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Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.

Anything but subtle | 2017 Lamborghini Aventador S First Drive

It's just past dawn and I'm running on a thin supply of caffeine and adrenaline, but the 2017 Lamborghini Aventador S I'm chasing around Circuit Ricardo Tormo just made me crack a grin: faint blue flames are simmering deep within the leader's three exhaust pipes, pulsing almost imperceptibly as it whips around the track. Few things about the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 (including its alphanumeric name) were subtle, but the boys in Sant'Agata Bolognese have gone full-bore at refining the famously unwieldy flagship enough to make it drive as capably as it looks. This updated version has been rechristened with an S at the end of its name, and yes, in the twisted microcosm of earthbound fighter jets, flames coming out of hindquarters qualify as subtle. Of course the Aventador S produces more power – to the tune of 729 horsepower, a 38-hp climb from before, with torque only increasing by one, to 509 pound-feet – and the extra grunt affects neither its 0-to-62-mph time of 2.9 seconds nor its terminal velocity of 217 mph. But version 2.0's most notable improvements apply to the big Lamborghini's chassis, which now uses a four-wheel-steering system to countersteer the rear wheels below around 75 mph, and turn them in phase with the fronts for stability at higher speeds. The system responds in 5 milliseconds, and has the virtual effect of shortening the wheelbase by up to 20 inches or lengthening it by 27 inches. In case you're keeping tabs, the extra 13 pounds of the steering hardware are offset by a new titanium exhaust system, essentially rendering the curb weight unchanged. If you've ever tried to toss a boomerang through a maze, you've got a basic idea of what it took to carry an original Aventador through a high-speed corner. The act required some patience to allow the front wheels to dig in and take hold, and even more resolve to wait for the perfect moment to squeeze the right pedal and power out of the apex. Accelerate too early, and you'd suffer terminal understeer until you allowed the weight to shift, likely triggering traction control as you goosed the throttle on the way out. At the Spanish track, the new Aventador manages something the first one couldn't: though it still retains some understeer, it also dances and turns more willingly, snaking its way through each corner with a gratifying combination of weight transfer and grip. Oh happy, fire-breathing day.

Lamborghini applies to trademark 'Revuelto' name in Europe

Lamborghini's path to an electrified lineup begins with plug-in hybrid versions of its Huracan, Aventador and Urus by the end of 2024. It's first battery-electric vehicle is due before the end of the decade, reporting last year putting the launch in 2028. We expect there will be a few concepts and show cars presaging the first pure EV from Sant'Agata Bolognese, and a couple of trademark filings could tell us what a forerunner or the car itself will be called. CarBuzz discovered Lamborghini filings in Europe and Italy to reserve the name "Revuelto." The Spanish word has quite a few meanings, like mixed, untidy and nauseous. Then there are two meanings that could apply to a revolutionary electric product from a brand known for screaming V12s: Restless and turbulent. If we want to push the wordplay, there's a third meaning we could apply: Scrambled, as in eggs, although that could also apply to expectations. The supercar maker wants to cover every base with the name, it seems. The applications with the European Union Intellectual Property Office specify four classes, an umbrella sheltering everything from electric cars and EV components specifically to car parts and accessories in general, as well as scooters, car-related games and toys, and clothes. We have no idea what kind of battery-powered go-fast is coming from that corner of Italy, except that it will be a 2+2 GT described as having "a bit more ground clearance." Superficially, that sounds like an elevated version of the Asterion LPI 910-4 hybrid concept car (pictured), something we'd be totally OK with, but the target is "a four-seater two-door like the GT cars of the Fifties and Sixties." Designers and engineers are working on it now, still in the exploratory phases of how to deliver everything buyers want from a raging bull the minus the trademark V10 and V12 noises. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann noted two vital aspects in comments to TopGear last year, the first being, "Yes, we have opportunities to be different in terms of body styles, but the cars will always be immediately recognizable as Lamborghinis." After looks comes handling, Winkelmann adding that performance EVs have great straight-line acceleration, but not enough lateral capability to satisfy Lamborghini. "It’s about how you put all the handling capabilities inside the car, which today is missing in electric cars.