BUCKET LIST: Ultimate Driving Tours, National and International

With the motorsport world on hold, and travel bans in place for Australia, you might be forgiven for contemplating a future escape.

Speedcafe.com has worked to develop a list of dream places, events and experiences for fans of motorsport and motoring for you to tick off your Bucket List.

ULTIMATE DRIVING TOURS: Australian and International destinations

When you visit www.ultimatedrivingtours.com and are prompted by their live chat feature, your virtual host asks you “which driving tour do you want to tick off your bucket list?”.

That alone naturally qualifies the Australian-based business for Speedcafe.com’s Bucket List feature series.

Ultimate Driving Tours is an Australian born and bred business which has become a global leader in experiences for those that have a passion for driving incredible cars and some of the finer things in life.

How incredible? – well, for a car to qualify it must be able to accelerate from 0-100kph in 3.5 seconds and while that is not the only indicator for what makes a “supercar”, it’s a bloody good start!

Truth be known, many of us wouldn’t mind heading to our driveways each day and having a Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mercedes, Bentley, Audi, Aston and McLaren to choose from.

For a week or so many UDT events provide you exactly that with guests experiencing each
vehicle for two to three hours as a driver and the same as a navigator.

At first glance, a UDT event is not cheap, but try comparing their rates to the insurance and maintenance of a fleet of your own supercars.

The tours usually start at around $AUD 1000 per day and go as high as $AUD 5000 per day depending on the tour and level of luxury each guest wants to enjoy.

UDT was created by Australian motoring enthusiast and event director Anthony Moss who was one of the original driving forces behind the Dutton Rally.

With local experiences under his belt, Moss took his first group away internationally to the Nurburgring several years ago and the rest is now history.

Moss has established an international team which has moulded into a luxury adventure travel business.

Interestingly, UDT has a content creator in Australia, Europe and the US, who have the job of capturing each tour on video so it can be shared with each guest.

While there is a host of UDT itineraries, we thought we would pick out just one to provide an idea of what is on offer – the World Champions F1 tour – A tribute to Formula One.

This July tour involves four days driving incredible motorways and mountain passes throughout
Switzerland, France and Italy.

You can enjoy an aperitif at the Cafe de Paris in Monaco – a renowned car spotting hub, then try your luck at the Casino du Monte Carlo.

You also visit Imola and lay a wreath at the Ayrton Senna Memorial before guided tours of the Ferrari and Lamborghini museums.

There is also a guided tour of the legendary Monza circuit and a private group dinner with the legendary three-time world champion Jackie Stewart.

Along the way you are accommodated in a host of boutique luxury hotels, converted castles and cool villas and dine at a series of renowned restaurants.

Tour groups usually range between 12-24 people with one car shared between two.

Guests are usually an eclectic group from all walks of life, but have a common interest in cars.

UDT is keen to point out that their events are not “a testosterone field boys’ trip, nor a day all
day/party all night rally”.

You are as likely to see a couple of mates away enjoying a trip as you are a husband and wife.

On top of their famed events, UDT also offers a selection of self-drive tours where you select your supercar and a tour route is planned for you.

UDT can also create bespoke events for personal groups and offer plans and hospitality for some of the world’s biggest events including Goodwood and the Italian, Monaco and US grand Prix.

For those enthusiasts wanting to test their skills at a higher level, UDT also co-ordinated a list of “go fast’ experiences which include driving an F1 car, ice-driving and tasting some of the world’s most famous tracks including Spa and the Nurburgring.

The UDT offerings usually include a minimum of one tour a month in Australia, Europe or North America.

They not only include a selection of the world’s best sports cars for you to drive on a daily basis on adaptly chosen roads but a list of luxury experiences which glue together to create a more than memorable experience – including watching the Monaco GP from a superyacht!

Each experience is combined with luxury accommodation in boutique hotels, castles, and private villas dining in award-winning restaurants.

The first full-time employee for UTD was COO Julie Hunter who has recently been working around the clock to ensure the business stays relevant during the crippling COVID-19 period.

“Like many people and businesses around the world, UDT has been hit hard by pandemic, and our thoughts and best wishes go out to others who have been impacted even more,” said Hunter, who is also a co-owner of the business.

“While this has been an incredibly challenging period, like all smart companies we have knuckled down and are using the unexpected downtime to kick off ventures that have been waiting in the wings, to brainstorm new opportunities and experiences, and to get our house in order.

“From Europe to Australia and North America, we will continue to create and curate the world’s best luxury driving holidays, and can’t wait to get back on the road – in a safe and appropriately socially distanced manner, of course). So watch this space.”

UDT currently has a list of events listed on their website for 2021. These tours have tentative dates, but pricing is yet to be determined because of current COVID-19 restrictions.

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW