in the Fifties and through the Sixties and early Seventies. The Birdcage 75th is a concept car where everything - style, performance, use and conception of the car - is extreme so as to get the maximum impact on the collective imagination. The car is a futuristic extension of the Maserati brand, and at the same time it serves to reinforce the Trident’s strong design heritage, and continues its grand tradition of advanced technology enveloped in sporting elegance.

Featuring Motorola Seamless Mobility technology, this car takes Internet connection and use one step further. The technologies integrated in this concept car fulfil a vision of seamless mobility and feature an iPen and a mobile router, using projection screens for man-machine communication.

Several classic Maserati were also present at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Among them were a 1948 Maserati 4CLT and a 1956 250F competing in the Classic Grand Prix Cars Category, a 1953 Maserati A6GCS in the Elegant Endurance Aerodynes Category and a 1974 Maserati Quattroporte II in the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours.

Story/Photos: Maserati