Fast Lane Drive: An Interview With Founder Clément Connor

Review: 2026 Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider

As forced induction and electrification continue democratize horsepower throughout the automotive industry, luxury automakers have faced a growing challenge: how do you make an exotic machine feel special at a point in time when even mainstream vehicles offer jaw-dropping performance? Ferrari, to its notable credit, has answered this question in part by staying at the forefront of the latest technologies, as evidenced by cutting-edge entries like the SF90 and F80 – both of which utilize performance-tuned hybrid systems in conjunction with turbocharged engines and sophisticated all-wheel-drive setups. While those two mid-engine monsters offer truly stunning capability, there’s also a growing contingent of performance enthusiasts who yearn for the simpler days of long, curvaceous hoods, rear-wheel drive propulsion, and the banshee wail of a high-winding 12-cylinder engine at full chat. And that’s precisely where the 12Cilindri Spider stakes its claim. As the successor to the 812 Superfast, the 12Cilindri leverages clever active aerodynamics, advanced traction and stability control systems, and a trick four-wheel-steering system that manages the movement of each wheel independently to enhance cornering response, but it’s ultimately an homage to Ferrari’s storied V12 heritage. Aside from the no-nonsense name (which literally translates to “12 Cylinders”), the 12Cilindri’s exterior styling clearly takes some inspiration from the 365 GTB Daytona of the late 1960s. And rather than saddling its latest GT flagship with the complexities of bulky batteries, electric motors, turbochargers, and AWD, Ferrari has instead chosen to focus on the fundamentals that have made GT cars like the Daytona such enduring icons: elegant design, a finely honed chassis, and a truly spectacular naturally aspirated powerplant. It’s a 6.5-liter dry-sump V12 that produces 819 horsepower and revs to a searing 9,500 rpm. Ferrari only cites a deliberately ambiguous dry weight of 3,571 pounds for the Spider, which carries about 130 pounds of extra mass as compared to its coupe counterpart. But at a time when an alarming number of new performance cars are saddled with curb weights that start with a five, the potentially sub-4,000-pound 12Cilindri Spider feels lithe and unencumbered by countermeasures expressly designed to combat the laws of physics. Although its primary mission is to enable drivers to carve their way through picturesque locales at a lively pace without compromising comfort, the 12Cilindri has a notably more sports-car-like persona than the Aston Martin Vanquish – its closest rival – thanks in part to the Ferrari’s incredibly rigid chassis, dual-clutch gearbox, and earnestly performance-tuned suspension. While the eight-speed DCT occasionally takes a beat to get things going from a dead stop, and the hunkered-down stance makes the nose-lift feature a necessity when negotiating steep driveway aprons, the 12Cilindri Spider still manages to retain an admirable level of civility around town and out on the highway. Outfitted with a killer Burmester audio system, a retractable hard top that opens in just 14 seconds at speeds up to 28 mph, and sport seats that feature heating, ventilation, and adjustable bolstering as well as multiple massage routines, the 12Cilindri Spider can be a posh, effortless cruiser when called upon to do so. The only glaring deficiency in this regard comes from Ferrari’s HMI implementation, which utilizes frustratingly difficult-to-use capacitive surfaces on the steering wheel and the instrument panel to control features like adaptive cruise control and mirror adjustments, along with the various functions that are accessed via the 15.6-inch digital gauge cluster. While the infotainment system looks sharp and is quick to respond to inputs, Apple CarPlay conked out on more than one occasion during the few days I spent with the car. Nitpicks aside, one feature that definitely works as intended is the steering-wheel-mounted Manettino switch, which allows you to toggle between the available drive modes. Sport is the default, a naming decision which helps set ride quality expectations, but you can also press this switch like a button to enable Bumpy Road mode, which relaxes the adaptive dampers beyond their standard tuning for more compliance on rough pavement. Out in the canyons, I found myself more interested in the additional drama provided by Race mode. In contrast to convention, Ferrari chose to leave the steering, throttle mapping, and brake-by-wire settings the same in the Sport and Race modes for the sake of predictable response, instead heightening the driving experience when set to the latter by easing the electronic assists, ramping up the programming for the gearbox and the electronically-controlled rear differential, and – importantly – opening up the exhaust valves. While it’s still a little bit quieter than I’d prefer, even with the top down, the noise that this V12 makes while working its way past 9k is a soundtrack to your sweetest dreams. It took some conscious effort to stop myself from short-shifting the first few times I laid into the throttle with the gearbox in manual mode. The revs just seem to build endlessly. It’s also a decidedly different experience than what’s offered in the latest Vanquish. The Aston also features a 12-cylinder atomic bomb under its hood, but the crucial difference here is that the Vanquish’s lofty power figures are owed in part to turbocharging. This gives the Aston a substantial advantage in peak torque (738 lb-ft versus the 12Cilindri’s 500 pound-feet), but it also relegates its redline to a relatively pedestrian 7,000 rpm. The upshot is that not only does the 12Cilindri deliver a much more emotive soundtrack when you drop the hammer, it also feels significantly more buttoned down when called upon to hustle through a technical section of road. Its quick steering rack takes a moment to acclimate to, but it soon becomes apparent that the chassis, brakes, and powertrain have no problem keeping pace. <- Gallery -> The Manettino switch also has dedicated settings for partially or completely disabling the traction and stability control systems if you’re feeling brave (or prefer to do your grand touring sideways), but the intervention is so seamless when these systems are enabled that they rarely distract from the proceedings. While the Vanquish twists and shimmies as the powertrain and the electronics have a debate over the fastest way forward, the 12Cilindri just feels more planted and easier to trust when really hauling the mail. In an era when quadruple-digit horsepower has somehow become readily achievable for production cars, the Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider is a reminder that character and emotion aren’t attributes that can be easily quantified on a spec sheet. There will be a time – probably in the foreseeable future – where folks will gaze into the open clamshell hood of a 12Cilindri and say, "Man, they don’t make ’em like this anymore." Like it or not, the days of the unassisted Ferrari V12 are almost certainly coming to a close. With that in mind, well-heeled traditionalists would be wise to savor the moment. View All Ferrari 12Cilindris For Sale Images: Bradley Iger

