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

When it comes to expensive cars, Edward Douglas has commitment issues.

Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, Bentleys — he has the urge to swap them as often as most drivers fill their gas tanks.

“My friends tease me for having a short attention span,” said Douglas, 39, who owns a Porsche and Mercedes but finds himself flipping through Automobile Magazine thinking, “What’s next?”

That’s why Douglas, who heads a wire and cable manufacturing company in Randolph, prefers to rent the ritzy cars instead of owning them.

For a fee of $29,000 a year, he can have access to a dozen exotic cars at the Vulcan Motor Club in Chester — a fair price, he said, considering his choices include new releases like the $495,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and the $100,000-plus electric Tesla Roadster.

While the rest of the auto industry struggles, the high-end car rental industry appears to be gathering speed in New Jersey, where at least a handful of exotic-car clubs and their multimillion-dollar fleets are headquartered. Company owners say a growing number of consumers are renting the sleek, glossy vehicles for joyrides and daylong outings.

“We’re in a renter’s market,” said Vulcan co-founder Tom Mizzone, who estimates business is up 60 percent this year and the number of annual members has grown to nearly 100.

Exotic car clubs charge either by a single-day rate, ranging from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, or by membership, a timeshare-like arrangement that costs $10,000 to $50,000 for 20 to 80 driving days a year.

That makes them attractive to a surprisingly wide swath of customers, from casual drivers to car aficionados, who drive the brightly colored exotics to country clubs, Manhattan theatres, Atlantic City casinos and Cape Cod beaches.

Tom McDermott is one such customer. The 46-year-old photographs boats and runs a helicopter training school, where he owns 25 helicopters. But when it comes to exotic cars, he prefers to rent.

The owner of five Ferraris over the years, McDermott quickly learned that while helicopters usually appreciate in value, cars almost always depreciate. Exotics are costly and time-consuming to maintain, with insurance and repairs adding up to several thousand dollars a year — a scraped bumper alone can cost $400 to repaint.

They attract a lot of unwanted attention from curious passersby, making it impractical to drive them every day. And, like computers, once you invest in one, there’s always a newer, sleeker, faster one.

He said he would rather pay $20,000 a year to cruise around in any of 20 new cars — valued at a total of more than $4 million — offered by Gotham Dream Cars. The Hasbrouck Heights company has seen a 15 percent jump in business volume to about 80 rentals a month.

McDermott’s favorite ride? The fire-red Ferrari F430 Spider convertible, which can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.1 seconds. Inside, the tan leather interior is so supple it can be easily marred by the slightest brush with a key or cell phone.

“You get a sense of happiness driving it,” he said.

Still, he craves variety. “It’s like if every night you have lobster, you might say, hey, I want to try a hamburger instead,” said McDermott, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who rents from the club’s two locations in New Jersey and Florida.

So, on a recent afternoon, McDermott took part in the club’s “Legend” tour, a $1,500 afternoon event during which drivers in six cars travel as a caravan along back-country roads and winding mountain passes. Every half hour, they pull over and swap cars until everyone has had a chance to test out each car.

“It’s like wine tasting,” he said.

JERRY MCCREA/THE STAR-LEDGER
Bryan Zagaro of Teaneck familiarizes himself with the dashboard controls for the 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo at Vulcan Motors in Chester.
CHANGING NEEDS

Like the cars they crave, the industry’s clients come in a variety of molds. There are newlyweds and other one-off customers, like Victoria Kennedy, who once surprised her husband, Sen. Edward Kennedy, on his birthday by renting an Aston Martin Vanquish from Gotham — the car James Bond drove in “Die Another Day.”

Others are would-be buyers who are hesitant about buying an exotic car that could fall steeply in value during a time when the economy is shaky.

“People are becoming commitment-phobic,” said Noah Lehmann-Haupt, the founder of Gotham. “They don’t want to sign a lease for five or six years. A lot of people don’t know what the world will bring them.”

Then there are the “ultra-affluent” consumers, generally people with inherited wealth for whom several thousand dollars is “chump change,” said Scott Rothbort, a professor of finance at Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business. “These are people who will drink champagne out of glass slippers,” he said.

Perhaps the biggest chunk of business, however, belongs to the class of “aspirational” consumers, who come and go as industries rise and fall. They pass through the exotic car business like it’s a revolving door — entering when they’re flush with cash, exiting when their finances dwindle.

“One year it’s Wall Street mortgage brokers, the next year it’s oil and gas tycoons,” Rothbort said.

These days, those customers at Gotham include entrepreneurs, a bill collector, an anti-piracy software developer and a building contractor who got a boost from the economic stimulus, Lehmann-Haupt said. “The reality is, even in a recession, there’s always someone doing well,” he said.

