“The voting process is more stringent than your co-op board, and members—whose names, if I happened to recognize milling about, I am strictly not permitted to mention—pay fees substantial enough to feel at home among the seven-figure cars parked outside.”
If you’re lucky enough to get an invitation to The Concours Club, you would be wise to make the effort to cross the causeway reports JANET MERCEL from Miami.
The heat of the day is cooling on the asphalt. The smell and sound of tires warm up on the racetrack. Women stalk the paddock in heels, cocktails in hand. The double-decker clubhouse fronted with glass so sleek it would be at home as the set of “Star Trek.” Concours is equal parts art fair, night race and private club.
The event, Arte Veloce, “where art and speed converge” is curated by, CarCoterie co-founder Jeffrey Einhorn who also puts on The Bridge exhibition every September at the Bridgehampton Race Circuit. “We think about how each car speaks to the one beside it, so the lineup reads as a story rather than a list,” Einhorn tells me. “That means an exhibition that feels engaging, whether guests arrived as art lovers, racing fans, or simply people who enjoy being around beautiful machines.”
“Everywhere you turn is another jaw-dropping machine, so many that I think at one point my husband Daniel is going to start crying.”
The Concours Club caters to the world’s most serious collectors, drivers and enthusiasts. The voting process is more stringent than your co-op board, and members—whose names, if I happened to recognize them milling about, I am strictly not permitted to mention—pay fees substantial enough to feel at home among the seven-figure cars parked outside. It’s all tucked into the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport: an 80-acre campus with a 2-mile racing circuit, private garages, fine dining and a layout intended to allow the global clientele to literally land beside their toys.
Everywhere you turn is another jaw-dropping machine, so many that I think at one point my husband Daniel is going to start crying. It’s like wandering a museum, just with cars and car-related art instead of Greek sculpture or a Rothko or Ruscha. The whole place smells of rubber and truffle oil.
We pass a RUF CTR, the “Yellow Bird” that debuted in 1987 based on the Porsche Carrera. It speedily became known as the fastest car at the time, outpacing Ferrari’s Testarossa and Lamborghini’s Countach with a top speed of 213 mph. On the track, the car held the unofficial Nürburgring-Nordschleife lap record for years.
Arte Veloce is dedicated to Dallara this year. The vehicle displays pay tribute to Dallara engineering and the carmaker’s role in the new era of endurance racing. There’s a Dallara SN01 World Series car, an IR 00 Indy car associated with Helio Castroneves, a Dallara-built LMDh monocoque, and a 2008 Wayne Taylor Racing SunTrust Daytona Prototype.
“One of my earliest memories is seeing Paul Newman strolling the track before I was aware of any notoriety beyond car racing.”
Nearby: Ferrari Challenge and factory race cars tracing three decades: a 1996 355 Challenge, 2014 Michelotto 458 GT3, 2020 488 Challenge, and 2024 296 Challenge. The collection continues with marquee exotics and significant road cars, a Ferrari F50, 288 GTO, and Lamborghini Countach, joined by vintage racing metal that frames the evolution of performance and design across eras.
I meet Aaron Weiss, Concours Club’s president. A DJ spins house music accompanied by a saxophonist, all next to a truly special 333 SP and as it turns out, Chassis 1 was the only one built by Ferrari. I tell Weiss about flagging an IMSA race at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park, a racetrack where I basically grew up. One of my earliest memories is seeing Paul Newman strolling the track before I was aware of any notoriety beyond car racing. Weiss’s eyes widen. “You are probably the single youngest human flagger to have flagged a race like that,” he says, half disbelieving. With digital systems notoriously replacing humans, he might not be wrong.
It was possible because of my father, a marshal for SCCA, IMSA, and Formula 1 for fifty years. He raised us at the track. My brother is still a driver and a steward up and down the East Coast. Weiss nods. “I remember Paul,” he says, though I’m not certain if he means Newman or my father or my brother, all Pauls.
Weiss’ Concours Club has the world’s most technologically advanced driving circuit, with FIA-certified components ideal for high-performance driving. “We’ve got beautiful cars, beautiful food, beautiful art…” Weiss says. “Beautiful people,” I finish, gesturing to the room. “Well, definitely that,” he grins.
Opera Gallery curates a motorsport-themed exhibition with sculptures by Ron Arad and Young Deok Seo, figurative works by Manolo Valdés and paper and wood reliefs by Sung Hee Cho, Alfred Haberpointner, Jae Ko, and Pino Manos. There’s a tire sculpture by Paul Oz, the official portrait artist of F1, while photographer Rafael Delceggio floats past us nearby, beside his 16th-century-Dutch-inspired motorsport series.
“It’s not my first time in a race car, but it’s the first time I’ve climbed in between crash bars wearing a dress and heels.”
Down in the pits, pro and former Formula drivers are taking guests on hot laps in Dallara EXPs, Aston Martin Vantages and BMW M2 CSRs. With all these laypeople and endless cocktails, it’s an interesting proposition to throw them into race cars late at night, but it seems to be going well.
We wait for our turn. A McLaren driver adjusts her dangling earrings and helps us debate which car we want to take.”Depends on if you want your stomach to feel like it’s dropping out and you might throw up, or if you’re okay with him getting ass-y with it,” she says, throwing out a hip like she’s taking a hot corner at speed.
In the pits, we get fitted into helmets. It’s not my first time in a race car, but it’s the first time I’ve climbed in between crash bars wearing a dress and heels. In the BMW M2, my driver grins and revs the engine. It is glorious.
