Supercar Life: High Speed Fantasy Camp

Supercar Life: High Speed Fantasy Camp
Price: $5,670 (as of February 2008; price may have increased), including luxury hotel, meals, and ground transportation. Check www.supercarlife.com for details.

Supercar Life co-founder Jan Otto admits to spending his career “selling expensive toys to rich people.” First it was corporate jets. Then it was ultra-high end home entertainment systems. Now Mr. Otto and co-founder Jonathan Kanter – both collectors of automotive exotica – are selling the experience of driving some of the world’s hottest sports cars at the speeds for which they were intended.

Under the watchful eyes of world champion instructors, you’ll drive five “supercars” in a single day – the $179,000 Ferrari F430 F1 (top speed: 198 mph), the $175,000 Lamborghini Gallardo (top speed: 196 mph), the $191,000 Porsche Turbo 997 (top speed: 193 mph), the $220,000 Aston Martin DB9 (top speed: 186 mph), and the $138,000 Mercedes CLK63 AMG Black Series Coupe (top speed: 186 mph). Try that at your local dealer.

This isn’t racing school, so there’s no competition, and no complicated racecar shifting. The program only uses cars with automatic transmissions or paddle shifters. The focus is on safety and fun as students get to know each car through a series of acceleration, braking and slalom tests before being taken around the track by an instructor. After that, you’ll spend the rest of the day riding with or following the instructors as you switch among all five supercars (a pair of each). You’ll drive each car at least three times around a customized road course. It may not sound like it, but that’s a lot of driving. Finally, you’ll have a chance to take a few “hot laps” with your pro instructor at the wheel. The whole day will leave you grinning and exhausted.

My fellow students included Aston Martin and Ferrari owners who wanted to check out the competition and see what their own cars could do, and a Porsche buyer waiting for his new rocket sled to be delivered. But you don’t have to shop in this league to play on this track. In fact, Supercar Life was designed for we who prefer to defer our $200,000 car purchases until a later date. That said, if you are in the market, you owe it to yourself to try before you buy.

So, which did I think was the best “supercar,” and why? Watch this space.