First Drive: Wiesmann’s Project Thunderball Is An All-Electric Tour De Force
After driving a prototype, we can see how the 680 hp production version will strike a compelling balance between grand tourer and supercar.
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It’s ironic that Tesla started out with an electric sports car—the 2008 Roadster—because nobody has seemed to offer one as a production model since. Yes, we’ve seen a few electric hypercars with seven-figure price tags, and one-off restomods, but nothing as far a production sports car that can double as a daily-driver.
There are good reasons for this. EVs are invariably heavy, which doesn’t suit a sports car. Their drivetrains can also be short on drama, with no gears to shift and totally linear response. And the whirr of electric motors doesn’t assail your ears like the cacophony of combustion.
German marque Wiesmann has cherry-picked some of BMW’s most exciting engines in the past, including the straight-six from the BMW E46 M3 (circa 2000 through 2006) and the Formula 1–inspired V-10 from the E60 M5 (2004 through 2010). Now, Wiesmann hopes to inject the same emotional appeal into an electric sports car. Meet Project Thunderball.
Wiesmann’s CEO Roheen Berry greets me outside the marque’s distinctive “Gecko Factory” near Düsseldorf, Germany. “I’d never heard of Wiesmann until my brother bought one,” says Berry, “but I was instantly intrigued.” The British-born, Harvard-educated entrepreneur looked into buying distribution rights for the UK and other right-hand-drive markets, but ended up buying the company. “That was in 2016—my hair has gotten a lot grayer since,” he says.
Having rescued Wiesmann from bankruptcy, Berry embarked on a mission to bring the brand to other markets throughout the world, including stateside. “We’ve been around for decades, but 90 percent of our cars were sold in Germany, so we never gained international recognition,” says Berry. Project Thunderball will spearhead that growth, followed by a second sports car (also likely to be electric) and “maybe even an SUV,” according to Berry. The eventual plan is to build between 500 and 600 vehicles per year.
This time, rather than sourcing components from BMW, Wiesmann has partnered with technology firm Roding, which has worked on vehicles as diverse as Olympic bobsleds and the Mars Rover. Project Thunderball’s 92 kwh battery pack is thus unique to Wiesmann, and is housed under the huge front clamshell—rather than within a skateboard-style platform—to make it easier for owners to upgrade at a later date.
Even fresh out of the box, the numbers look impressive: 680 hp and 811 ft lbs of torque in a car weighing 1,700 kg equates to crushing zero to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds. Berry also promises a range of over 500 kilometers and the ability to rapid-charge at up to 300 kw.
Wiesmann’s new two-seater features a chassis that’s aluminum clad in carbon fibre (previous cars were fiberglass), and it wears an electric soft-top that retracts in nine seconds. A curvaceous coupe is also in the product plan and will be revealed next year. As for the Bond-esque ‘Project Thunderball’ name, it was coined by the development team and may change before the car reaches showrooms in early 2024. “We’ll see if it sticks,” says Berry with a smile.
Before jumping into the EV roadster, I’m offered a chance to drive two of Wiesmann’s “heritage” models. First up is the CEO’s own GT MF5, which looks like a mutated Shelby Daytona Coupe and borrows its 555 hp, 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 from a BMW X5 M. The ergonomics are haphazard and the automatic gearbox isn’t super-sharp, but the Wiesmann is full of roguish charm. As it’s Halfway between an eccentric grand tourer and an over-engined muscle car, it’s hard not to love it.
I then swap into an MF4-S roadster, powered by the 420 hp V-8 from a BMW E90 M3 (2007 through 2013). With a dual-clutch M-DCT transmission, it instantly feels more alert, its naturally aspirated engine revving to 8,400 rpm with a searing metallic howl. Presenting a more straightforward and immersive driving experience than the GT MF5, it makes a compelling case for old-school piston power. Can an EV really follow this?
