Page 91 - Classics Issue

Supercar Clubs have been around since the start of the Millennium and almost all have disappeared in that time so what’s different about London based Auto Vivendi who are shortly entering their 12th year in business. We caught up with director Craig Williams at their Clubhouse in St John’s Wood to fnd out. On arrival we met with a set of discreet black gates with a simple ‘AVV’ above them, what would lie beyond?On stepping inside this virtual ‘batcave’ we were greeted by a huge Marvel Comics mural across the entire back wall but it wasn’t that which stopped us in our tracks, it was the inevitable collection of supercars which stared tantilisingly our way. From the Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster to the Aston Martin DB11, Ferrari 488 Spider and McLaren 570GT this was simply a ‘who’s who’ of motoring exotica. We walked on, drinking in the plethora of marques and models.PL: Great collection of cars you have here, what’s next?CW: Thanks Craig, members join the Club for a multitude of reasons but the core is our collection of cars and we work hard to make sure it’s constantly evolving, we simply ensure that we have one of everything as soon as they come out! Our members can be driving newly released supercars at the same time as the journalists are writing about them for the magazines.PL: So how does the Club work?CW: Well it’s as simple as we can make it, members join and receive a pool of points, and they swap those points for time in our cars. The cars are in tiers based on value, the more expensive cars use a few more points. It’s that easyPL: So who joins and why?CW: As I said, it’s largely for the cars, our members are successful people from many industries, many of them own very nice cars themselves, but equally they understand the running costs and depreciation can be very painful, plus not many people will buy ten to ffteen new supercars in the next year like we will, we make it easy for them and they enjoy the lifestyle that surrounds membership.PL: Sounds intriguing, tell us more!CW: We undertake lots of social activity as a Club and we’re constantly thinking up fun stuff for our members (and us!) to do. From Monaco GP on a Superyacht to Private Jets to motor shows as well as Ice driving and Superjeeps across Iceland, if it’s fun and in some way involves cars we tend to do it! We also have a host of complimentary activities 91