Asked to pick a favorite product of his company’s 11-year collaboration with Mercedes-AMG, Cigarette Racing Team company owner and chief executive officer Skip Braver took a long pause before answering. Braver, who purchased the famed sportboat and center console company in 2002 and built its then-new Opa-locka, Fla., headquarters several years later, had a lot of boats—including a 42-foot, 100-plus-mph high-performance center console, multiple 50-footers and one electric-powered 38-footer—to consider.

Celebrating its 11-year marketing partnership with Mercedes-AMG this year,Cigarette Racing Team blew minds in Miami with its supercar-inspired 515 Project ONE sportboat. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill.

Introduced at the 2018 Miami International Boat Show in February, the new 515 Project ONE sportboat powered by Mercury Racing dual-calibration 1550/1350 engines certainly was high on his list. The 51- footer, which was based off Cigarette’s 50-foot Marauder V-bottom but was lengthened and widened for a 9-foot, 6-inch beam, was inspired by the Mercedes-AMG, Formula 1-based Project ONE “super show car.” Between the boat and automobile, as well as Cigarette’s architecturally sophisticated and elegant display at the Miami International Boat Show docks, that would have been an easy and predictable choice.

But Braver never has been predictable.

“I don’t know about a favorite, but I think the most revolutionary one was the electric Top Gun, which was a design study,” he said.

To read the full cover story, click the download link for the PDF of the January/February 2018 Speed On The Water magazine, and please share any feedback with us below, via email or on social media.