It will have to, but while there is revolution under the surface, Project Thunderball’s styling is rooted in the past. Its fulsome curves draw upon classic British sports cars like the Austin-Healey 100 and Jaguar XK120, while its egg-shaped grille and insectoid lights are distinctively Wiesmann. With “eye sockets” in unpainted carbon fibre, it has a slightly menacing presence—particularly when looming large in your rearview mirror.
Project Thunderball’s spacious and sumptuously trimmed cabin also mixes retro and modern, combining hand-stitched leather and analogue dials with exposed carbon weave, a digital driver display and a central touchscreen. And if you don’t like how it looks, each vehicle can be customized to your taste, explains Berry, showing me two very different specifications on the Wiesmann configurator: one inspired by yachts, the other a road-racer. “This car can be Bruce Wayne or Batman,” he says.
I’m driving a 580 hp prototype that tips the scales at 2,000 kg, which is 100 hp less and 204 kg more than what is promised for the production version. In other regards, though, this is very much the finished article, with deep paint, perfect panel gaps and a build quality best described as “Germanic”.
Pulling away in fuss-free silence seems odd after the fanfare of the BMW engines, but the mighty torque from the twin axial-flux motors is immediately apparent. Where that glorious M3 V-8 has to be wrung out to give its best, the electric drivetrain feels effortless and omnipotent, like a coiled spring always ready to ping open. It’s the difference between a five-course meal and an all-you-can-eat buffet: a more cerebral sense of delayed gratification versus the sugar-rush of an instant reward.
Even in this specification, Project Thunderball feels brutally quick. It also slows down very effectively, with five levels of regeneration available via the paddles behind the steering wheel. You can use these to simulate engine braking through the gears when approaching a corner, or simply select maximum regen to drive with one pedal around town.
How about handling? Well, Wiesmann has a gecko logo (and a gigantic wooden gecko atop its factory) because its cars “stick to the road like geckos to a wall” says Berry. That’s true of Project Thunderball, which feels taut and tied-down, with ample grip from its broad-shouldered Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. The tradeoff is firm suspension, perhaps necessary to keep all that weight under control, and a rather abrupt ride, which seems at odds with the car’s long-striding GT character.
Other areas for fine-tuning before 2024 include the overly light steering (both the heritage cars had more heft) and the soundtrack: presently the unfiltered, high-pitched whine of the electric motors. The production car will have more sound deadening, plus some degree of artificial noise pumped through the speakers. I’m told it will sound “authentic,” although it’s unlikely to be as evocative as a high-revving V-8.
Making direct comparisons between electric power trains and those that are gasoline dependent might be missing the point, though. With a projected price tag of $450,000, the Project Thunderball could conceivably share garage space with a more traditional roadster, rather than replacing it. Alternatively, it might appeal fundamentally because of being electric, especially to somebody who wants to cut their carbon footprint, or drive a more socially acceptable sports car.
Tesla might have got here 14 years ago, but Wiesmann’s take is a far more sophisticated affair. With another year of development under its wheels, Project Thunderball should offer a very compelling middle ground between a luxury GT and a supercar. And despite what Elon Musk says, we’re pretty sure it will be ready before the “new” Tesla Roadster sees the light of day.
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The Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance—a beauty pageant for priceless classic cars—returns for another instalment at the city’s most intriguing, and unlikeliest, venue.
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Forget a Bow Tie. Here Are 3 Black-Tie Accessories to Rock Instead
Stylist Tom Stubbs on ditching the bow tie this festive season—and what to wear alternatively.
Black tie, that essential marker of an increasingly rarefied ceremonial style, is inspiring. Nothing coaxes men into upping the sartorial ante quite like reading those words on an invitation. I say amen to raising the bar, but I can’t bear wearing a traditional bow tie—and haven’t done so for over a decade.
Around the turn of the millennium, I was enthusiastically dress-code obedient, but two unstoppable forces put me off: Fashion moved on, and I got old. Where abiding by hallowed traditions once felt exalted, it suddenly began to seem restrictive and stuffy. And while it was extraordinary to be a bow-tied 30-something, in my 40s, the convention made me feel like a pompous, conservative square. Now, menswear has changed so much that bow ties register as pedestrian garb better suited to waiters than to revellers.