A NEW KIND OF CLIENT

Meanwhile, at Xotic Dream Cars in Toms River, owner Deric Tikotsky said business has soared 250 percent year-over-year, in part because the recession has ushered in a new kind of client: Former exotic-car owners who were forced to sell the vehicles after losing their money in the stock market.

“They’re selling off their cars, they’re selling off their boats and they’ve started renting because they don’t want to lose that lifestyle,” he said.

In these tough economic times, however, clients are trying to enjoy that kind of lifestyle with more discretion, so as not to appear insensitive. In recent months, Douglas, the wire and cable manufacturer, has avoided driving the glitzy rentals to work because “it wouldn’t appear proper to my employees.” Instead, he opts for his Porsche 911 Turbo or Mercedes minivan.

And yet, for those who can afford it, resisting an exotic simply because there is a recession takes backseat to the adrenaline rush that comes from having all that horsepower, speed and luxury at their fingertips, Lehmann-Haupt said.

“People still feel the need for an escape,” he said. “It’s exhausting not to spend money.”

Leslie Kwoh may be reached at lkwoh@starledger.com or (973) 392-4147.

The Vulcan Motor Club, based in New Jersey, owns a dozen supercars, including a Tesla Roadster and a Ford GT40. Vulcan has about 100 members and annual memberships that cost up to $35,000. The founders, Aaron Fessler and Tom Mizzone, are serial entrepreneurs rather than hard-core car enthusiasts, and they began the business in 2007 because they saw an opportunity. Despite the economy, Vulcan has opened a second outlet in Glen Cove, N.Y.

Mr. Fessler said he noticed that the high price of exotics was followed by a precipitous drop of $50,000 to $60,000 once they had 100 miles on them. “For many people, and especially in this climate, it’s hard to justify that expense,” he said. “And people are time-sharing everything else, from yachts to watches, so why not cars?”

[Excerpted from Fractional Life, July 2008]

When Aaron Fessler goes to work, he walks into a garage that is wish fulfillment for the world’s dreamers and Car and Driver subscribers. An Audi R8, polished and gleaming, sits next to an all-business Ford GT-40, which is blocking the exit of a V-12 Aston-Martin DB9, Mercedes SLR McLaren and Lamborghini LP560-4. Did I mention the British Racing Green Tesla Roadster?

Welcome to Vulcan Motor Club, a timeshare for supercars that Fessler—a serial entrepreneur—started in New Jersey circa 2007 with his friend Tom Mizzone. Sign up for a $35,000 one-year membership and you get 40 days of access to a dozen supercars. They’ll even deliver them to you, full of gas (and given their thirst, you’ll need it). This is not the only entry in the field: Club Sportiva has the same basic idea.

The mangled hood of Vulcan’s first GT-40 sits in the reception area as a reminder of what can happen if you get one of these beasts sideways. It was one of two cars totaled since the club was founded (the other was a Lamborghini), but that hasn’t deterred 100 people from buying memberships and then, mostly, renewing for another driving season.

Fessler says that the club, which was funded by private investors and is a for-profit venture, will break even for the first time this year, and it is expanding. It has a $2 million auto inventory, but also 100 paying customers. You do the math. A second outlet has opened in Glen Cove, Long Island and a third is planned sometime next year in the Greenwich/Stamford, Connecticut area.

“Everything’s available as a timeshare this year,” said Fessler, whose last company, Media Sentry, rode herd on Internet pirates. “You can share yachts, vacations, handbags, watches.” Handbags and watches!

The club started with Dodge Vipers and Porsche twin turbos but soon discovered that these weren’t exclusive enough. The members already owned those: They wanted the real exotics, aspirational cars they’d only dreamed about and seen in glossy magazines. “We’re in the business of making happy people even happier,” said Fessler.

Since $150,000 supercars lose $50,000 of their value the minute they’re out of the showroom, Vulcan buys most of its cars “used.” The cars they buy are, to put it mildly, lightly used—many have 100 or fewer miles on them. For many, supercars are garage queens, rolling sculpture that doesn’t need to actually hit the road.

As an attitude, that’s rather unfortunate. These cars were built to be driven hard and put away wet, which is precisely what I—as a guest of the club—did with them.

It’s interesting to note that Fessler said the recession has, in some ways, been a boon to his business. The hedge fund managers who would simply have bought a new Ferrari last year now see the wisdom of simply sharing one. “They want to preserve their capital,” Fessler said. “They also have short attention spans, and we play to that, too—if you’re bored with the Ferrari you can drive the Lamborghini or the Aston-Martin.”

Originally posted at BNET Auto

CHESTER ‑ Sometimes fantasy can be reality, as with a local car club that allows regular people to take a daylong ride in a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ford GT and an Audi R9.

