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.