This week, Fast Lane Drive is celebrating its 8th anniversary after its founding by Clément Connor and Giovanni Letellier. Recognized as one of, if not the largest, exotic car club in the world, Fast Lane Drive spans 25 chapters across the United States and Europe with more than 2,000 members.

Not only is Fast Lane Drive impressive in its size, but also in its exclusivity. Members can only join through invitations and applications, and must also be interviewed and approved by a majority vote. This process has allowed Fast Lane Drive to stay true to its core values and roots, bringing together entrepreneurs, executives, creatives, and collectors who have, together, raised over $3 million for charitable causes.

To find out more about this incredible car club, we had the opportunity to sit down with Clément Connor and ask him a few questions which can be found below.

Visit FastLaneDrive.com

1. You and Giovanni started Fast Lane in 2018 with a casual drive through San Diego. When did you realize it was becoming something bigger?

In 2018, when we created it, it was just a small group of friends driving together, socializing, having cool drives, and trying to exchange business. To be honest, I was really happy with the setup because I had a marketing agency at that time and my business was doubling every year pretty much from all the referrals I was getting. Then 2020 happened, COVID happened, and one of my members, Ian, was like, "Oh, I'm going to miss Fast Lane so much. It's going to be so hard. I have to move to Arizona." And I was like, "Why don't you open a chapter?" So we opened a chapter and the first month we got 100 applications. We're like, okay, we are really onto something. Then it took a little time and we opened LA, Vegas, Miami, Monaco. When we opened Monaco, pretty much everything doubled in the US. That has been our moment. We were like, okay, we are really onto something big, because nothing like Fast Lane Drive exists. When one member joins one chapter, they can go to any chapter around the world, and we realized something like this didn't exist. So we told ourselves, okay, let's push it really, really hard.

2. Fast Lane has grown from one San Diego chapter to more than 25 around the world. What's been the hardest part of scaling that quickly?

Honestly, dealing with my chapter owners, I would say. Creating setup, creating systems, making sure that everybody has freedom but at the same time respecting the brand is really important. Brand alignment. And also creating a solid team. It's really, really complicated to hire, to develop, to train. So it's something we're trying to push to do better, and it's really important to reinvent ourselves. We're dealing with really high-end people, and those people pretty much want things that they cannot do on their own. If they can go to a restaurant on their own, they don't need Fast Lane Drive. So we need all the time to reinvent ourselves with new ideas, new venues, new shows, new attractions. Otherwise, it just doesn't come back. It's really, really complicated. My event team is always on guard to make everything work.

3. Philanthropy sits right alongside passion and community as a core value of the club. Why does giving back matter so much to you personally, and what impact do you hope Fast Lane leaves on the communities its chapters call home?

There are two things on the philanthropy side. It's money, but the most important is time. For example, one time a kid was dying from cancer and 300 people showed up in front of the kid's house. When you saw the emotion of the parents crying and crying, you want to give back. The car community sometimes doesn't automatically have the best impression, and I want to show the world that car people are good people and they like to give back. So for me it's really a pillar. I try to help people with cancer, kids, or the police and firefighters. Things like this are really important. You see, this is life-changing for them, pretty much.

4. Beyond car ownership, what does the ideal Fast Lane member look like, and how do you protect the culture as you scale?

First of all, family-oriented. Really, really important. We are a family club. We want the husband and wife or the wife and husband to come. 25% of our members are women, so we are huge in the car community on that front. We are not a bachelor company. We are not a frat company. So that's really important. Number two, someone who likes to give back. If you don't like to give back some of your time or give a little money here and there, you have nothing to do here. Someone who is sociable. I know it sounds hard to say when you come to a social club, but if you come and stay on your own and don't try to socialize with other people, that's going to be really complicated in Fast Lane. So entrepreneurs, CEOs, doctors, lawyers, real estate people, tech people. But you'd be surprised, for example, in the Bay Area, 80% of our members are actually executives. So we try to adapt to different chapters.

