Celebrity 458 Launch

The South and North clubs were so busy trying to outdoing each other on getting the first 458, the first SLS etc, that the Northern Ireland 458 Launch event almost got lost in the banter.

But there's no doubt the McAuley's took top honours when it came to celebrity attendance.

Amongst a troupe of over 40 members now, also attending Monday's launch were Graham Cole (PC Stamp from The Bill),

Graeme McDowell (needs no introduction these days!)

and TV Presenter Pamela Ballentine to ensure the 458 got a resounding welcome to the Irish shores.

The event was hosted at the Galgorm Ghost House where 3 new members were welcomed into the club on the day.

No news is good news

Wow, I can't believe a month has passed since I last posted here - that's terrible but I guess its a sign of how busy we have been - in a positive sense.

Having secured our 458's and SLS's (yes there's still one more on its way), in the last month I visited the McLaren factory to secure some early build date MP4-12C's for next year - we've been promised one of the first ten (March/April?) and then another one before the Summer so I'm pretty happy with that. I'm dying to see how the car shapes up...Car magazine just did a really good write up on the relative merits of the 458 vs MP4-12C but of course driving one and writing about the spec of the other is not the same. I think we'll be very busy with 'back to back bookings' next year where people try them both.

We also held the official Surrey launch party - 4 months later than planned, but it was worth the wait with over 200 people including a guest appearance from our latest celebrity member, Darius - who sang some of his numbers for us.

And I've just got back from this years N'ring road rally (cars in the hotel car park shown here).

So a busy, but fun Summer!

Transumers!

I've just been told I'm a thought leader in developing the all-new Transumerism trend.

The trend watching website seems dedicated to the subject and describes the concept as follows:

"To most consumers, travel equates to temporary freedom. Detachment, fractional ownership or no ownership at all, trying out new things, escaping commitment and obligations, dropping formality, endless new experiences. No wonder travel is now one of the biggest industries on this planet. No wonder too, that some of the pleasures associated with travel are finding their way into daily life, now that tens of millions of consumers have become skilled travelers. Case in point: TRANSUMERS adopting a ‘leasing lifestyle’, making use of new rental options that go beyond Avis or timeshares (now a USD 10 billion industry worldwide, by the way). What's to like, for TRANSUMERS? A mix of:
• Avoiding hassle: the more stuff you permanently own, the more you have to worry about: repairs, going out of style, theft and so on.
• The latest and greatest: with ever shorter product development cycles, leasing ensures consumers can always enjoy the latest and the greatest.
• Multiple experiences: TRANSUMERS with a limited budget can now, instead of owning one single expensive object, rent, enjoy, then dispose of many different objects, maximizing the number of experiences.
• Climbing the ladder (MASSCLUSIVITY and UBER PREMIUM): status-conscious consumers resort to luxury fractional ownership because it's the only way for them to be able to flaunt (both established and new) status symbols.

Read the full article here.

écurieWorld

As the guys in the office know, behind my desk is a whiteboard with a hand-scribbled sketch of écurieWorld - the pinnacle of my plans for é25 - with a full service members club, hospitality centre and private race track running around the clubhouse.

Well, last week in Sydney I got a taste for what écurieWorld could look like. Courtesy of Luke and Keith from Events O'Neill I was introduced to Mark Wills - owner of The Farm - a 5km private track just 40 mins drive outside Sydney. [Pictured with é25's Tim Bennettt below.]

It's a really fun circuit, with absolutely no run off! And yes, I certainly did not let my horrific jet lag prevent me from burning some rubber. With some adverse cambers, quite a lot of undulation, almost every type of turn and an awesome 5 part chicane - which I was totally pants going through - its a bit like a mini-Norschleife.

Being a private track it is by invitation only, and of course we were there working out some special privileges for écurie25 Australia members - to be honest, its worth flying in just for a day there.

é25 Melbourne

I'm currently on a whistle stop tour of the next 3 é25 branches (Dubai, Melbourne and Sydney). Unfortunately at 46 degrees, Dubai was too hot for me to venture outside and take any pictures, and anyway the deal is not done yet so its still a bit top secret, but I am now in Melbourne checking out locations with proprietor Tim Bennett

The é25 tradition has historically been "grungy warehouse style" (for our locations not our music), which I think works very well in Ye Olde England, but I was never sure how well it would export to other countries.

Sure enough, with our Melbourne branch being located in the uber cool downtown Yarra Marina, the place isn't old enough for any warehouses so Tim has opted for a disused art gallery - all glass and steel and with views of the marina on one side and a sushi bar down the street.

Hopefully by the time we launch in October it will have some sunshine too.

458Italia Launch Party

The launch event was by far and away the best é25 event ever...over 500 people attended the evening and there was an incredible buzz but don't take my word for it, read the reviews here:

Best of the Best and Fractional Life

Let me know if you hear of any other write ups.

Best of the Best interview

Tim Oldland interviewed me for his blog on the new Best of the Best website.

It's quite a neat article which he also posted on Pistonheads where they decided to censor it once again. Such a shame considering that it offers some interesting insights as to why é25 has succeeded during the recession and other clubs have failed - a subject that seems to have dominated over 100 forum pages already.

Looking forward to our 458 Launch party on Thursday. If you have not already RSVP'd, please do email andrea@ecurie25.co.uk

See you there.