A Ferrari 599 sits outside a designer clothes store near Sloane Square in London. These powerful supercars, which go from zero to 60mph in 3.7 seconds and can reach 205mph, are designed to turn heads.
But this one is a real attention-seeker: its bodywork has been wrapped in black velvet.
Perhaps you could call it a Furrari.
But for the Middle Eastern owner seen helping his leggy girlfriend and her luxury shopping bags into the passenger seat this week, the motor, with its customised vehicular dinner jacket, is exactly what he needs to keep up with the Joneses.
In recent years, around the time of Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, and the Lord’s Test, the streets of Central London have played host to an extremely modern addition to the time-honoured calendar of the summer social season. To those in the know, it’s called the ‘Ramadan Rush’.
In the weeks before and after the Muslim holy month of fasting, which this year begins on Tuesday, thousands of young and spectacularly wealthy residents of oil-rich Gulf states flock to our capital, seeking an escape from the oppressive heat and (whisper it quietly) conservative laws and social customs of their home countries.
And unlike other holidaymakers, they don’t turn up with a couple of suitcases and a carrier bag full of duty free. Instead, the glamorous ‘Gulfies’ charter entire cargo jets to fly over their collection of customised supercars.
This weekend the streets around the luxury hotels of Park Lane and the posh shops of Knightsbridge will be clogged with bespoke Lamborghinis, Bugattis, and McLarens, along with rarer brands of high-octane sports cars with names such as Koenigsegg, Pagani and Saleen.
You can spot the Ramadan Rushers from their overseas number-plates, often in Arabic. Most come from Qatar, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and are in the UK for just a few weeks at a time (any foreign vehicle in Britain for longer than six months must be registered with the DVLA in Swansea, and carry British plates).
Their arrival draws supercar enthusiasts from across Britain and Europe, along with a tribe of photographers and videographers known as the ‘Carparrazzi’, who run websites carrying footage of the most outrageously-designed vehicles.
Among the extraordinary cars catching the Carparrazzi’s eyes this year has been a customised blue-and-white Bugatti Veyron from Saudi Arabia worth an estimated £1.6 million and known by the nickname L’Or Blanc, or White Gold.
The ostentatious 250mph vehicle, which was also in London last year, has bodywork inlaid with delicate, highly polished white porcelain.
Also making waves is a Pagani Huarya which is believed to be owned by a twentysomething member of Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family. The vehicle, which retails for £880,000, is one of a small fleet imported this year by the Al-Thanis, whose affection for London appears to be un-dented by a headline-making incident three years ago when their turquoise Lamborghini and a Koenigsegg were clamped outside Harrods.
Yet the Arab invasion isn’t good news for everyone. As the Ramadan Rush has grown in popularity, so too have tensions between the Rushers and locals. The problem is noise. Specifically the sheer volume of the roar that visiting supercars make on quiet backstreets — day and night.
‘Even when they are stationary, revving their engines, we get woken up,’ complained Panda Morgan-Thomas, the chairman of the Knightsbridge Residents Association, when we spoke yesterday. ‘Last night I was woken at 3am. I get inundated with complaints from neighbours at this time of year. It’s difficult to live a normal life when you are deprived of sleep for weeks on end.’
Residents are also concerned by the allegedly dangerous manner in which many ‘Gulfies’ drive. YouTube contains clips of, among other things, a Lamborghini Aventador performing a full-throttle ‘power slide’ at speeds of around 80mph, around the corner of a leafy Belgravia street last year.
In 2010, another car, also a Lamborghini, wrecked four parked cars in Lowdnes Square, Knightsbridge, after spinning out of control. Its driver and passenger, both from Abu Dhabi, were arrested.
‘At some point,’ adds Morgan-Thomas, ‘someone is going to get seriously hurt.’
Concern over noise and dangerous driving by Arab visitors inspired the Channel 4 documentary Millionaire Boy Racers earlier this year. It raised an interesting conundrum: for while Gulfies provoke criticism, they are increasingly important to London’s economy.
During the Ramadan Rush, roughly 80 per cent of guests at London’s top hotels are from Arab states. They are crucial to the restaurant and nightclub trade, and make a huge contribution to the bottom line of high-end retailers. Figures from the tax-free shopping firm Global Blue suggest they spend an average of £1,000 per transaction, more than visitors from any other region.
Yet no one, however wealthy, is above the law. In response to complaints, the Metropolitan Police tells me that officers are instructed to ensure overseas vehicles are insured and carry legal number plates.
The policy made the news on Tuesday when a purple Aventador from Qatar — which boasted glow-in-the-dark orange stripes inspired by the film Tron — was seized in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, after it was being driven illegally without insurance.
It spent 24 hours outside New Scotland Yard, before being returned to its owner, who had presumably paid a hefty fine. By Thursday night, the vehicle was parked outside a bar in Mayfair.
This time, it got a £120 parking ticket. But to its lucky owner, that’s small change.
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