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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.

Lamborghini Centenario to grace the cover of next Forza game

The creatives at Turn 10 Studios must have had a heck of a time choosing which new supercar would feature on the cover of the next installment in the Forza franchise. We saw an unsurpassed array of exotic machinery, after all, unveiled last month alone at the Geneva Motor Show, but in the end it's the Lamborghini Centenario that got the nod. The exclusive supercar marks the 100th anniversary of Ferruccio Lamborghini's birth, and stands as "the most powerful Lamborghini produced to date," in the words of the company's own R&D chief Maurizio Reggiani. Unfortunately only 40 examples will ever be made – 20 coupes and 20 convertibles – and they've all been sold for the equivalent of nearly $2 million apiece. It will hit the small screen in the next Forza game before any of those extremely fortunate customers have theirs delivered in real life. Microsoft will reveal the new game at E3 in June, but for now we don't even know what it will be called. Forza Motorsport 7? Forza Horizon 3? Something else entirely? We'll have to wait to find out, but the Centenario will definitely be on the cover. This won't be the first time that a Lamborghini has graced the cover of a Forza game. The Huracan appeared on the cover of Forza Horizon 2. Previous cover cars have included the Ford GT, McLaren P1, Dodge Viper, Ferrari 458 Italia, and Audi R8. That'll make the Raging Bull marque, by our account, the only to be featured twice in the series. Related Video: Lamborghini partners with Microsoft: Lamborghini Centenario is cover car for next Forza game on Xbox. Sant'Agata Bolognese, 04 March 2016 : The Lamborghini Centenario will feature on the front cover and within the next Forza racing game on Xbox. Lamborghini and Microsoft's Turn 10 Studios announced their latest collaboration at Geneva Motor Show in March 2016, with the new Xbox game to be revealed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2016. The Centenario will be available "First in Forza," giving millions of fans around the world the exclusive opportunity to experience the virtual version of the car on Xbox before its road debut. Thus, players will be the first to enjoy the aspects of the car celebrating the 100 year anniversary of founder Ferruccio Lamborghini's birth, starting from the naturally aspirated V12 Centenario which produces 770 hp and powers from 0100 km/h in 2.8 seconds ( 0-300 km/h in 23.5 seconds) with a top speed of more than 350 km/h.