May 6 2009 By The Journal
A DRIVING club that loans its members some of the world’s most expensive supercars has just entered a new market after investing £100,000 in one of the hottest cars of the moment, the Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
County Durham-based Vitesse Supercar Club was set up two years ago by driving enthusiast Karl Lowther to give people the chance to get behind the wheel of powerful models such as the Porsche 911 GT2 and the Ford GT, and has since proved very popular among the region’s business community.
The new car, which can go 180mph and brings the value of the firm’s 10-strong fleet of vehicles to over £600,000, is the first at Vitesse to be designed for the track and will see the Rowlands Gill-based firm loan the car out to its more adventurous clients at racing venues across the country.
New arm Vitesse Racing will allow members take the car out for track days to test it to its limits, with the added option of an instructor and even the chance to enter it into races.
The club, which costs more than £10,000 a year to join, also provides access to the Audi R8, Ferrari’s F430 Spider, a Bentley and the small but nippy Ariel Atom.
The fleet of 11 supercars also includes the Ford GT – one of only 100 of its type in the UK.
Despite the ongoing recession Mr Lowther said that business was holding up and that the service was receiving new interest from people who were having to put of the purchase of a supercar during until the economy improved. Mr Lowther said: "Typically members take our cars out on weekdays or weekends for trips to events. They like to take them out around the spectacular countryside of the North East, the Lakes and the Borders.
"But a number have been expressing an interest in track days and racing, and to meet that demand we have been negotiating with Aston Martin Racing for several months to acquire the Vantage.
"I had no idea that there would be a recession before setting up a supercar club business. However, we have seen some of our members use the service more often as well as new members joining up that would have purchased a car like this themselves before the economic downturn."
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