It’s early on a crisp, cool autumn morning at Northern California’s Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The air is abuzz with the sound waves of a Lamborghini Gallardo, Ford GT, and McLaren 675LT roaring to life in the bays surrounding yours, as you transfer your suit and helmet from the Mercedes S550 you drove to the track, to the Ferrari 458 Challenge race machine you’ll be driving around it soon. “Morning, Rob,” you greet the McLaren driver. “Mind if I drive yours for a few laps?” “Sure,” he responds. “Why don’t we just trade straight-out?” You both agree, and just like that, you’re the McLaren’s new owner... for the day.
The truth is, neither you nor Rob own either car. Just as you don’t own that Benz, and most of the other drivers surrounding you don’t own their vehicles, either.
And that’s fine, because unlike Joe at the other end of the track with the leased Lamborghini Huracán that he doesn’t technically own either, you don’t have to worry about replacing brake pads or tires, changing oil, or even refilling the fuel tank on any of the cars you’re driving. You’re a member of the exclusive Fast Toys Club, and your obligations are simply to show up at the track and enjoy the day.
The brainchild of French entrepreneur and racing/automotive enthusiast Chris Carel, Fast Toys is the modern dose of disruption the high-end automotive community has been looking for. The way it works is genius. Let’s say you lease a Lambo Huracán at a So Cal dealership—by Chris’ estimates, the cost of registration, insurance, monthly lease payment and of course a generous down payment, could net as much as $60-70K annually. That's just for the 2,500 allotted miles per year.
Or, you can join his Fast Toys Club at the median “Gold” membership level, for a cool $30K annual fee, and receive access to any of the Club’s wide range of road cars (all of those we mentioned earlier) for 3,500 miles annually, totally free from concern about fuel, maintenance, insurance, parking—even pickup and drop-off.
Another option for those who already own a high-end luxury/sports car or exotic, is to contribute it to the Club in exchange for credits that can be put toward renting any of the Club’s other eligible rides. And then, of course, there are the racing benefits.
Fast Toys hosts monthly track days in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, and on the weekend we met up with the Club at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca—the Club’s Ferrari 458 Challenge car, Pescarolo Le Mans Prototype, Caterham CT03 Formula 1, and caged Boss 302 Ford Mustang were all engaged by members in other events. But as Chris explained, as with most other cars in the pool, they’re all available for Club members to enjoy on the track—provided they can demonstrate to an instructor their ability to drive them safely.
Fast Toys’ Laguna Seca track day also fell just one day before a meeting of the Porsche Owners Club (POC), and Club members offered POC drivers some practice time on their schedule, we think partly out of sportsmanship, and partly because the prospect of so many high-dollar and high-performance cars running together on one of the greatest and most picturesque racing facilities in the world was just too good not to indulge.
In closing, should you find yourself with the means and motivation to own a high-end luxury/sports car or exotic, but aren’t too keen on the responsibilities and limitations attached therein, consider joining Fast Toys Club. And then be sure to say "hi" to Joe and us at their next track day.