That's why we are so selective, because if there's one bad apple in a chapter, it can destroy everything. We had a guy, for example, this is the fourth time he's asked for a refund for an event, and he doesn't realize that really hurts us, because we almost make no money on events, and the guy asks for a refund two or three days before. This type of person, who only thinks about himself, is not the right fit. Something that's really unique with Fast Lane is that when you arrive, everybody is equal. You don't have, "Oh, I have a better car, better watch, better business." No, you arrive here to have a good time and everybody is equal. I was talking to a guy who has an SP3, and I said, "What do you think if we create a section for only hypercars?" He said, "The worst idea I've ever heard in my life. I come to Fast Lane to have fun with the members and be equal with everybody, not to feel that I'm better."

5. What surprised you about exotic car culture overseas in Monaco, Paris, and Tokyo?

We really had to readapt. For example, in Monaco, we have to be way more discreet on social media. People don't want to be seen. We cannot show the plates in Europe, in Paris, or in Monaco. People don't want to be seen on social media. In the US it's the opposite. People say, "Do an interview of me, push me online, do things." In Europe, you have to be way more discreet in the way you approach. For example, in the USA nobody cares about breakfast. In France, if you don't do a breakfast, people would be so upset. You need to adapt to the culture. In France, if you don't do a one-to-three-hour lunch, they have a problem. In the USA, after 45 minutes, they're like, "Hey, can we go back on the road? Can we have more time? Can we do more things?" So it's really interesting between one and the other.

6. How do you choose corporate partners like duPont REGISTRY and Circuit of The Americas?

This is really important. As of now, I only have three major sponsors, and a lot of brands are asking me. It's even more important because would duPont REGISTRY put itself next to a brand that is not aligned with itself? It's the same thing with Fast Lane. We have partnerships with major watch brands. We don't put that on the website, but the members have access to watches that are really exclusive. Those brands, if you accept any sponsor anywhere in the world, they're not going to want to do business with you. So you really have to protect yourself. I would say the sponsors are even more important than the members, because imagine a bad sponsor has a really bad article come out about anything happening in their business. That's my reflection pretty much.

7. What goes into pulling off a multi-chapter rally, and which one stands out as a defining Fast Lane moment?

This is selecting our members. When you look at it, this is the same line of people who are here to have a good time. When I look at it, I say, I'm so lucky that we have members like this everywhere in the world. Quite frankly, a lot of other car clubs can do the same kind of event, but what they cannot do is, for example, for the anniversary, we're going to have members from Paris, Monaco, Miami, Los Angeles, OC. So you're creating a culture of everybody around the world, a melting pot into one place. I absolutely love the diversity in Fast Lane Drive. We accept everybody. We are really diverse in terms of orientation or religion. We want people to feel in a safe spot. The product in Fast Lane is when people arrive, they feel in a safe place where they can be themselves.

8. Eight years in, what's something about Fast Lane today that the version of you back in 2018 would never have predicted?

It's a hard question on the opposite side, because to be honest with you, I dreamed to be where we are at, and I envisioned to be where we are at. But in my wildest dream, I would have never dreamed that. Does that make sense? It's like I envisioned what we have, but at the same time I never expected it to be that big, that fast, and so incredible. It's something you have to understand, Edward. I live Fast Lane Drive. I do one to two events per weekend. Look, it's Monday morning, I've been at my office since 6:00 a.m. I don't take days off. I live, breathe, sleep Fast Lane Drive. What's really important for me is, yes, having something in a different country, I didn't dream that on that scale. But where we are today, it's been on the riding path for years. The year I created Fast Lane Drive, I said to someone, "You will see one day. I will create a community where we can connect people around the world in the car community for meaningful experiences." And people were like, "Oh, yeah, right." And I was like, "No, you will see. You will see." So it's not obviously perfect, we have a lot to grow, but we are on the right path.

9. Looking back across eight years, which milestone or moment do you consider the real turning point for the club?

Fast Lane in Monaco. This is the biggest turning point, to be honest with you. In France, everything takes two to three times more time, and the day we opened Fast Lane Monaco, that's been a huge turning point. People were like, "Oh, you are Fast Lane Monaco. Wow." To give you an idea, we opened Fast Lane Monaco in May. We announced it May 25th. June 15th for the opening, we had 60 cars. We had over 100 Americans we flew from the US in two weeks. We told ourselves, okay, we have a really strong following base of really big fans of Fast Lane Drive who are following us everywhere in the world. That's when Fast Lane skyrocketed pretty much in the US, because being bicoastal in the US is cool, but being in a country like Monaco, like Paris, that changed everything for the club.

10. Five years from now, what does Fast Lane Drive look like?

I want to continue to develop more in the USA, but we want to open more in Europe. We want to duplicate in Europe. Obviously, as you know, Europe takes way more time. It's way more complicated than everything. I also want to implement Fast Lane Business right now. We're going to launch this and test it in San Diego. We realize that right now it's a hard period for a lot of people and we want to support each other. So we're going to launch this side of Fast Lane. We're going to have Fast Lane Drive for the drive and Fast Lane Business for the business, and we're going to meet in a safe environment every two months approximately to try to exchange business, talk about issues, talk about problems. The vision right now was mostly for fun, and we want to help people also get a little more business out of it.