Top Marques Monaco is an annual event held each April in the Grimaldi Forum on the waterfront of the world's richest per-capita country. It focuses primarily on outrageously expensive automobiles, but also showcases the finest watches, jewellery, motorcycles, real estate, yachts and water toys plus a bewildering array of prohibitively-expensive merchandise targeted at Europe's uber rich.
Now in its 15th year, the event is held under the patronage of Monaco's Prince Albert, which results in a quarter of all tickets sales being donated to Monaco Aide et Présence, a humanitarian organization established by Prince Albert which works for the underprivileged across the world.
Accordingly, Prince Albert always tours the show floor, interacting with each and every exhibitor and indulging his passion for automobiles and other go-fast toys while displaying his connoisseur-level knowledge of cars and engineering technology. Apart from an array of top level cars in his collection, the Prince also owns and flies a €40 million Dassault Falcon 7X.
The presence and indeed enrolment of royalty is a trump card that no other show can offer, as can be seen from Prince Albert meeting world famous Russian artist Daria Usova, whose work was on display at top Marques. Though Daria was clearly nervous at first, she wasn't nervous for long.
One of the unique features of Top Marques Monaco is the ability to drive almost all of the cars on display on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit, though the thrills come in a different way than you'd expect. Drive the street circuit when it isn't closed for racing and you get a greater appreciation of the skills of Monaco specialists such as Senna, Schumacher and Prost as it is incredibly narrow, the armco is ever present and unforgiving, and even in a road car, you'll almost never get out of first gear. The circuit is also lined with tourists ogling the parade of cars that you almost never see in the wild anywhere else.
In 2016, we covered the entire Top Marques exhibition extensively, and almost all of the 2016 exhibitors remained with the show through 2017 and this year, so we're only focussing in this article on the newest and most outrageous toys. This is our top selection of what's new at the 2018 Top Marques show that finished last night, plus a few priceless images of priceless objets d'art we couldn't not run in the image gallery.
Eadon Green Zeclat
Eadon Green first came to our attention at the Geneva Motor Show in 2017, when C.C. Weiss declared the company's first car, the Black Cuillin, "one of the stand-outs of the entire show." In 2018 at the same Geneva Show, the Eadon Green Zeclat was shown.
The retro-styled Eadon Green marque was born when Felix Eaton became inspired by the Alfa 8C 2900 convertible and decided to build his own 1930s-styled coupe, yet put all the latest technology inside it. First and foremost, the Zeclat shown here has a 460 hp, 6.2 liter Chevrolet LT1 V8 running through an 8-speed paddle shift automatic or 7-speed manual gear box.
Most importantly, the car comes with a full complement of electronic wizardry that ranges from intelligent electronic traction control, through a driving mode selector that tailors the car to weather conditions, or can be swtiched to touring, sporting, racetrack or economy mode. There's even a complete data logging package that can be analyzed on the car's touchscreen or downloaded to a computer for serious understanding, and front and rear video can be treated similarly. There's even a Valet Mode that enables you to keep an eye on your car's movements via your mobile phone when it is out of your sight, recording video of all car movements automatically.
We think Felix Eaton deserves a Knighthood for his efforts, because retro-styling with those big valenced fenders is something that should be more readily available than it has been. We've added quite a few images from the press kit and would like to see the car's production of just 25 units a year swamped with orders. Sadly, the Zeclat is beyond the reach of the average enthusiast, with a base price tag of €620,000 (about US$760,000).
The Corbellati Missile: 1800 horsepower retro-styled jewel
New Atlas' C.C. Weiss announced the Corbellati Missile to the world a few months back with an in-depth story which began with the following statement from the Corbellati family: "We are the Corbellati family, for 70 years creators of jewels, artists, art enthusiasts. Today, the last generation, passionate to the sports cars, has embarked on a new venture full of challenges to continue in the name of family tradition. Our goal is to create a car with unique performance and unique design, just like a jewel."
If you were to think of the Corbellati simply in that context, you might expect a nimble, exquisitely made and beautifully detailed car, which it is, but ... the Corbellati has a carbon fiber chassis with carbon fiber body panels and the engine is a 9.0 liter V8 with twin turbochargers, plus double overhead camshafts on each bank of cylinders and four valves per cylinder ... and 1,800 horsepower on tap. We have more coming on this jewel of a car, which if the claims are correct, will seriously challenge Bugatti, Koenigsegg et al for the title of the fastest production car in the world. Stay tuned.
1340 horsepower Tushek Apex TS 900H Hybrid
Slovenian supercar manufacturer Tushek released its first supercar, the Tushek TS500 at Top Marques in 2012, and has used the uber exclusive show to debut each model since, returning to Top Marques this year with the original Tushek name and a new model that puts everything prior in the shade.
The new TS 900H has a hybrid drivetrain based on the same Audi 32-valve V8 engine it has previously used in the TS500, TS600 and TS700 models, producing 505 kW (687 hp) at 7,600 rpm and a flat torque delivery of 690 Nm from 1,900 rpm to 6,300 rpm.
Unlike those previous models though, this time the V8 gets a massive boost of electrical assistance adding up to an additional 480 kW (653 hp) of power and 1,000 Nm of torque, complete with torque fill and torque vectoring functionality. The car uses a Holinger sequential 6-speed racing gearbox and can be driven for 50 km (31 miles) under electrical power alone.
The total package delivers peak power of 985 kW (1,340 hp) and a whopping 1,690Nm of torque, weighs 1,305 kg (2,877 lb) dry and 1,410 kg (3,109 lb) at the kerb, ready to rock, thanks to a chrome molybdenum space frame with carbon fibre inserts keeping the weight to an absolute minimum. The two-seater has a removable hardtop and a drag coefficient of 0.36.
