Ferrari Enzo MIG-U1 by Gemballa

Ferrari Enzo MIG-U1 by Gemballa

Now that's exclusive. 

Not very often do you get to see such a rare and unique car. Before Uwe Gemballa disappeared in mysterious circumstances somewhere in South Africa (and eventually was found murdered there), he was well-known for his tuning work on Porsche cars. That being said, with this one, he wanted to show he could work with other brands: not only did he pick Ferrari, but he chose its most exclusive and beautiful model, the Ferrari Enzo. Gemballa was the man, this is his legacy.

At the beginning, there were supposed to be only 25 units of the Ferrari Enzo by Gemballa. Tthe original website even has a configurator... where you can virtually see the MIG in all sorts of color: red, blue, green (it's definitely brutal in full black)! Anyway, only one model was made. A unique and very exclusive white and black monster, bearing the name MIG-U1 (it stands for Mustafa and Ilyas Galadari - Uwe 1). That's why when we call this car the "MIG-U1", it's somehow incorrect, considering it's a special name for the specific owners and 25 others were meant to be made... But still, let's keep "MIG", considering it's unique so far! 

The owners are from Dubai and have other amazing cars: Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir, Brabus SL65 "Stealth", a matte red Ferrari 599 GTO, two Brabus SL65 Black Series. They even used to have (or still do, I don't really know) red CLK GTR AMG, Gemballa Mirage GT and red Bugatti EB110!!

Back to the MIG: I had the privilege of seeing it with my own eyes, and above all, hear it with my own ears. Indeed, the engine, is by far the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life: the ground was SHAKING, as if an earthquake was occurring, or as if the metro was passing underneath our feet. Breath taking. The first time the owner started the engine (video 1), everyone was flabbergasted by how loud this monster was... it's as if a fighter jet flew by! When it came to Paris, the car sadly only had 41km on it (can be seen in picture #6 if you look closely). But still, it's a great car!

Why is this car special? Unique + Gemballa's last work

VIDEO1 (sound engine): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k03r-IGrLM
VIDEO2 (the beast driving): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-OtXvJx48
VIDEO3 (walkaround video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAIWD_tK-LE

Take a look at more pictures I took of this incredible car (click to enlarge):

Top Marques Monaco 2011 - PART 2

Top Marques Monaco 2011.

Read PART 1.

Watch all my videos from the event here.

In Part 2 I'll focus more on showing you pictures!

So without further delay, here are some of my pictures from Top Marques Monaco 2011! :)

The Koenigsegg CCX in the parking lot... The Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir (1 out of 15) that was driving around Monaco during the Top Marques next to the CCX: what a combo! The Gemballa Avalanche and the famous Lamborghini Murcielago verde ithaca (first generation) that caught my eye!

The white Koenigsegg CCX driving around... just chilling! And the most beautiful car on Earth: a full black Ferrari Enzo in front of the Casino by night (sadly, the pictures kind of suck for this one *tear*). The silver Pagani Zonda that was being driven by Horacio Pagani himself, as well as the matte purple Mirage GT that I enjoyed so much (and got the chance to see DRIVING).

A silver Porsche Carrera GT that stayed parked there for the whole trip lol, didn't move an inch. And I finally saw another Enzo there! This time a red one. What a monster. I will never get over this car, I think!! Again the Pagani, with a very weird shot but I kinda like it. And the Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang driving around Monaco (very rare to see it driving lol).

One of the many Bugatti Veyron I saw there... a cool silver Mercedes-Benz SL65 Black series (strangely enough, I don't care much for that car... am I weird?)... an amazing white Ferrari 599 GTO with a black roof! Now that car is pretty impressive ... and a blue tour de France Ferrari 458 italia (the owner is said to have a 599 GTO in the same color. Cool, huh?).

Top Marques Monaco 2011 - PART 1

Top Marques Monaco 2011.

Read PART 2.
Watch all my videos from the event here.

