It was only a matter of time before two of the most exciting performance brands came together to create an automotive utopia for thousands of lucky car enthusiasts. Vulcan Motor Club – the leader in supercar memberships, and Monticello Motor Club – the most exclusive race resort in the U.S., have joined forces to create an automotive mecca for auto and driving enthusiasts.

Monticello Motor Club boasts one of the longest road courses available anywhere in the world, with more than 4.1 miles of twists and turns and one of the fastest straights in the United States. In fact, the back straight at MMC is a true test of one’s own comfort zone. Speeds, vehicle dependent of course, typically reach 160mph!

Historically, access to this exclusive resort was limited to a select few enthusiasts. Once in the club though, you’re ushered into an entirely new world. Whether its simply to listen to Jerry Seinfeld crack a few jokes in the members lounge or watch NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon turn in blistering laps on the captivating road course, Monticello Motor Club is a place to enjoy your car and your driving. Until now the barrier for entry was out of reach for all but a very few.

Now, when you join or renew at the 2010 Gold or 2010 Platinum membership level, you will receive member access to MMC for the 2010 driving season. This is a great opportunity, exclusive to Vulcan Gold and Platinum members, to try Monticello Motor Club for the driving season. You don’t need to be an expert driver, or own a racecar to enjoy the track or club facilities. The majority of MMC members are guys like us, people who want a place to enjoy their car to the fullest in a safe and controlled environment.

For more coverage, review the New York Times article “Behind the Wheel at a Club With a $125,000 Entry Fee but No Speeding Tickets.”

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What’s the fastest you’ve ever driven? On this subject, there’s always a good story involved -- some combination of an empty road, a fast car, and possibly nudity and/or police involvement. For this one, we loaded up 2,600HP and $2mm in supercars and headed out to the Everglades, along with Ezra Dyer and the team from Automobile Magazine for our famous 200MPH Challenge supercar driving event. (Hilarity ensues.)

Ezra reports:

“We spend the morning getting a feel for the cars, and after lunch the main event begins. Since my personal record -- an indicated 206 mph, in a country that I should probably avoid from now on -- occurred in an SLR McLaren 722, I choose the SLR for my first run. With an instructor riding alongside, I hit 198 mph. Almost there.”

Watch the two-part story here:

“Anecdotally, most people’s high speeds seem to be about 125 mph. Unless you go to Bonneville or enter the Silver State Classic, there’s no way to explore the potential of a powerful car without risking jail time. That’s where World Class Driving‘s 200-mph Club comes in. WCD gives you the tools to hit 200 -- fast cars and a long runway -- and it’s up to you to do it.”

“I hit the corner onto the runway tidily enough, keeping the car below the threshold of stability-control intervention. By 195 mph, the braking zone is blurring toward us but the speedometer is approaching 200 like a nerd asking the prom queen for a dance. But I’m not settling for 199, which is what we’re at when I reach the braking zone. Phillippe yells encouragement to keep my foot down for a split-second more, and the speedometer kisses 200 just before I stand on the brakes and pour a furnace kiln of kinetic energy into the Gallardo’s rotors. I’m a member of WCD’s 200-mph Club.”

How do you make the Audi R8 even better? Simple, add another 111hp. We’re pleased to announce the addition of the extremely exclusive 2010 Audi R8 V10, yes V10, to our amazing collection. With its all-wheel drive, mid-engine V-10 power plant, magnetic suspension, and aluminum and carbon-fiber build, the R8 is a technologically superior supercar that does everything well. The R8 is balanced like a Porsche, runs easily alongside any of our Ferraris, went to the Lamborghini LP560 finishing school, and shows a voracious silhouette.

Low slung and wonderfully noisy, this car is perfectly suited for a cruise that leads to nowhere in particular. The mid-engine AWD R8 is a complete showstopper, with its supermodel looks and dramatic styling, And the beauty is more than skin deep. Give the R8 an empty stretch of tarmac, and it’ll easily keep pace with any of the long list of exotics in the Vulcan fleet.

With numbers that are quite simply impossible to ignore; 0-60 in 3.9 seconds, 60-124mph in 8.1 seconds and a top speed of 197mph, the new R8 V10 will be a leader among the supercar pack. In addition to jaw dropping performance, other enhancements include a Bang & Olufsen sound system, more aggressive body styling, bigger brakes for better stopping power and redesigned wheels.

This amazing car is currently available for use by club members and is available for viewing anytime at the Vulcan clubhouse in Chester, NJ. For more information, or to reserve the Audi R8 V-10 today, contact Vulcan Motor Club at 908-879-7777.

We are pleased to announce that Jean Paul Libert has joined Vulcan Motor Group as Vice President of Marketing & Business Development. Jean Paul was the creator of the World Class Driving concept in the United States. He has personally raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours 13 times finishing sixth in 1982 with a Ferrari BB512 and accumulated various podium finishes in prototypes, GT and touring cars.

Please join us in welcoming Jean Paul to the team.