Fortunately, there are several black-tie alternatives that excite and inspire me now that I’m well into my 50s—many espoused by stylish guys on the red carpet and innovative designers in London, Paris, Florence, and Milan. And though I might take a bow on nonconformism as I step into my 60s, I still plan to steer clear of the bow tie, that ultimate symbol of gentlemanly customs, for as long as I can. Here’s what I’m replacing it with.
Form and Function
I got excited seeing Lemaire’s slim metallic modernised bolo ties in the house’s fall 2024 show. A favourite of men as varied as Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Snoop Dogg, the bolo is perhaps best remembered as the chosen neckwear of John Travolta’s surly hit man, Vincent, in Pulp Fiction. Originally, Native American tribes including the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo used these accessories used to fasten bandannas with plaited-leather cords. High-end versions double as a bit of jewellery, with silver slides set with turquoise and often engraved with animal motifs, including buffalo skulls and eagles. Contemporary takes abound, but vintage sleuthing can turn up some particularly beguiling options.
Gambling Man
Varying in size, flounce, and attitude, ribbon ties—also called gambler or Kentucky neckties—have long been a legitimate black-tie alternative. Actor Cillian Murphy has worn Saint Laurent’s take to various award shows, looking stand-alone chic and authentically cool. They have a distinct Western energy—Kirk Douglas donned one as Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as did Robert Vaughan in The Magnificent Seven. But they’re as much rock star as they are gunslinger: The late Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls and Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy (style role models of mine) also wore them with panache. Take a note from the runway and wear them with a pair of boots—cowboy, Chelsea, or with a Cuban heel—to really step away from the standard.
Fit to Be Tied
Getty Images/Courtesy of Lemaire
If you want to give yourself some breathing room, consider scarves and neckerchiefs. This fall, Tom Ford proposed a louche take on evening style, using black, slim-plaited, or delicately sequined scarves whose long tassels provocatively dangle at the hips. For maximum effect, the brand styled them with open satin shirts, recalling rockers Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. London’s La Bowtique also does beautiful outsize bows. On a smaller scale, the Twilly—a short silk scarf pioneered by Hermès—works in much the same manner. The French maison makes gorgeous options with angled ends for extra verve, whether hanging loose or more discreetly knotted.
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Show Stoppers
The Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance—a beauty pageant for priceless classic cars—returns for another instalment at the city’s most intriguing, and unlikeliest, venue.
The logic behind staging a prestige automobile show on an island may, at face value, seem warped—history tells us that cars and water do not play nicely. The rationale twists further when said piece of land is a former shipyard that is, aesthetically, more workhorse ute than classic Ferrari.
Scratch beneath the surface, however, and the decision to plant the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance on Cockatoo Island for the second year running begins to make locational sense: the steel arch of the emblematic bridge acting as photogenic backcloth; the UNESCO World Heritage site’s previous guises as 19th-century penal colony and eminent boat-building facility fleshing the show’s historical bones; the theatre of watching collectors delicately coaxing their four-wheeled artworks off a rusty roll-on/roll-off barge in the islet’s wharf before showtime. (After all, if owning a car in this stratosphere isn’t about projecting drama, then what’s the point?)
Throw in an endless endowment of free Champagne for guests and VIP transport from the mainland via superyacht, and it barely matters that the three-day jamboree is, in the words of founder and curator James Nicholls, “a logistical nightmare”.
“People love the energy, the adventure” says the Anglo-Italian, a broadcaster, writer and photographer whose extensive resume includes various stints as a concours judge across the world. “There’s a great contrast between the luxurious motor cars and the industrial environment. The Turbine Shop [a timeworn, hanger-like space used to display the vehicles] is where ocean-going liners and propellers were built. People interested in cars are also interested in that kind of thing but it’s just a backdrop. Cars are the main focal point.”
