Each year, March delivers enormously on the supercar front in Melbourne, home to the Australian Grand Prix. This year was no exception.
Holy Hypercar!
March saw three state of the art hypercars hit its streets! All three were left-hand drive, so to see them being driven on public roads was huge!
Bugatti Veyron 16.4:
First up, a Bugatti Veyron - the first one in Australia!
Late last year I'd seen photos of this when it was imported through a company in Sydney. Weeks later, it was spotted under a cover on a flatbed going through the Domain Tunnel in Melbourne. I assumed it was likely on its way to someone's private collection where it would rarely see the light of day.
It was a huge surprise to receive two emails on March 9, one containing photos of it parked on the side of the Peninsula Link, the other, a video of it driving on the Peninsula Freeway!
Bugatti Veyron 16.4:
First up, a Bugatti Veyron - the first one in Australia!
Late last year I'd seen photos of this when it was imported through a company in Sydney. Weeks later, it was spotted under a cover on a flatbed going through the Domain Tunnel in Melbourne. I assumed it was likely on its way to someone's private collection where it would rarely see the light of day.
It was a huge surprise to receive two emails on March 9, one containing photos of it parked on the side of the Peninsula Link, the other, a video of it driving on the Peninsula Freeway!
  | |
Ferrari LaFerrari:
On the 4th of the month, a black Ferrari LaFerrari was seen being unloaded at the Ferrari showroom in Richmond. It came from the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide where it was showcased. It's owned by a New Zealand businessman and is in Australia for promotion.
On the 11th it was showcased at a Zagame party held at the showroom. At 5am the following morning it was unloaded at the Grand Prix Circuit where it was displayed for the duration of the weekend.
Following the Grand Prix, it was taken back to the Ferrari showroom for another few days before being relocated to the Melbourne Showgrounds for the Australian Motoring Festival.
To have a Ferrari LaFerrari in Melbourne was one thing, but to see it driving on the streets was another - receiving this video was an enormous surprise! Apologies for the quality.
Porsche 918 Spyder
Another big surprise was the arrival of a Porsche 918 Spyder at Porsche Centre Melbourne. It is an international press car fitted with the optional Weissach package. It spent some time at PCM before being transferred to Porsche Centre Brighton. It was then displayed at the Australian Grand Prix.
Again, it was one thing to see it at the showrooms, but there were definitely no expectations to see it being driven on the roads. Lo and behold, on the 12th of March an email containing the following photo came through!
Photo by Tom Floyd on the Eastern Freeway.
Ferrari Pavillion at AUSMOTORFEST
I was lucky enough to land myself a couple of press passes to the Australian Motoring Festival this year. It was a great turnout, but the highlight had to be the Ferrari Pavillion, inside of which lay a 288 GTO, F40, F50, and F70 (LaFerrari) among others.
