Supercar club revving up

Jul 23 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

A NEW North East branch of a supercar driving club is making the world’s fastest – and most expensive – automobiles available to wealthy motoring enthusiasts.

The Group 20 club already operates in other parts of the UK, but now young entrepreneur Ben Stephenson has bought the franchise to launch in this region.

He said: “We have 16 cars available at the moment, and within the next three months we will have a depot with an additional four cars.

“Cars are rotated around the different depots in the country, and the club owns cars including a Bugatti Veyron, which is worth £1.2m and a Pagani Zonda roadster.”

Mr Stephenson said the Group 20 club could provide a 30-days-a-year membership for £10,000 or a full 60 days for £15,000, which includes fully comprehensive insurance.

The club also offers syndicate membership for a group of friends to share the cost, or corporate memberships for companies to allocate driving days as a staff incentive or for rewarding good customers. The Group 20 supercar club will be in direct competition with the Vitesse Supercar Club, which is already operating from a base in Hamsterley Mill, near Rowlands Gill in County Durham. Vitesse charges a £12,000 annual membership fee for between 50 and 70 days’ driving each year in cars including a Bentley Continental, Ferrari 430 Spider and a Ford GT.