Oh to be stinking rich, where the hardest decisions about motoring involves choosing what supercar to buy next. However, while owning a fancy car is often only the preserve of rich oligarchs, that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t enjoy a spot of car watching. Yep, exotic supercar spotting is actually a thing. In fact, there are even countless numbers of websites, facebook and instagram pages dedicated to this hobby, some of which have several thousand followers.
So where can one enjoy this pursuit in the UK we hear you ask? Well, London of course. Whether you think supercars are flashy or trashy you’re guaranteed to find them in the capital – but not just anywhere. You have to go to the preposterously wealthy areas where the streets are paved with bling supercars; gold ones being a common sight. Here you’ll come across Ferraris by the dozen, often parked on yellow lines (because the super rich don’t worry about such things as parking tickets or traffic wardens).
While the really rare cars are usually stored in an underground garage, it goes without saying that from Bentleys to Aston Martins and Lamborghinis to Zondas, and all other types of thoroughbred car brands on Autopartspro.co.uk, the fancy parts of the city has the fanciest cars. So for tourists (or perhaps their children) more interested in car spotting than the history of The Tower of London, here are 6 IDEAL places to spot the supercars of London.
HARRODS, KNIGHTSBRIDGE
Harrods; the world’s most famous department store, where inside you’ll find the owners of luxury supercars doing a spot of shopping, and outside the models themselves – and we’re not talking about their paramours. The stretch outside Harrods is also a favourite drag spot of the boy racers from the Gulf States, where you can hear their car engines roar furiously as they wait at a red light before seeing them whizz off down the street.
SLOANE STREET, KNIGHTSBRIDGE
Sloane Street; the place where well-off Londoners come to buy designer clothes, browse in high-end boutique stores and indulge in other frivolous gewgaws. And in front of all the fancy shops, you’ll find fancy supercars zooming up and down the street. The area even holds an annual Supercar Sunday event which is billed as the ‘biggest car meet of the summer for supercars, classic cars and high performance car’. This year it was held on Sunday 15th July and an estimated 400 cars came to the capital and lined up along Sloane Street and its side roads, with the owners posturing and jostling for the best space.
LOWNDES SQUARE, BELGRAVIA
As recommended by British GQ, this residential square is another place you’ll find the thoroughbreds of the automotive world, often trying to get a parking spot. Here the lives of wealthy residents (and less so) have been blighted by the roar of revving engines for years. In fact, some of the residents of Knightsbridge are so fed up with the noise that they’ve called for legal counter-measures by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, suggesting a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in and around most of Knightsbridge, making it a criminal offence to rev engines, accelerate rapidly, race or perform stunts. While introduction of these measures may not be great for car owners and their spotters, at least the residents may get a good nights sleep.
THE DORCHESTER, MAYFAIR
Come in the morning when the owners are tucked up in their beds and without fail, you’ll find Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces and other fancy cars parked outside this luxury hotel. Summer is the best time to spot these eye-wateringly expensive vehicles. It’s the season when the supercars (or should we say high-powered playthings of Middle Eastern billionaires) are shipped into the capital from countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, so their rich owners can escape the scorching temperatures back home. And if you could afford it, why wouldn’t you ship your own car abroad for a small fortune (in excess of £20,000 for a return journey) for a few months at the cost of thousands of pounds?
THE PARK TOWER HOTEL, KNIGHTSBRIDGE
Situated in the heart of one of London’s most wealthy areas, The Park Tower Hotel is another hotel popular with wealthy visitors who enjoy flying their expensive toys out to London for the summer. As such, the carpark of The Park Tower Hotel is the ideal place to see shiny supercars. While you’re here, enjoy a spot of afternoon tea at The Dorchester. It’s one of the most legendary afternoon teas in London with tea, cakes and scones galore. They even do a champagne afternoon tea, which with enough glasses, could possibly give you enough dutch courage to actually ask for a ride in one of the supercars parked in the parking lot. Or at the very least, get up close enough to get a selfie of your reflection in the mirror of a Lamborghini LP670-4 Superveloce.
THE STREETS OF KNIGHTSBRIDGE & MAYFAIR
This ones non-specific we know, but super cars are a common sight all over Knightsbridge and Mayfair. So simply take a stroll around the streets of this affluent area and your bound to come across some swanky supercars. In summer especially, it’s car-mageddon in London and these areas are in the middle of it.