Alltorque
Like a kid in a toy shop
W
ander through the aisles of any newsagent and you are likely to be overwhelmed with aspirational lifestyle temptations: fast cars, big houses, expensive gadgets and all the glamour that goes with it. One of the fattest shelves is for car magazines. It groans under the weight of high-octane trickery, buckles and warps as kilowatts of mechanical muscle throb between the glossy covers. Come get me! Supercars are for dreamers, right? Well, maybe, but you can live the dream without busting the bank. Faking it, perhaps, but when that turbo kicks in and the symphony of four camshafts and 32 valves reaches its crescendo, you’re living it. Just as luxury powerboats and holiday properties might have been a great idea at the time, a blip in the economy or a change in personal circumstances can leave you with an expensive overhead. A million-dollar supercar can have the same effect. So how do you enjoy the lifestyle you’ve earned yourself without getting in way above your head? Most people are familiar with concept of fractional ownership or ‘timeshare’, but
The Supercar Club makes it even simpler. You buy road credits that you then redeem on any of the $10 million worth of horseless carriage in the stable. A Lotus Exige S, Aston Martin Vantage, Audi R8, Porsche GT3, Ferrari 360CS, Lamborghini Gallardo or even a neck-snapping Ariel Atom are there waiting, champing at the bit. With enough credits, you can drive them all. One member is celebrity trumpeter, James Morrison, who was initially concerned about the whole membership experience. “I expected at least a bit of a ‘nanny’ attitude about the cars. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of money and horsepower being handed over to people they don’t necessarily know very well.” But all those concerns were answered when he and his travelling companion, Deni Hines, were met at
Ferraris and Porsches may not be flying off the shelves at the moment, but that doesn’t have to stop you enjoying one. Words: RODerick EIME
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Alltorque
Melbourne airport by the national operations director, James Ward, in their Porsche GT3. “It was at that moment I knew I was in the right club.” With names like that on the playlist, you’d expect The Supercar Club to be a bit exclusive – and it is. The $4,500 starting money will sort out most tyre-kickers and the minimum age is 30 for insurance reasons. “We’ll never go above 200 members,” said Ward. “Basically to maintain a ratio of five new members for each new car.” Members are mostly males (big surprise!) in their early 40s on average nationally and evenly split between business owners and employees with an income of about $300,000 a year, although a high school teacher is among the members of the exclusive club. Vehicles are graded into groups depending on their price and appeal. Group 1,
for example, includes Lotus Exige S and Mitsubishi Evo X, while Group 5 packs a Ferrari F430 Spider F1 and Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, both of which come with a $500k+ price tag. The most expensive car in the shed is a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe at a cool $1.3 million. If you can’t score with one of those, then hang it up. To get going you’ll need a once-only $4,500 joining fee. Then the cheapest plan is $1,750 per month for a year for a total of 300 ‘points’ ($77/point). At the other end, $42,500 up front will ring your till for 1,000 points ($46.75/point). A Group 5 car will cost you 36 points per day for a threeday weekend (or 18/day midweek) while a ‘modest’ Group 1 jigger is a trifling three points per day midweek. Even if that is stretching your budget, The Supercar Club organises standalone track days and road tours in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria that are ideal for gift giving. See all the toys, including the new Nissan R35 GT-R and Ducati Desmosedici (yes, there are terrifying bikes too!) at www.supercarclub.com.au.
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