The ACM traces its roots to 1890, when a group of cycling enthusiasts founded an association called the Sport Vélocipédique Monégasque (SVM). As the automobile became more prevalent in the early twentieth century, the club began incorporating motorists and was renamed the Sport Automobile et Vélocipédique de Monaco (SAVM) in 1907.
Alexandre Noghès, the SAVM's president, was among the first to champion large-scale international motorsport events based in Monaco. At the behest of Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Noghès began planning what would become the Monte Carlo Rally — a competition in which entrants would depart from starting points scattered across Europe and converge on Monaco to finish. Following the First World War, cycling events were dropped from the club's programme, and in 1925 the organisation was formally renamed the Automobile Club de Monaco.
Despite its growing prestige, the ACM's application to be upgraded from a regional French club to a full national member of the AIACR — the Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus, forerunner of the FIA — was initially refused on the grounds that no motorsport event was held entirely within Monaco's borders.
The solution came from Antony Noghès, son of the club's president. In 1929 he organised the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix on a circuit threading through the narrow streets and public roads of the principality. The event was an immediate success and the ACM was promptly admitted to the AIACR. The circuit's fundamental layout has remained largely unchanged since that first race, making it one of the oldest continuously used street circuits in international motorsport.
The Monaco Grand Prix became a fixture of the European Championship during the 1930s, cementing its reputation as one of the most demanding tests in motorsport. When the Formula One World Championship was inaugurated in 1950, Monaco was included among its opening-season rounds. The Grand Prix has been held continuously since 1955 and, despite minor modifications to barriers, runoff areas, and chicanes over the decades, the course has retained the essential character of the original 1929 layout.
Beyond the Monaco Grand Prix, the ACM operates a broader portfolio of motorsport events centred on the principality and its surrounding region.
The Historic Grand Prix of Monaco is a biennial event held over the Circuit de Monaco, reserved for historic Grand Prix cars. It draws significant interest from collectors and racing historians as well as competitive drivers, and provides a rare opportunity to see cars from the sport's earliest eras racing on the same roads used by modern Formula One machinery.
The Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique is the classic counterpart to the Monte Carlo Rally, open to vehicles from earlier eras of rallying and run over traditional routes reminiscent of the rally's original format.
The Monaco ePrix brings the Formula E championship to the same street circuit used by Formula One, reflecting the ACM's engagement with emerging forms of competitive motorsport alongside its stewardship of the sport's most storied events.
The Junior Monaco Kart Cup provides a pathway for younger competitors, reflecting the club's investment in grassroots participation alongside its role as host of world-championship events.
As Monaco's national automobile club and FIA affiliate, the ACM holds authority over the regulation and administration of motorsport within the principality. This dual mandate — combining local governance with the organisation of globally prominent championship events — sets the ACM apart from most national automobile clubs, whose flagship events rarely carry the same international weight as the Monaco Grand Prix and Monte Carlo Rally.