The Vulcan Motor Club on Maple Avenue owns a fleet of super cars and offers about 25 “Wind and Fire” tours a year. The tours are open to anybody who wants to pay the fee of about $1,200 to drive cars that range in price from around $114,000 for the Audi R8 to a high of $495,000 for the elegant Mercedes SLR Mclaren.

The club also has a membership plan that costs from $12,000 to $30,000 a year permitting members to take the cars home for 10, 20 or 40 days a year. The cars are delivered to the customers, who can keep them for a day, week or month at a time and drive up to 100 miles per day.

It’s a way for people to have the luxury without the headaches of maintenance, according to Aaron Fessler of Mendham,  a former dot.com genius who  co-founded the club in late 2007 with a friend, Tom Mizzone, of Lebanon Township. They have since opened a second location in Glen Cove, N.Y.

“I never bought a Ferrari because it was too hard to justify the cost,” Fessler said. “So I started the club model where we could spread the assets over a large group of people and it became reasonable.”

Fessler lives with his wife, Kimber, and their children, Jared, 9, Kaylee, 7, Tim, 5, and William, 1.

PRICEY FLEET

The current fleet and 2009 base prices includes two Ferrari F430s ($290,310); a Lamborghini Gallardo ($230,000) and a Lamborghini Murcielago ($354,000); an Aston Martin DB9 ($179,450); a Bentley Flying Spur ($191,500); Mercedes SLR Mclaren ($495,000); an Audi R9 ($114,200); a Shelby Cobra; and a Ford GT.

Fessler said he will be swapping the Bentley for a Rolls Royce Phantom ($400,000) and has ordered two new Ferraris and a new, all-electric Tessla roadster (base price, $109,000). He said he likes to replace the fleet every year or two.

“We want to keep the fleet fresh,”  said Fessler, an Ohio native, who said he and his wife, Kimber, drive a mini van.

There are about 70 members in the club and Fessler said he is confident the business can survive in the current bleak economic times. He said those people who can no longer afford to buy a Ferrari or similar vehicle, can now only afford to ride one as part of his club.

“We’re finding that people who were shopping last year for a Lamborghini are waiting now,” Fessler said. “Conspicuous consumption isn’t as vogue as it was in the past. So they can join the club and still get to enjoy the cars they might have purchased in the past.”

That doesn’t mean there aren’t people who can’t still afford to buy. Fessler said he was visiting a Bentley dealer in Long Island last year when he was pointed to  a customer who had just bought nine Bentleys. The man, Fessler was told, likes to keep the cars for just a few hundred miles before trading them in for newer models.

These cars are not only expensive to buy but also to keep on the road. The Lamborghini needs a tune up every 15,000 miles. But this is no oil change and check the belts. The engine has to be pulled and a typical tune up costs $10,000. It also gets about 10 miles to the gallon but those who have to be concerned about mileage need not apply.

The Vulcan club membership is  mostly men from their 30s through their 50s. Some memberships are purchased as a holiday or anniversary gift.  Last Christmas, one woman bought a membership so her husband could open the garage to find a Ferrari wrapped in a large bow.

Fessler said the husband was a bit put off until he learned the car was essentially loaned and not bought.

All prospective thrill-seekers are screened for driving records and if they pass the test and are at least 27 years old, then they are ready.

Two Saturdays ago, a group of seven fantasy seekers and this reporter arrived at the club building at 9 a.m., braced for a once in a lifetime experience of speed and comfort.

The customers included Michael Looney and his son, Jason, 16.  Looney owns Mangels Home Made Chocolates on Route 206. Looney said he learned about the tours from Vulcan co-owner, Mizzone, who he had met around town.

Another tourist was Patrick Carlisle of Bedminster who said his wife gave him the tour as an anniversary present. Carlisle said his wife didn’t want to drive so he took along his friend, Bill O’Brien of Pottersville.

Daniel Wald of Woodbury, N.Y., said he and his mother, Marlene, bought the tour for his father, Elliot’s 60th birthday. Daniel  Wald said he hadn’t seen his father smile so much in 30 years. Daniel Wald said he heard about the tour while listening to a host on WFAN radio who regularly reported his experiences with the club and its exotic cars.

Before the tour, there was a brief briefing in the room adjacent to the sprawling garage that was home to the supercars. The lounge has comfortable couches but will be remodeled into a plush lounge with plasma screen televisions.

“We encourage people to keep all four tires on the road,” Fessler said.

He explained that the 550 horsepower, Ford GT,  which can reach 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, was the hardest to drive because it has such high torque. Start too fast and turn too quickly and the car will begin powering through doughnuts.

And while the Ford GT is fastest, the other vehicles have more muscle than most other cars. Even the luxurious Bentley takes just 4.9 seconds to reach 60 mph.

