Ever wondered what it was like to drive a Lamborghini, Ferrari or Aston-Martin? Me too. I was able to find out as I got access to an exclusive country club for cars. They only allow 100 members. And they let me in for the day.

CHESTER, NEW JERSEY—I am at the wheel of a $495,000 Mercedes SLR McLaren Coupe, which offers sick acceleration and probably the most conspicuous automotive consumption this side of Koenigsegg (which makes $1 million supercars and just bought Saab).

My car, which is a brutal barely disguised racer, was once owned by a New Jersey groundskeeper who hit Powerball for a cool $77 million after taxes. But now it—and 11 other over-the-top road warriors—belong to the Vulcan Motor Club, which you can join and do what I’m doing if $35,000 a year is burning a hole in your pocket. That buys 40 days with the fleet, and they even deliver on flatbeds.

The idea for this business occurred to founder Aaron Fessler when he picked up a car buff magazine and noticed the insane price asked for Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Aston-Martins—and how quickly they depreciated. With 100 miles on the odometer, a $150,000 car is worth $100,000. For Vulcan, Fessler and partner Tom Mizzone buy garage queens and hand them over to the club’s 100 members—who include doctors, lawyers and hedge fund managers who’ve suddenly decided to be more prudent with their shrinking supply of available cash. A second outlet just opened in Glen Cove, Long Island, and the Greenwich, Connecticut area (where the rest of the hedge fund managers live) is next.

But enough nuts and bolts: What are these cars like to drive? Usually, only Road and Track reviewers and Arab oil sheikhs get to sit in these drivers’ seats. In point of fact, they’re very different. I drove a Ford GT-40, a Lamborghini LP560-4, an Audi R8, a V-12 Aston-Martin DB9 and a Tesla Roadster, and some were snarling snakes and others relatively docile.

My favorite was the R8, which had the perfect balance of criminally rapid acceleration and civility. The gated gearshift was heaven to use, and it made all the right noises, but underneath it all was a sensible Audi. On the other extreme were the McLaren and the GT-40, which as almost anyone will tell you is practically uncontrollable in the rain. And guess what? It was coming down hard all day. Keeping Ford’s hairy-armed beast in check gave me new respect for the drivers who won Le Mans with them four times in a row. It took two arms and a lot of push just to get it in reverse. Check out the video above.

They made me fill out insurance forms, but I didn’t come close to wrecking anything. Aside from the GT-40, most of these cars have redundant safety systems and tires the width of a T-Rex’s foot, with serious grip on the road. But if you were entirely sane you probably wouldn’t want to have anything to do with the Lamborghini or Ferrari brand. Two Vulcan cars, the first GT-40 (whose mangled hood serves as a warning in the reception area) and a Lamborghini have been totaled by members.

At the end of the day, I had the most fun in the green Tesla roadster. Although zero to 60 comes up in four seconds and 135 mph is possible, it feels incredibly fast even when pottering along at 50. The Aston-Martin made 90 seem slow, and that might be dangerous if the local constabulary is an issue.

There’s also the carbon footprint question. The Tesla has zero emission. The Lamborghini Murcielago averages 11 mpg—you pay gas guzzler tax for a reason. By spending this high-octane day in New Jersey I probably equaled car nut Jay Leno’s carbon output for the day. The Tesla lets you have your fun and wave the green flag, too.

Oh, if $35k is too rich for your blood, they also have five-hour “Wind and Fire” tours that give you a chance to drive the whole fleet.

Originally posted at Mother Nature Network

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

Photo courtesy of Autolux Mobile Detailing

The team will be available to answer questions about the club and give complimentary rides in the vehicle of your choice.

The Top Gear boys got their fish-and-chip scented mitts on a couple of Telsa Roadsters (you’ll see why) and gave it the full program. First up, some beautiful videography, then a little racing with a Lotus Elise, and finally a toss to the Stig for a run at the leaderboard. Take a look and see what the final verdict is yourself.

Releasing the brake pedal sends up a poof of smoke as the rear tires chirp and slip through not quite one full rotation. The car then bogs, as though hunkering down, before exploding forward a millisecond later and launching Lambo’s latest supercar to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds.

Thanks to Nick Nacca (Nick Nacca Photography) and Scott Mires (Mires+Ball) for their work on this successful project.

We’re absolutely thrilled to announce the addition of the all-electric Tesla Roadster to the Vulcan Motor Club’s collection of world-class supercars. This supercar has more grunt off the blocks than a Ferrari Maranello. It has the same acceleration as a Porsche 911 - 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds, or roughly the time it takes for you to read and absorb the sensational meaning of this sentence.

The carbon-fiber-paneled roadster is made spunky by an air-cooled electric motor fed by 6,831 lithium-ion cells resembling slightly overweight AA batteries. No gas, no oil, just juice from the wall socket—amounting to about $4 worth for a single fill-up.

And this roadster can flat-out haul. You remember that bit in Star Wars, when the Millennium Falcon makes the leap into hyperspace, and the stars are turned into white streaks? That’s the kind of acceleration we are talking about.

Nail the go pedal, and the power electronics module summons a ferocious torrent of amps, energizing the windings of the 375-volt AC-induction motor. Instantly the motor’s 276 pound-feet of torque is converted to dumbfounding acceleration. Total number of moving parts: one.

Street lights streak past like tracer bullets. Mental circuits go snap-pop with the thrust. God has grabbed you by the jockstrap and fired you off his thumb, rubber band-style.

The Tesla is not perfect. But still amazing. One day, we predict, they’ll put a Tesla Roadster in the Smithsonian. For whatever follies there are to come, the Tesla Roadster is here now, a divine spark, an animating lightning stroke of a whole new kind of car industry.

You have to respect that.

VULCAN MOTOR CLUB: THE LUXURY OF CHOICE
Join the Vulcan Motor Club and you’ll have private access to the Tesla Roadster, as well as a fleet of a dozen world-class supercars from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and much more. All without the cost, inconvenience, and downsides of ownership. Join the club and make this summer one to remember.

“Car enthusiasts looking to bypass the 1,100+ people on the waiting list for the Tesla Roadster can do so with a membership to the Vulcan Motor Club, which just added this green monster to its extensive roster of high-performance luxury machines. With clubhouses in New York and New Jersey, Vulcan Motor Club puts its members in the driver’s seat of today’s most sought-after cars, ranging from the ultra-exclusive Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and the Lamborghini Murcielago to the legendary Shelby Cobra 427 S/C, all at a fraction of the cost of ownership.”

Robb Report -Vulcan Motor Club - Noteworthy