The super-exclusive, uber-exquisite and disgracefully expensive status car is the universal symbol of success. Everyone eventually succumbs to the allure of owning the smartest set of wheels money can buy.

The super-exclusive, uber-exquisite and disgracefully expensive status car is the universal symbol of success. Everyone eventually succumbs to the allure of owning the smartest set of wheels money can buy.

Newspaper sales executive turned publishing entrepreneur John Madejski is typical of those bitten by the automobile bug. Best known for publishing the Auto Trader titles, Madejski is among the 150 richest individuals in the county according to the Sunday Times 2003 rich list. He has a personal fortune greater than that of the Queen and owns a selection of restaurants, hotels, a football club – Premiership aspirant Reading FC – and, of course, his own private fleet of supercars.

‘I suppose it all started when I saw my first E-type jag,’ reminisces Madejski. ‘I was standing there with my girlfriend near the market square in Reading and it was like watching a spaceship go past. Our jaws just dropped. It was so before its time.’

Bearing such comments in mind, it comes as little surprise that Madejski maintains that he enjoys the ‘aesthetics’ and not necessarily the power of his cars and claims to be from the ‘older generation who remember the romance of motoring’.

Indeed his taste for refinement is exhibited by a collection of Bentleys, Ferraris and Jaguars (including the legendary vintage E-type), not to mention a Rolls Royce and an AC Cobra – a classic low-slung sports car, which is distinctly for the purists.

These days, Bentleys are Madejski’s real love. He owns two already and has a new Continental GT on order, enthusing that ‘they are just the ultimate touring cars.’ ‘The old byline for Jaguar used to be “grace, space and pace” and I think that sums up the Bentleys perfectly now, they are just absolutely wonderful motor cars.’

The price of addiction

A new Bentley or Rolls Royce will set you back anything up to £250,000. But you could just as easily pick up a stylish Ferrari Maranello for £155,000, a sleek Porsche 911 or Jaguar XK for around £60,000 and a muscular TVR Tuscan for £40,000. All are capable of carrying you effortlessly past the 150mph barrier should the need (or urge) arise.

Demand for new, limited-edition models more often than not outstrips supply, and so they are typically sold on a first come, first served basis. No matter who you are or how much lucre you’ve amassed, you may have to wait a considerable amount of time. The latest Aston Martin V12 Vanquish had a waiting time of 12 to 14 months at the last count.

The shock of the old

If new cars aren’t your bag, you could of course indulge in something a tad more sentimental by picking up a vintage motor. The best starting point for perusing what’s out there is www.carsource.co.uk.

The problem here is that, while whizzing around the shires in an old open-tip classic with your scarf bellowing in the breeze is undoubtedly attractive, vintage cars demand much more engineering care and attention.

If you are unable or unwilling to take onboard this extra curricular toil, but still want the enjoyment of driving some mechanical magic, the Classic Car Club offers a solution.

With branches across the country (Birmingham, Bristol, London and Edinburgh, to name just four), this organisation offers you the chance to pass off vehicles – ranging from a gentile E-Type to a slightly more psychotic TVR Chimaera – as your own.

For this privilege, you pay a £500 joining fee and then buy a package of points, which last throughout the year. £2,500 buys you 750 points (equating to around 30 days of motoring) and the value of each hire is calculated in terms of band of car (from one to six), time of year (the summer months are more expensive) and whether or not you wish to have the car at weekends.

Enthusing your workforce

Those still at the helm of thrusting businesses may also be intrigued to know that there are various gifts that can be purchased as a means of rewarding car-mad employees. One of the best packages is provided by “experience-gift” business Red Letter Days. It sells a range of packages offering anyone the chance to get behind the wheel of a classic or contemporary super-car.

Just under £100 will buy you four laps around a track in one of a selection of Ferraris – the great thing being that on a track you will be able to push the car as hard as you like. Those with anger-management issues, on the other hand, may prefer to fork out the £225 required to get behind the wheel of 66 inch-tyred monster truck and then flatten a couple of undeserving smaller motors just for a lark.

Buying into Formula racing

Owning your own dream car or borrowing one from the likes of Classic Car Club should satisfy most driving passions, yet for the most obsessive petrolheads it is unlikely to excite for long. Owning a share of a racing team on the other hand…well, that is a different story and, if you go about it in the right way, it may even benefit your business at the same time.

Roger Etcell, managing director of sponsorship management firm Motion Works UK, explains that sponsorship packages covering the relatively high-profile British F3 championship – which has launched the careers of Martin Brundle, Mika Hakkinen and Ayrton Senna among others – can cost anywhere between £5,000 and £150,000.

The sum of £10,000 will put your ‘brand’ on a car wing or two, while £50,000 should secure your business ‘a good side of a race car and recognition on the teams transporter vehicle’ as it travels around the country visiting the UK’s best known circuits.

There are corporate perks too. For £50,000 the drivers will more than likely come along to your corporate events, you may have use of the car for publicity shots and you will also receive VIP treatment on race days, affording you the opportunity to act like Eddie Jordan for the day, while entertaining important clients.

According to Etcell, the key thing to remember is that ‘in motorsport there’s no such thing as a typical sponsorship deal and in truth most teams are pretty strapped for cash at the moment so it’s a buyers market.’

Manufacturer websites

www.acautomotive.info
www.astonmartin.co.uk
www.bentleymotors.com
www.ferrari.co.uk
www.jaguar.com
www.porsche.co.uk
www.rolls-roycemotors.co.uk
www.tvr-eng.co.uk