The tour guide, Howard Mintz of Wanaque, a retired aerospace engineer, warned there would be no passing and said he will be watching for anyone caught  at a light or otherwise separated from the pack. Each car is equipped with a walkie-talkie so nobody gets lost.

Mintz next addressed the question of safety and whether there had been prior accidents. He pointed to a piece of red fiberglass leaning against the wall that used to be part of the hood of a Ford GT. The driver had gotten too close to the car in front, hit the breaks, causing the car to spin out and crash into the curb, causing significant damage to the car but none to the driver.

“It was very unfortunate, very avoidable and very expensive,” Mintz said.

Mintz and Fessler took the group into the large garage for a tour and explanation of each vehicle. The comments on the Ford GT were intimidating as Fessler explained that it is “a little more challenging.”

“You feel disconnected with it but that passes,” said Fessler. “It is a torque monster.”

The Lamborghini, said Fessler, “is the wild redhead of the group. It’s wild, it’s fast and it’s impossible not to like it.”

After the warnings and explanations were done, each motorist got into his pre-arranged vehicle.

Mintz was in the lead car that would take the pack on a 120-mile loop that winds through Califon and eventually to the Delaware Water Gap, Dingman’s Ferry and back home through some of the most scenic roads anywhere.

The group boarded their respective super cars and pulled out onto Maple Avenue. In the rear view mirror, Fessler could be seen watching as his fleet of a million dollars worth of cars was driving away by people who have no experience with such machines.

Every 20 miles, the group of cars pulled over and everybody switched into another dream vehicle. Around midway, the caravan stopped for lunch at the Boathouse Restaurant on Swartswood Lake in Sussex County.  It was a time to trade impressions and gauge the best of the best.

O’Brien of Pottersville said the fleet ought to include a new model Porsche. Mintz said it was not so much the $500,000 price tag for the car that was a concern but it was more that such a car can be nearly impossible to handle on the road.

This reporter started in a Ferrari F430 coupe. It has a manual transmission but no clutch. You shift by moving tiny paddles on either side of the steering wheel. For the less adventurous, a push of a button makes the car all automatic.

The first thing you notice is the sound, more like a controlled roar that threatens to go out of control with the slightest nudge on the gas. The next thing you notice is that everybody notices you. As the caravan of dream cars winded through towns, it seemed no one could fight the temptation to stare.

Next was the Lamborghini Gallardo. It had its own distinctive voice and it was tempting to try the radio but that would have drowned out the signature roar.  Mintz said it was a good idea to start out slow so the carbon ceramic breaks could warm up and function to the optimum, if needed. It was sage advice.

To break the monotony, this reporter’s next vehicle was the Bentley. Susan Dejong, the club’s special events director, had reminded the group not to be lulled into thinking this 5,500 pound luxury roadster was a dowdy country gentleman. Its twin, V12 engine was a tiger wrapped in velvet. The button alongside the seat activated the massage while Springsteen never sounded better on any car radio.

The most ferocious four wheels of the fleet was the Ford GT.  Mintz, who owns a Ford GT,  had previously alerted the group that the car was built very low to the ground and would take a bit to feel comfortable.

How fast could the Ford GT go? The speedometer shows 220 mph but that was out of the question anywhere short of Watkins Glen. As the tour progressed, 80 mph felt like 40 mph, the ride was so smooth and the engine got rocking so quickly and effortlessly.

It did seem that the day was about to end before it even got going. Each of the dream cars pulled unscathed into the lot at Vulcan Motor Club as Fessler could almost be seen breathing a sigh of relief that his cars were back and the day was over.

And as the visitors returned to their normal cars, this reporter boarded his Dodge Caravan and a quick trek back to reality.

Can’t decide between the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and the Audi R8? No need. With membership in the Vulcan Motor Club, you can slip behind the wheel of one today and the other next Tuesday. Then there’s the Ford GT, Ferrari F430, Bentley Flying Spur – they’re all part of the club’s exotic fleet, available for members for up to a week at a time.

“We have the perfect car for every occasion,” asserts president Tom Mizzone, who founded the Chester, N.J.-based club last year. “Members can make a phone call and have an Aston Martin delivered to their office in pristine condition, drive it for five days, then make another phone call and have it disappear.”

Vulcan offers three levels of membership to sate any automotive appetite: True connoisseurs may choose the Platinum option ($25,000 annually), which provides 40 days of use and up to 4,000 miles. Gold ($14,500) offers 20 days, up to 2,000 miles. For enthusiasts in the making, Silver ($9,500) provides 10 days, up to 1,000 miles. And don’t worry about exhausting your options.

New luxury cars are added frequently, and Mizzone promises the ratio of members to vehicles will never exceed seven to one.”We’re really committed to keeping the fleet new for our members,” he says.”