Although it's kind of late (almost a month late to be exact lol), I thought I definitely SHOULD make a TMM article on my blog. I do have an excuse, though (work, studying, exams...). Anyways, here's a short article that will pretty much sum it all up the Top Marques Monaco 2011 took place in Monaco between april 14th and april 17th. I had booked my train ticket to Nice, and stayed there for 5 nights so I wouldn't miss a thing (I'd take the train to Monaco every morning and back -- sadly, the last train is around midnight, and a lot of action takes place at the end of the night!). While there I got to meet with photographers friends from down south, as well as fellow car spotters Shmee150 and Marchettino, who also came to the event, but missed others. It really was a great event and I enjoyed myself.

The entry for the salon is 50 euros (quite expensive). But thanks to the guys at GTspirit, I managed to get a press pass, so thanks a lot to them! The atmosphere of the Top Marques is pretty crazy considering it's the only open salon in the world: the cars drive around town. Inside the complex were many great cars. My first Lamborghini Performante (which is basically an LP570 spyder), an extremely beautiful matte purple Mirage GT with white parts (based on the Porsche Carrera GT) as well as their new Mistrale (based on the Porsche Panamera) and Tornado (based on the Porsche cayenne). a foiled Bugatti Veyron, the very exclusive Maybach Xenatec (+400k euros), a grey McLaren MP4-12C (kind of disappointed on the color, but I'm just picky). And many other cars: Noble M600 (which also was up for test drives), the magnificent Koenigsegg Agera R that I had seen in Geneva was also there... And many other stuff! Like the KNIGHT XV which is a HUUUUGE SUV-type-of-vehicle and is very luxurious and spacious: conqueror, huge, beast! The wheels were almost my size (allright, I'm not the tallest bloke, but still). As you might have understood by now, the salon was pretty packed with cars from out of this world. That being said, it was really nice atmosphere, not many people, very calm and cosy I might add.

But the most interesting part are the cars on the test drive, and Monaco itself.

During the Top Marques 2011 I saw many great supercars in Monaco: 2 Ferrari Enzo (one full black, one red), Lamboghini Murcielago verde ithaca, 4 Ferrari 599 GTO, 4 Bugatti Veyron, 1 Lamborghini LP670 SV, even a Pagani Zonda... among many many others! But that's not really the point of this article, now, is it? Not only it was packed with the regular supercars that you usually see, there also were the test drives. 

The TEST DRIVES

The Koenigsegg CCX.
A white Koenigsegg CCX with red interior that made a great sound. This car is simply beautiful. A magnificent piece of engineering that is in its own league. With Pagani, Koenigsegg has got to be the only independant supercar manufacturers that live up to the name, in my opinion. Look at the lines of that car... You gotta love the way those doors open up hehe!

The Gemballa Avalanche
The black and orange Gemballa Avalanche GTR 600 EVO (so loud the cops even asked them to stop the test drives, apparently). More than 600 horse power on this baby, a very very fast bad boy on the road. This car was driving around a lot, very often accompanied by a white Porsche GT2RS, and made very exciting noise. I'm definitely a fan.

The Bugatti Veyron PUR SANG.
The Bugatti Veyron PUR SANG. 1 out of 5 in the world, as if a regular Bugatti Veyron wasn't exclusive enough. And this Pur Sang is the only one with a white and beige interior. This chrome and carbon fiber car is pretty impressive. At first it didn't drive around much, it was just parked near the Grimaldi forum with two blonde girls from Bugatti standing next to it... But thankfully it ended up driving in the last days of the show, for my biggest pleasure. This car has plates from a dealership [PACE (probably a publicity stunt). But the regular plate for this car is swiss (Geneva).

The Noble M600
The Noble M600. I didn't even know of that car until I came to TMM 2011. I was pleasantly surprised with it, considering the last Noble car I know is the Noble M12, and isn't exactly my cup of tea. But this one was a pure beast. The sound is incredible and the car looks very agressive!! Definitely want to see more from it! There also was a red one inside the show, and it looked fabulous. I'm very much in synch with that car's spirit. Want to see more, now !!!