The concours d’elegance concept (“concours” means “competition” in French) can be traced back to 17th-century Paris, when aristocrats would flaunt horse-drawn carriages in local parks during summer months. Animals eventually gave way to automobiles, and the gatherings mutated into more organised contests in which these new-fangled contraptions were, in somewhat prescient fashion, judged solely on the appearance. The trend spread throughout European high society, before reaching America in 1950 with an inaugural pageant at Pebble Beach, California—a concours which has since evolved into a behemoth of the species, now billing itself as “the world’s most prestigious car show” and drawing 214 vehicles and spectators in the low five figures at the last annual meeting. Other concours are thriving globally, from spectacles in Lake Como in Italy (the longest running event, launched in 1929) to Udaipur in India. Vanity, it seems, remains in vogue.
Among this storied company, Sydney’s interpretation is playing catch-up. But Nicholls insists the local variant—launched in 2019, having occupied three other citywide locations—has no intention of locking horns with competitors. Not numerically, at least.
“In 2024, we had 500 people over the three days; this year we’ll aim for 750. But we’re never going to become a 20,000-people show,” he says. “We want it to be bespoke and beautiful, so people don’t have to queue for a glass of Champagne. You can talk to the car owners, and everyone feels like a VIP.” The overarching aim is to become a “destination event” on the socialite calendar, on par with the Melbourne Cup or the Australian Grand Prix.
While keen to keep paying visitors guessing, Nicholls offers Robb Report a sneak peek into some of the 44 objets booked to occupy the coarse, exposed-brick viewing hall, ranging from turn-of-the-century rarities to modern-day exotics: a 1905 Eugène Brillié 20/24 HP Coupé Chauffeur, believed to be the only one of its ilk left; a 1955 Porsche Speedster 356 “Pre A”, examples of which are valued in excess of $750,000; a Lamborghini Miura 3400, a model famed for its starring role in the opening sequence to 1969’s The Italian Job movie; a 2021 Audi R8 Spyder, an iteration that is no longer being produced and thus quietly accruing kudos.
Up to seven “classes” will be open, including categories solely for Porsche Speedsters and pre-war Australian coachbuilt cars. Two 1930s Bugattis are slated for appearance, one of which is, as this article is being written, on a boat somewhere, on its way to Australia. A panel of seven judges, led by the first ever female concours head assessor, who also adjudicated in 2024, will select the overall “Best in Show” winner—scored last time out by a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, a model line with a $24 million price tag attached. And in a progressive play designed to lure the oil-shunning generation, an “electric elegance” section will debut. Nicholls estimates the combined value of all this precious metal at around $80 million.
While it would provoke an illicit thrill to discover that frenzied super-collectors were slyly puncturing rivals’ tyres or keying priceless bodywork—skulduggery has plagued other pageants, from dog show Crufts (canine poisoning) to Miss World (rigging allegations)—the entrants are, in keeping with the show’s refined, English-garden-party profile—a gentlemanly bunch. To a point. “They like meeting up, the community that’s here, but they do get competitive,” says Mark Ussher, the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance managing director, and on-the-ground organiser. “They care about their cars but they’re investors as well as collectors. If they win a concours anywhere around the world it adds value to the car.”
Which makes it doubly important that, surrounded by all that deep Harbour water, everyone remembers to put their handbrake on.
The Sydney Harbour Concours D’Elegance runs from February 28th-March 2nd 2025; sydneyharbourconcours.com.au
Book tickets now and take benefit from the RR 15% discount code: ROBB15
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Jannik Sinner Is the First Tennis Player to Take a Luxury Bag Onto Wimbledon’s Centre Court
The 23-year-old Italian flaunted a custom Gucci duffle bag on center court.
Jannik Sinner aced the style game at last year’s Wimbledon Championships.
