2019 Corbellati Missile

One of the most left-field cars at Geneva this year, in that virtually no-one had heard of it before they saw it, was the ‘Missile’ from Corbellati.

Before this debut venture into cars, its Italian creators had a background in jewellery design, fine art and, more recently, entrepreneurship.

While the unit on show at Geneva was unfinished (like, really unfinished), the styling and overall proportions looked impressive, with hints of TVR, Corvette and, more specifically, Alfa Romeo’s classic Tipo 33 Stradale in the design.

Even more impressive were the bold predictions made by Corbellati that their car will produce a top speed in excess of 500km/h. If it delivers on that claim, the Missile will take the “world’s fastest production car” record currently held by the Koenigsegg Agera RS.

To achieve this, the Missile runs a mid-mounted 9.0-litre twin-turbo V8 from Mercury Racing that’s normally used in top-end racing powerboats (but has been fitted to a few SEMA-style showcars in recent years).

In Missile application, a mind-blowing 1,342kW and 2,350Nm is claimed, with all that power going to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual transaxle.

Both the chassis and body are completely carbon fibre, while the brakes use carbon-ceramic discs (behind 20-inch wheels) and the suspension consists of an inboard-mounted, self-levelling and fully-adjustable air system.

However, to achieve warp speeds, hypercars usually need a whole bunch of aerodynamic add-ons (see Aston Martin Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, McLaren Senna GTR, etc.) and the Missile has virtually none.

Corbellati plans to take their Missile to the US next year for the 500km/h record attempt. One to file under the ‘we’ll believe it when we see it’ category.