LOS ANGELES — An exclusive, members-only race car club which is modeled after similar ones in Europe and the United States’ East Coast has arrived in Southern California; thanks to a French entrepreneur who acted on an opportunity to create a private club of other individuals who employ a similar admiration for high-end vehicles.
“The ideas is to have the latest cars available for our members in addition to the most exclusive ones,” Fast Toys Club founder Chris Carel told Breibart News Network. Carel said he moved to Southern California from France one year ago. He was drawn by the beautiful coastal weather the Golden State offers, and wanted to create a private, members-only race car club after realizing “the concept doesn’t exist in LA.” “It exists in England, France, New York and Miami. But it had not yet existed in LA.”
For a price, the company, which is based out of Brentwood, provides members with keys to any of the available luxury cars in The Fast Toys Club garage, depending on their level of membership and the corresponding value of the vehicles they are permitted to drive.
So far, the fleet of vehicles includes, but is not exclusive to, an Aston Martin DBS Volante, a Porsche 911 Turbo, an Audi R8, a Mercedes G63 AMG and Rolls Royce Phantom, according to the Los Angeles Times. Carel told Breirbart News that the club has “just ordered a new Ferrari California Turbo and Lamborghini Hurricane which are set to arrive in two months.”
Although “the company was created two years ago…the service started just one month ago,” Carel said. “So far we have 10 members.” That number, he said, is expected to increase rapidly over the coming months, in light of “demand.”
For a price, private members can enjoy access to several or all of the club’s vehicles. The $30,000 annual golden membership offers members access to any vehicle that costs up to $150,000 for 100 days out of the year, Carel said. Next is the platinum membership, priced at $50,000 annually. That gives each member access to all of the cars available in the fleet for 100 days out of the year.
Lastly, there is the corporate package for $70,000, which is “designed more for companies,” Carel noted. That package allows up to five drivers to drive any of the vehicles. Carel suggested to Breitbart News that some companies “may want to give some incentives to their employees or use the cars for marketing or team-building exercises.”
Citing his own prior experience with owning cars, Carel recalled how he began purchasing exotic cars back in 2010. That soon turned into the purchase of race cars as well. He figured out, eight cars later, that the cost of owning those cars comes with “a lot of overhead expenses” such as storage, maintenance and repair, he noted. “And when you choose to resell the cars, their value depreciates.”
All this taken into consideration, and “Assuming other car enthusiasts must have the same problem,” the Times notes that Carel spent $2.7 million of his own money building the fleet and starting the club.
Car rental companies do exist throughout Northern and Southern California and ranges between hundreds to thousands of dollars a day. However, Carel notes that “the major difference between this club is, you cannot drive our cars if you are not a member of the club.”
Photo: Fast Toys Club
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