BRABUS SHADOW 900
As if testing one of these 60-knot superboats wasn’t enough we sea trial both the Cross-cabin and the Sun-top
What’s better than testing one 900hp Brabus Shadow 900? Testing two, of course! We take the Cross-cabin and Sun-top for a spin in Poole to see which is best
How does that old saying go? You wait ages for a (Bra)bus and then two come along at once? It’s something like that. Either way, having chased for a full test of the Shadow 900 since November 2019 when I first drove the pre-production mule at over 60 knots through a wintry Helsinki archipelago, I can scarcely believe my luck that both a Sun-top and a Cross-cabin (XC) have landed in Poole at the same time.
FUELLING THE FIRE
Both boats begin the day at what will be a familiar haunt for Brabus Shadow owners – the fuel dock. There is a Spyder version of the 900 as well but, as cool as it looks, its open deck spaces are a little too exposed unless the weather is absolutely perfect so most will be choosing between the part-covered Sun-top and fully enclosed XC. Editor Hugo has joined me on the test intent on fighting the case for the Sun-top (see side panel on p75) but for me it’s the brooding Cross-cabin that truly courses with Brabus DNA. It hovers menacingly as the Sun-top takes on fuel, prowling shark-like with hull paint darker than oblivion and enough power on its transom to blast you straight into it.
There are many differences between these two versions of the 900 but motors and hull shapes are shared and what a potent mix they are. The twin-stepped, 20-degree deep vee hull is borrowed from the Axopar 37 but here it’s mated to a pair of Mercury’s ferocious Racing 450R supercharged V8s featuring a sports exhaust that can be opened and closed via the helm MFDS. It’s a neat party trick that transforms the exhaust note from a throaty rumble to an angry growl resonating with sonic presence. Even at idle these things ooze menace.
Slot into the fine leather helm seat of the XC, where the dashboard ripples with carbon-fibre and four Simrad MFDS peer out from behind the glass bridge fascia, and the urge to fire up and travel is overwhelming. Major functions are controlled by the screens in front of the helm seats but two smaller screens to port supply a feed of chart and engine information to those
standing in front of the companionway hatch. It’s a beautifully clean dash arrangement with very few actual buttons save for the small run of backlit switches atop the lower dash and the trim tab, thruster and audio controls huddled around the steering wheel’s hub. The main touch points of the steering wheel, throttles and joystick are grouped closely together and all are gratifyingly chunky in the hand. The snarling Mercs may sound intimidating but they ease in and out of forward and reverse effortlessly and the standard joystick offers twist-and-go control by vectoring the outboards. Even if you find this surplus to requirements for berthing manoeuvres the Skyhook function takes all of the pain out of idling for the fuel pontoon or bridges and means you can leave the boat hovering as a singlehanded skipper while you attach lines and fenders.
SUN’S OUT...
Hugo will argue that the Sun-top puts you more in touch with the elements and is therefore the better boat if there is even a hint of sunshine but it’s not as clear cut as that. Yes, the XC has a fully-enclosed wheelhouse that will insulate its occupants from the wind and rain at the slam of a door but on the flipside, because of its double width side doors and fabric sunroof overhead, it’s easy to open the interior up to the outside world within a matter of seconds. You can still feel the sun on your face and the rush of water past the hull but, if the weather turns, it takes just as little time to close everything up again and carry on. And if I were to part with nearly £585,000 for my waterborne Brabus I would want to be able to use it all year round without having to mess around with unsightly canvas covers. The Cross-cabin is a proper shut the door, turn-the-keyand-go monster. It is a floating Brabus G Wagon. In the same way that Brabus’s cars are designed to devour the Autobahn at high speed in great comfort the 900 Cross-cabin does just that across the water. The cabin insulates you from those 4.6-litre
V8s so they melt away into the background as the revs climb and the hull rockets over the water at increasing speed. I don’t think there are many better hulls out there at this size for covering ground quickly, especially if there is a gentle swell rolling. Its ability to land softly and maintain momentum is astonishing, as it is on the supremely talented Axopar 37, but the difference here is having all that torque and power on tap. You expect your neck to snap back if you bury the throttles from standstill on a boat like this but the 450s keep supplying the kidney punches from 20-30 knots, 40-50 knots and even 50-60 knots. Such is the confidence inspired by the hull thanks to its high-speed stability
The performance is electric but not in the least bit intimidating
you can wind the throttles out to the stops where the boat will be nudging 60 knots and take your hands off the wheel. The boat’s performance is electric but it’s also accessible and not the least bit intimidating, unless you happen to end up in a straight line race against it.
RAPID BUT RELAXED
The 60-knot top speed will grab the headlines but in reality it’s the cruising band that will make the Shadow 900 such a joyous cruising companion. You can, if the moment calls, “cruise” at 50 knots or drop it back down to 40 knots for a range of around 125nm with 20% fuel in reserve or drop back to 30 knots where the engines are pulling just 4,000rpm and progress feels hilariously relaxed. The 900 is an epic point-to-pointer in any guise but the XC is the most refined way to travel out of the two and it proved its mettle in challenging conditions off Poole. It has this amazing ability to iron out a short chop with its blade-like forward sections and then leap with great athleticism between larger waves like a finely-tuned race boat.
I concede that the Sun-top has it licked when it comes to the main deck. If sunshine boating is your only agenda then the ST’S seven-person central dinette with the choice of either sunbathing space, storage or a wetbar aft is a winner. The Shadow 900 may be draped in Brabus garnish but underneath all the fine leather, carbon-fibre and brushed aluminium is an Axopar 37 with all of the practical design touches that make that boat such a capable weekender. Though you can spec the XC with an open cockpit, aft bench, multi-storage compartment or wetbar, the sunpad option (which includes the double cabin below) makes sense as it provides another area aside from the sunpad on the foredeck for guests to spread out in the sun. That said, the wetbar is useful on deck as it provides outdoor cooking space, a sink and some cooling space that can be accessed without having to head into the cabin. It’s a nut that Axopar and Brabus are yet to crack on this boat but there is enough flexibility in the layout that most people will be able to find a configuration that suits.
The layout of the forward cabin is the same as the 37 with the option to have a rather cramped separate toilet compartment if you wish but thanks to the Brabus effect it feels like a very different space. The materials look and feel superb and it emits a cool if rather masculine nightclub vibe in contrast to the bright Scandi cool of a standard 37. Interestingly the Cross-cabin had