According to Aljoša Tushek, the car can deliver a "continuous 990 hp," has a top speed of 380 km/h (236 mph), will accelerate from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.5 seconds and has a base price of €1.2 million ($1.475 million). Although the car was shown with a solar canopy and charging station, we're not sure if that's included in the price or if it's an optional extra.
Apollo Intensa Emozione
The Apollo Intensa Emozione was announced last year, with the Apollo team starting from a blank sheet and producing a naturally-aspirated 6.3 liter V12 engine in collaboration with Autotecnica Motori.
The new engine revs to 9,000 rpm, and produces in excess of 780hp and 760nM of torque. The IE features three engine Map-modes selected by the driver: Wet, Sport, Track. The selection is indicated on "Engine Map page" on the main display.
Most significantly, the new IE weighs in at just 1,250 kg (2,756 lb) at the kerb (wet), with the extreme light weight enabled by a new bespoke chassis comprised entirely of carbon fiber including the front and rear subframes.
Just 10 units of the 335 km/h (208 mph) Intensa Emozione will be produced, with a base price of €2,300,000 ($2,825,000).
Belassi Burrasca
Belassi used the Top Marques show to introduce its new name to the public in 2016, having originally begun as Benelli-HSR over a decade ago when that company promised a 2.2 liter V6 monster PWC. The first incarnation of Belassi was based and manufactured in Thailand, but is now in Austria with a new look, a new motor and the same exclusivity central to its offerings as the many hypercars it shared the floors with at Grimaldi Forum.
This year's show saw the Belassi's sit-down PWC with a new name, Burrasca, though the 333 hp three-cylinder turbocharged, multi-point fuel injection powerplant is the same engine we saw two years ago. The I3C16 engine is developed, engineered and manufactured by Belassi and the entire package screams exclusivity and intelligent engineering, particularly the unique engine access.
Stajvelo RV01 Electric Assist Bicycle
Stajvelo is a Monagesque start-up urban mobility company with considerable backing, and very little information has been made public to date, despite the showing of the company's first and quite radical electric bicycle in Monaco and at Cycling World Dusseldorf earlier in the month. When Prince Albert arrived at the stand to see the made-in-Monaco RV01 power-assisted electric bicycle, he clearly knew founder Thierry Manni well and greeted him warmly. The Prince is a devoted environmentalist, and the Monaco Government has been encouraging the use of clean energy vehicles in the Principality since 1994. At very least, Prince Albert is playing a supportive role.
The RV01 is the first of many advanced urban mobility products expected from Stajvelo and is made using highly advanced composites, and though the details are expected to be released in the next week, the limited information stressed that no aluminium and no carbon are used in the bike. The bike is constructed entirely of advanced composites.
What is known about the RV01 is that it uses a belt rather than a chain, that the "suspension" is achieved by the bike absorbing the shocks of rough terrain, and that the electric-assist contains an automatic gearbox so there is no gear selection as we know it. This enables the bike to fully assist pedaling up to 25 km/h (16 mph) and is designed to make the bike as simple to use as possible. The Stajvelo RV01 also clearly has extremely high quality lighting and disc brakes. The Rv01 will be available in gun metal grey, black and white, and as soon as we have full details, we'll run a story.
In designing the RV01, Stajvelo employed the services of a range of high-end companies including François Kerautret, the creator of FKC bicycles and famous Parisienne design studio Be-poles.
Tamburini T12 Massimo: the million dollar motorcycle
We first wrote about the Tamburini T12 Massimo two years ago, at which time the anticipated price was €300,000 (US$341,000 at that time). Tamburini's exploits in motorcycle design are legendary, encompassing the Ducati 916 and MV Agusta F4. Though the engine began life as a BMW S1000RR, it has been developed to superbike specification and now produces more than 230 hp.
The price tag has also grown too. Owning one of the 12 limited edition T12 Massimo track bikes designed by the "Michaelangelo of motorcycling" will set you back a cool $1,000,000.
Arash AF10
Arash first appeared on the New Atlas radar in 2016 when the 2,000-horsepower AF10 was first announced, just prior to the Geneva Motor Show. The AF10 is a hybrid, and the latest specifications, as per the car shown in Monaco, produces 2,080 hp (1,551 kW) with 900 hp contributed by the supercharged 6.2 liter V8 engine and 1,180 hp (4 x 295 hp) comes from the four electric motors manufactured for Arash by Compact Dynamics Germany.
If the peak power figures aren't impressive enough, the AF10's maximum torque of 2,280 Nm will surely test the tires to the max, with 1,200 Nm coming from the V8 engine and 1,080 Nm (4 x 270 Nm) from the four electric motors. The AF10 can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds and has a claimed top speed of 323 km/h (200 mph), with a price beginning at €1.5 million ($1.8 million).
M13 Smart Bellator
Details of this car are very thin, and again we'll have more when it is released beyond being shown at the show. The M13 Bellator is based on the latest Smart Fortwo but takes it to extreme levels in every respect. For starters, the turbocharged 89 hp turbocharged 900 cc engine has been pumped up to 130 hp, and the 880 kg (1,940 lb) weight has been reduced by 50 kg with the liberal use of carbon fiber composites.
The Bellator comes with a far more luxurious interior than its donor car began life with, and is aimed at those who live in big cities with narrow streets, though the €39,000 ($48,000) starter price is far from prohibitive, and in some environments, it makes a lot of sense if you don't fancy sending the Bentley to the paint shop every six months.