Van Horssen Group

I’ve been a member of Van Horssen Group for one year now and truly enjoy the club. I looked around at many options when it came to car clubs but ultimately chose VHG for the selection of cars and the convenience. In my first year, I’ve driven the Aston Martin DB9, Bentley Flying Spur, Lamborghini Gallardo, Ford GT, JCW GP Mini and the Ferrari F430. I’m impressed with the convenience and the top-of-the-line customer service by everyone at VHG. The scheduling of the cars is easy and flexible which is fantastic compared to other exotic rent-a-car companies. I look forward to participating in some of the group events and always look forward to the next car! It’s a great experience for anyone who is a car-guy and my wife and son love it too!

B. MacDonald
Van Horssen Group Member

Here are a few of the pictures from our first stay out at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) last weekend for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Checker Auto Parts 500 here in Phoenix. If some of you don’t already know my wife has turned into a race fan. A serious race fan. Thanks to Derek Dixon, Ed Miller and of course Mick Williamson. Last spring they invited us out to our first race. Ever since then Dawnie can’t stop talking about who her driver should be, the race for the chase, how they change the cars set up at different tracks be it a road course or oval etc etc etc. Her driver is Jeff Gordon, because he won the race here in the spring for his first time and it was Dawnie’s first race. Read more »

We are often asked which car is our favorite and after much deliberation, digression and qualifications I usually say the Porsche GT3. But what about the Turbo? The performance stats of these two cars are almost identical and it is definitely right up there in my top 5. So how do two cars that look the same in person and on paper, drive so differently?

Much of how they differ can be summed up in a description of the big tachometer in action. When you get on the gas in the GT3, you watch the needle rise smoothly, and keep on rising…forever…all the way to 8400rpms while the engine screams notes of powerful naturally aspirated pleasure all the way up. The Turbo, on the other hand, when you punch the pedal you hesitate, that is until the revs hit about 3700rpm. At that point, you better drop your cell phone and latte because you will be at what was the horizon just seconds ago. Accompanying this time warp is a quick gasp, like someone’s last breath before a deep plunge. And unless you like to visit the Porsche service center often, you better keep a close eye on the needle as it will rocket into the red line almost right after you pressed the pedal.

There are a slew of other differences that make these cars different, but bottom line is they are both a blast to drive. One might be more enjoyed setting lap times on a road course, the other getting ahead of the pack in a sea of traffic. What do you say? GT3 or Turbo?

Scott Harrington
Director of Programs

El Presidente and I had a chance to go out to Phoenix International Raceway a couple of weeks ago and participate in a Richard Petty Driving experience. As some of you know I have come out of the closet and fully admitted that I am a full blown NASCAR fan. Actually it all started just last spring when I went to my first race at PIR. I had no idea that this excitement had been out there all my life. I am addicted. So, when I had a chance to go out to the Racetrack AND meet Richard Petty, I was ecstatic!

Van Horssen Group kindly set us up with passes to the exclusive opening PIR’s luxury lounge, the Octane Club. It was beautifully appointed. Prestigious NASCAR fans will be able to enjoy America’s #1 sport in the lap of luxury. Helicopter service will be available to and from the race, you will be able to sip the finest wines during the festivities, and party with celebrities in the aftermath of the event! Sounds good to me! If you would like to check out the club you can go to Phoenix International Raceway.

The most exciting part of the Experience for me was getting to ride in the NASCAR around the track at over 130 mph. OK to some of you “track guys” this wasn’t so fast, but to us novice car enthusiast it was a rush! To top it off, as we were leaving the track, the King himself was exiting his limo to check things out. He asked me if I was having a good time. I asked him had he noticed the smile on my face. He was genuinely glad to see that everyone in attendance was happy to be there! It was great fun!

For those of you that don’t know, the Checker Auto Parts 500 will be run at Phoenix International Raceway November 9-12. Get your tickets! See you there!

The First Lady
Van Horssen Group Member

About 50 miles southwest of Phoenix, cruising along highway 238 or dead cow highway as it is known because of the cows’ losing battle between a free range cattle area and big trucks, the speedo in the Ford GT starts acting up. At first it seemed like a minor glitch and popped back to what might have been our actual speed. Then it lost all hope of being called a gauge and danced erratically from 0 - 230mph, not even in time with the music as we were really hoping.

So started the road trip to California to attend the Coronado Speed Festival which took place October 5th - 8th, 2007. This event is an incredibly fun car weekend, featuring vintage car races with some seriously cool and expensive vintage cars and almost as cool and famous drivers. A whole lot of other car people come from all over making the parking lot and vendor area an impressive display of all types of cars and car stuff. Read more »

In 2005 I decided to buy my first Ferrari. I’d been looking at different models for years and fell in love with the 550 Maranello, the model I saw in the movie “Bad Boys II.” I finally mentally committed to buying the car and found a Lamborghini dealer in Scottsdale, Arizona that carried high end stuff around Halloween. By November the dealer called me and had found the car. He was ready and puckered up and pulled the trigger on it. It cost me $140,000 for a shiny slightly used (16,700 miles) 2000 Titanium Maranello. Boy was I excited! (The over inflated price I paid at XXXX dealership is for another blog…) So I signed my papers and had this thing at a hundred grand below the new sticker price.

My naive thought was that the car had already taken the majority of its depreciation hit so I’d be in good shape. Wrong…. Read more »