Velocity Club Gets Up to Speed
By GEORGE P. BLUMBERG
AutoWeek
The lobby and portecochere of the swank Delamar Greenwich Harbor hotel are filled with supercars at the launch party of the Velocity of Greenwich Performance Car Club.
Moving over marble floors beneath crystal chandeliers, waiters juggle canapé trays and champagne flutes, navigating amid the stunning array of vehicles available to club members. They pirouette past the Porsche Carrera GT and the Mercedes SLR McLaren with winged doors in flight, squeeze by a Lamborghini Murciélago and a Gallardo Spyder and duck behind a Ferrari F430 and a 360 Spider. Whoops, don’t spill champagne on the Ford GT or the DB-9 Volante with its buttery leather. And mind the Porsche GT3 and the Corvette Z06, please.
Such a mechanical assortment is fitting in Greenwich, rated No. 1 in per capita income ($74,346) among U.S. cities with populations of more than 50,000. With 61,972 inhabitants, Greenwich is home to 66,000 vehicles, including 2300 cars worth more than $50,000 each, according to a Hartford Courant newspaper article. The town’s property appraiser counts 94 Ferraris, 90 Bentleys, 65 Aston Martins, 40 Maseratis and 39 Rolls-Royces. This excludes the exotics owned by Greenwich residents but registered elsewhere.
Beyond Greenwich, Velocity organizers see a draw for residents of greater Connecticut, as well as New York’s Westchester County and Manhattan.
“Who wants to drive a Ferrari into a Manhattan pothole?” asks Charles Mallory, a Velocity principal and operator of an oil-tanker leasing firm. A 40-minute hop from Manhattan—“We can pick you up,” Mallory says—lands club members in Greenwich. “One Manhattan member picks up a car here and drives to his weekend Newport, Rhode Island, house,” he says.
The $3,500 initiation fee plus $28,500 a year give you 1280 points, redeemable for 75 or more driving days, explains Chris Maybury, another Velocity principal. The total allowance is 5000 miles. Or pay a $1,500 initiation fee plus $12,500 annually, and receive 500 points, redeemable for up to 2500 miles—though not in a Lambo, a Carrera GT or an SLR McLaren.
Points are allocated by season and car. Or you can spend points on track days driving a Lotus Exige. “We’ll transport the car to Lime Rock, Bridgehampton or New Hampshire,” says Maybury. “You’ll get a mechanic, an instructor and a catered lunch. When you’re done, just leave.”
Future club plans include a luxury SUV fleet for winter driving and a ratio of five members per vehicle. For more information, visit
Velocity of Greenwich - America's Most Thrilling Performance Car Club.
Velocity Club Gets Up to Speed - AutoWeek
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