The Event Building was styled by the Miami-based U.S. arm of famed Italian design house Pininfarina.
Concours Club photoAlthough automakers such as Porsche have built “experience centers” that include race tracks for its car owners, Miami’s new Concours Club is something different, and very private.
The enclave is exclusive—40 founding members who like to drive fast paid $350,000 (earning them a lifetime of no dues) and a limited number of new members will come in at $150,000, plus $35,000 annually. The 75-acre site is not only near downtown but on the grounds of the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, providing easy access for the many out-of-town members. Planeside car drop-off and pick-up can be arranged.
The Concours Club’s twisty, two-mile track was designed by Alan Wilson, who also crafted 37 other such courses around the world, including the Thermal Club in Palm Springs (also a private facility centered on the track experience), the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. (used by Porsche for East Coast driving experiences), and the Utah Motorsports Campus. South Florida resident and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Hélio Castroneves was an early champion of the club, drove the planned circuit in digitized form, and made suggestions to improve it.
All of these driving facilities have been affected by Covid-19. According to Concours owner Neil Gehani in an interview with Penta, the club was supposed to open in August but has been delayed to later in the year, though some smaller private events are likely to take place before the actual opening.
The two-mile Concourse Club course was designed by Alan Wilson, who did 37 others.
Concours Club photoThe club includes a gourmet restaurant under the direction of Chef Brad Kilgore (who has four upscale eateries in Miami) and is set up for private member dinners that Gehani said would be carefully socially distanced. And Aaron Weiss, the club’s president, said in an interview that members can sign in with their smartphones at the gate, enter via the pit lane and drive on the track, and leave without any significant staff contact.
“Covid has slowed us down, but it hasn’t stopped us,” Weiss says. “We’re positioned incredibly well for the coronavirus. The club was designed to cater to our members’ convenience and privacy, and that works well with social distancing.”
Members, half living outside Miami, will be able to keep their cars in the club’s 48 garages, available for sale or rental with more than 700 spaces total. And they can have their vehicles inspected for track fitness, serviced or upgraded by the in-house team from HP-Tech Motorsport, a successful South Florida-based Ferrari Challenge competitor. And some track cars will be on hand if members don’t have their own ride handy.
Gehani, who moved to Miami 16 years ago, is the founder and chief executive officer of the $1.7 billion Trilogy Real Estate Group, which operates in nine states with multi-family development. Concours is his passion project, with a $95 million investment so far.
Checking in at the guardhouse.
Concours Club photoGehani says he started out as a tax attorney, didn’t care for the work, and moved into real-estate development. His first modicum of success led to the purchase of a Porsche 911 and then a GT3, fueling an abiding interest in fast cars. He joined the Autobahn Country Club outside Chicago in 2006, and made frequent use of its private track, eventually competing in events such as the aforementioned Ferrari Challenge (emerging as a North American class champion in 2019).
“In thinking about a club in Miami, I studied how the existing race track projects operated,” Gehani says. “And none of them were actually in the city, with some being hours away. We’re based at a regional airport, and just 13 miles from downtown Miami, nine miles to Miami International Airport and 14 miles to Miami Beach. You could come here to drive on the track at noon or 1 p.m. and still be home for dinner. If you don’t want to drive, you can eat while your car is being detailed. Our concierges will curate your day.”
The Concours Club is set up for corporate events, including new car model introductions, and there will be driving instruction headed by Jon Branam, an experienced Ferrari coach and Walt Disney stunt driver. But actual races won’t be held on the track—the goal is drivers competing against their own former lap times. The corporate events facility was styled by famed Italian auto design firm Pininfarina, whose U.S. branch is located in Miami.
While it waits to open, Gehani and his team are fine-tuning the nearly completed facility—a $500,000 redo of the track’s first turn, for instance, to make it more exciting—and preparing for a grand opening that, because of these troubled times, has no firmly set date. “We expect to be fully open in the fourth quarter of this year,” Gehani says. “It’s a private club, so it won’t be like reopening Disneyland.”
"car" - Google News
July 31, 2020 at 11:49PM
https://ift.tt/2BLWzdc
The Exclusive Concours Club Will Be A Miami Car Lover’s Paradise With a Private Track - Barron's
"car" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SUDZWE
https://ift.tt/3aT1Mvb
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "The Exclusive Concours Club Will Be A Miami Car Lover’s Paradise With a Private Track - Barron's"
Post a Comment