Supercar Driving Tours
Our intrepid reporter drives 140 miles on 2,785 horsepower worth of exotic cars.
It may sound smarmy coming from anyone else, but when Roland Linder offered that advice to drivers at a recent World Class Driving (WCD) U.S. Supercar Tour, it made perfect sense. (The fact that he's a dashing 60-year-old Frenchman didn't hurt, either.)
In Pictures: Inside The World Class Driving U.S. Supercar TourIt certainly paid to take the tip to heart as I jumped into (what I like to think of as) my Ferrari F430 Spyder, a $220,000, 503-horsepower Lipizzano of a car. World Class Driving hosts 125 drive events nationwide each year, and at mine, a 140-mile meander by the banks of the Delaware River, the convertible supercar was just the first of six cars slotted for the day's drive.
It turns out the scarlet stunner was the least of my worries. Afterward came a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Maybach 62 andAudi R8 V10--each of which packs more than 520 horsepower and (excepting the Maybach) can hit 60 miles per hour in 4.1 seconds or less.
The day began at the headquarters of Chester, N.J.-based car club Vulcan Motor Club with a safety and driving briefing from Linder, a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans champion who drove professionally for Porsche and Ferrari. He told us how to brake and corner ("you must respect the car or it's going to bite you") and explained the cars' manual paddle-shift transmissions. Vulcan acquired World Class Driving several months ago; they operate one combined fleet of 18 vehicles. Prices start at $1,695 for the day, not including a $5,000 insurance deductible carried by Vulcan.
My fellow drivers--a husband and wife celebrating his birthday, an older British gentleman, a father/son duo--looked to be typical participants for the half-day drive. Vulcan's club memberships cost from $12,000 to $40,000 annually, but nonmember activities account for 60% of business, according to CEO Aaron Fessler. He says revenue has remained relatively steady through the economic downturn.
Many Dream Tour participants already have a Porsches or BMWs in their garages, Fessler says, but Vulcan provides a cost-effective way to actively indulge their short attention spans: "They like the club because it provides the cars they always wanted to drive and always dreamed about being close to, but out of practicality or cost they had never bought--a car with swinging doors or a lime green exterior that you couldn't get your wife excited about."
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