The most thrilling racing experience most of us will ever have is besting our friends in Mario Kart.
But for those who can afford it, private racing tracks allow car enthusiasts to live out their F-1 fantasies, while also offering an alternative to a bougie, but more boring status symbol: the country club.
Why now?
Two reasons, per The Wall Street Journal.
- Extremely wealthy people are dropping big bucks on elite experiences, and this is just one example.
- The market for luxury vehicles — we’re talking $1m+ — has shifted from vintage finds to modern high-performance models.
At the same time, LA-based car collector Matthew Katz told WSJ, “The nature of car collecting has evolved from ‘Look at what I own,’ to ‘How can I experience them and how can I make it more social?’”
You can take your old Mustang to the local car show swap restoration stories, but if you’ve got a fast car, you want to drive it fast — and that’s just not possible on city streets. Just ask the guy who demolished his $300k McClaren street racing.
These private clubs cater to social supercar fans who want a safe place to speed. They’re lifestyle-oriented, offering amenities including spas and club houses.
So, where can I go vroom?
- Singer Vehicle Design, a company that restores vintage Porsches, opened Singer Drivers Club at the Willow Springs International Raceway in California. You can drive a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport on multiple circuits and enjoy communal lounges, luxury locker rooms, and driving simulators. Membership starts at $450k.
- Members of Florida’s Concours Club can arrive by private jet and enjoy an array of ultrafancy amenities. Founding memberships were $350k five years ago and fees have gone up — though the club hasn’t said by how much — since. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
- Illinois’s Autobahn is more budget-friendly if you can swing a $60k initiation fee and $7.2k annually for a full membership, while social and go-karting memberships are a mere $6.2k per year each.
Not rich? Well, there’s always Las Vegas, the city where you can shoot a machine gun, get hitched, and do a few laps in a supercar for under a grand.