The Italian tennis star turned up to his match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo with a custom Gucci duffel bag on his shoulder. It marks the first time a designer bag has been carried onto centre court in the history of the prestigious, centuries-old tennis tournament, as reported by Women’s Wear Daily.
The duffel, which Sinner describes as a “timeless classic,” showcases the house’s signature beige and ebony colorway, the iconic GG monogram, and a contrasting green and red web stripe. It also features the athlete’s initials near the straps. Ironically, the rather traditional design has called into question a 150-year tradition.
“For sure this will create a conversation,” Sinner told WWD before defeating Cerundolo in straight sets. “Bringing sport and luxury fashion together in this way is something that’s never been done before and I feel extremely proud to be a part of it. I hope people will love it as much as I do.”
Wimbledon’s dress code is extremely strict: Players have been required to wear white at the event since 1877, with not even off-white or cream permitted on the court. Tennis whites were originally instated as it was believed the ensemble showed less sweat, as reported by Time. The tradition has continued out of respect for the sport’s history and a desire to maintain formality.
The rules are enforced, too: Our own player Nick Kyrgios was allegedly fined $25,000 for rocking red Air Jordan trainers at 2023’s tournament. Interestingly, the decidedly non-white Gucci accessory was reportedly given the all-clear by the powers that be. A spokesperson for Gucci told WWD the house worked with Sinner’s team “for the approvals from the ITF (International Tennis Federation), ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals), and Grand Slams, including Wimbledon, to ensure the bag met the necessary requirements.”
The 23-year-old, who turned pro at age 18, became a Gucci ambassador in 2023 in his first luxury fashion endorsement. “Gucci for me represents Italian excellence around the world, excellence which is rooted in tradition as much as in innovation,” Sinner said. “This is the kind of message I am proud to convey when I represent my country wherever I am in the world.”
The Italian player was capture in action last week during his 1st round men’s singles match against Nicolas Jarry (from Chile) on day two of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park with more Gucci gear. Sinner carried a custom duffle bag crafted by HEAD and designed by Gucci to the men’s singles match on day two of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
Sinner will play Australian Alex de Minaur tomorrow 22 January at the Australian Open.
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The dearth of standout beaches is the Amalfi Coast’s dirty secret, so this is a remarkable asset: walk down through the terraced, lemon-tree-filled gardens of this Gio Ponti-inspired hotel bolted to the steep cliffs by Conca dei Marini, and you’ll stumble upon its own beach club attached to the property. The restaurant sits in a renovated boathouse; feel free to snip some herbs from the mismatched pots filled with sage and basil.
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Hole In One
The Citizen Kanebridge VHG Golf Open Returns to The Southern Highlands This February.
The third annual Citizen Kanebridge VHG Golf Open Day is happening again this year at Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in the Southern Highlands on Friday, February 21. Players will tee off from 8 am for a day of unrivalled bucolic hospitality in the spirit of friendly competition.
The Open unites forces with the operators of Mount Broughton in Sutton Forrest to stage the popular day, in which teams of four enter to enjoy 18 holes of unadulterated fun.
Players will meet at the clubhouse, where—golf aside—they will be served breakfast, lunch and liquid refreshments throughout the day before heading back to Citizen Kanebridge Lodge for a special dinner, fun awards ceremony and more drinks.
Located just 10 minutes from the Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in Berrima, the stunning Mount Broughton course gives players—male and female, and ranging from amateur to semi professional—the chance to compete in a golf day with plenty of high-jinks and food along with way.
The event is part of the new offering from Citizen Kanebridge, a private membership club based in Sydney. Citizen Kanebridge allows members to have access to the Robb Report Club(RR1) based in the United States of America, Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in the Southern Highlands of NSW, and The Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) in Circular Quay, Sydney.
Members interested in Golf Open Day, may enquire by reaching out to leanne@citizenkanebridge.com.au. For more information on Golf Open day, you can download the information brochure here.
Love golf? jump to our golf connoisseurship package from the Spring 2024 issue of Robb Report ANZ.
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