We’re pleased to to announce the acquisition of certain assets of World Class Driving. World Class Driving is an industry leader in supercar entertainment driving events. Launched in 2006 by Jean Paul Libert, World Class Driving has operated 350 supercar driving events for more than 8,000 driving participants in 45 cities across the United States. Major partners include Pirelli, Automobile Magazine, and MotorTrend Magazine.

World Class Driving operates a variety of supercar driving experiences, including:

THE US SUPERCAR TOUR: Offers private drivetime in a selection of late-model exotic supercars on a 120 mile public road tour. The event starts at a designated location, where drivers receive an overview of each vehicle from our instructors, and a review of the tour route. Then, drivers pilot each vehicle through some of the most scenic and demanding roads in the region, rotating cars at designated checkpoints. There simply is no better way to experience the most thrilling exotic cars on the planet in one day.

200MPH Challenge Event: This exclusive event gives drivers the opportunity to break the magical 200MPH barrier in a safe, controlled environment on select locations and dates across the United States. Covered extensively by Bloomberg, Automobile Magazine, Wired, and more.

ROAD & RACING: This two-part event includes a half-day on-road supercar experience tour. Drivers get behind the wheel of some of the world’s best supercars on the most scenic back-roads available. Then, drivers spend the remainder of the day in 36 on-track lapping sessions at select racetracks across America. This combined event offers the best of both on-track and public road touring, and gets drivers on the most challenging and exclusive tracks in the U.S. This experience of a lifetime includes catered trackside meals, end-of-day champagne podium reception, exclusive World Class Driving gear & a trophy.

With this acquisition, Vulcan Motor Club acquired several additional supercars (including a Mercedes SLR Mclaren, Ferrari 599GTB, Maserati GranTurismo, and Lamborghini Superleggera). Over the next several months, we expect offer a wider selection of supercars to both Vulcan Motor Club members and World Class Driving participants.

Our Wind & Fire Tours are now rebranded and offered under the World Class Driving brand, and the dates, staff, fleet choice, starting location, and route remain unchanged. We also expect to offer access to the rich portfolio of World Class Driving events to Vulcan Motor Club members.

Both Tom and I remain fully engaged and committed to growing the organization and providing a world-class club experience.

Warm Regards,

Aaron Fessler
Chief Executive Officer

Spring came a little early this year. With weather reaching into the mid 70′s and bright sun all around, we’ve thrown open the doors. Vulcan Club member Randy wrote with a great summary of his road trip in the F430 Spider yesterday:

Guys:

Today’s drive is what this club is all about, in my opinion. A Beautiful Spring day, the open road [with very little traffic], open-air driving, and piloting the 490-hp F430 Italian piece of automotive art. Driving thru the twisties at Hawk’s Nest with the sound of that mid-engined V8 right over my shoulder, I’m thinking it just doesn’t get any better than this.

Attached are a few pictures from today’s outing. Not too bad for my little cell-phone camera, you can clearly see the twists and turns of the road at Hawk’s Nest.

Thanks again, I had an excellent adventure – can’t wait for the next one!

Regards,

Randy

Thanks Randy!

Virgin unveiled the latest addition to Richard Branson’s luxury fleet on Friday: an underwater plane that will fly riders into the depths of the Caribbean Sea.

Guests on Necker Island, a retreat in the British Virgin Islands, will be able to dive underwater in a submarine dubbed the Necker Nymph for $25,000 a week. But that’s only after shelling out around $300,000 for a one-week stay on Necker, the private island owned by billionaire and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson.
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by Kent Lewis
Those of you that know me know I like cars. Specifically, I like driving fast cars. More specifically, I really like driving exotic cars, as fast as possible, without the risk of jail time. Unfortunately, I don’t own any exotic cars. Fortunately, I learned about World Class Driving a few years ago, and they’ve recently managed to address my need for extremely high speed.

I should start by saying I have a history with World Class Driving. On two separate occasions, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in their US Tour, where I drove 5 exotic cars on the back roads of Washington State on separate half-day events. I learned to appreciate the drivability of exotic cars in a touring environment, but it lacked the eminent danger of high speed crashes, yet still offered envious members of law enforcement opportunities to hand out tickets for “5 over” the posted speed limited, just because.

I recently flew down to Miami to meet up with the World Class Driving team for a very special experience: The 200MPH Xtreme Event. On December 13th, 2009, I and 15 other lucky individuals drove deep into the Everglades to drive 7 exotic cars to their limits. We would later use of those cars to try to break the 200 MPH barrier, all without the prying eyes of law enforcement.

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Replicating the clasic Hot Wheels set, Fifth Gear TV attempts to perform a full 360 degree loop in a full size car.

While anyone with a Hot Wheels track growing up might know that the stunt can be done, a real-world reenactment with a real car and real driver is so dangerous it is referred to as the “Death Loop” by professional stuntmen. While it might seem that a driver could merely power in at a high speed to carry enough momentum to complete the loop, the truth is that the g-forces on the driver at anything above 30 mph can be catastrophic. So stuntman Steve Truglia trained with jet pilots to learn techniques that would help him deal with the centripetal forces.

January gives us one of those rare windows to make sure everything is absolutely perfect before the 2010 member driving season kicks off. Here, the Lamborghini LP560-4 gets some tender loving care in the shop.

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