We read about them, we ogle them and lust after them; but only a few get to enjoy and experience supercar ownership first hand. Secret Supercar Owner, Mr S, is one of those fortunate people. He has agreed to share his journey with us through all the joy and pitfalls. In Secret Supercar Owner – Chapter 1 he explains how the journey started.
My father and I are petrolheads, and there was always a sporty car of some description in our garage. We’ve owned the likes of hot hatches, sporting coupes and so on. But we never imagined we would one day own a supercar.
In March 2021 we sat down together for breakfast. In passing, I mentioned that I believed we could get into and out of supercar ownership without losing money. As businessmen, buying and selling is what we do and we always try to limit risk. That said, every sportscar we had owned up to that point had been bought with our hearts rather than our heads.
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Doing Our Homework
We established a set of rules to guide our purchases. The most important one was to closely monitor the market and only buy cars that had already depreciated to the bottom of the curve and were beginning to appreciate in value. We found these were typically between 13 and 15 years old. The second rule was to keep each car for approximately 12 months.
I noticed that the Audi R8 market looked particularly attractive at the time and, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love the famous Iron Man car? After finding one with the right mileage and colour combination, we purchased a beautiful 2009 Audi R8 V8 with just 35 000 km on the odo.
Was it a supercar? Not quite. But it had the engine in the right place and the all the capabilities of a supercar. The only thing missing was an exotic badge on the bonnet.
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Feeling the Part
The R8 wasn’t just stunning to look at; thanks to its mid-engine layout it handled unlike anything we had ever experienced. Whether attacking tight corners or pushing through high-speed sweeps, it felt glued to the road. It was also incredibly usable as you could comfortably daily drive it. The luggage compartment was surprisingly spacious and the cabin felt roomy and practical.
Ownership costs were relatively low, it is still an Audi after all. Prices for R8s were beginning to creep up and it seemed like our plan was starting to make sense… until disaster struck.
An Expensive Mistake
Driving back from a Sunday lunch quite enthusiastically, the engine ‘left the chat’. Some ‘user error’ left a hole in the block. If you think finding the right car is difficult, try finding a replacement engine and someone you trust to install it. R400 000 later, and our test-case Audi R8 was back on the road.
We drove it for a while longer before eventually selling it, for more than we had originally paid, not because we were afraid of something else going wrong, but because we had finally taken the next step.
We had officially bought a supercar with the right badge on the bonnet. I’ll explain more in the next instalment of this ongoing series.
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