Presented by Luxury Rally Club.
In the automotive world, we are starting to feel a sense of normalcy with the experiential side of things ramping up. Events and rallies are coming back in full force, but no one does it quite like Luxury Rally Club. You may remember hearing about the Lamborghini Countach Rally this past summer, which was an event that very few people would be able to accomplish. Luxury Rally Club made it look easy and plans on breaking the internet again while creating automotive history with the upcoming Porsche Carrera GT Rally. We sat down with LRC’s Co-Founder Trevor Johnson to learn more about who they are, what they do and what’s in store for the future.
duPont REGISTRY: What is Luxury Rally Club?
Luxury Rally Club: We put on private exclusive experiences for rare collectors and automotive enthusiasts. We strive to become the number one experiential company in the automotive space.
dR: How did you start LRC, how did this idea come about?
LRC: In 2017 I retired from a 15-year professional ice hockey career spanning across 7 different countries. During that time I played for the Italian national team and learned to speak fluent Italian. Hockey was my life and retirement was extremely difficult but I took a job as a brand ambassador for a luxury travel company immediately following that season. After meeting people from all over the world I used both of these experiences to build a large network. As my network expanded, I began to learn more and more about the luxury world and quickly discovered the opportunity and need to put on my own events.
Through hockey connections and being Canadian one of the really special things I get to do is organized ice hockey all over the world for Justin Bieber and his team. I was delivering a custom Lamborghini jacket for JB that we had made for his birthday from Italy to LA. While staying in LA I was introduced through a mutual friend to Craig Ekberg my partner in LRC. He said, “Hey, I’m putting on this cool rally with a few of my friends that own WO Bentleys if you want to join us and help.” I had to ask him what a rally was, and he explained how it’s an unforgettable drive paired with staying at luxury hotels. I immediately thought, “wow, I can book hotels for these guys”. I helped him with the hotel side of things and ended up joining them on the rally and saw the opportunity that putting 50-100 ultra-high net worth individuals in one room has an extreme value that goes along with it for brands. On the first rally, I was doing everything logistically from making sure all the bags made it to the right place to meeting with the Bentley owners throughout the day and late into the night, etc.
We knocked it out of the park that first time and everyone was so thrilled with how the rally went. Even the co-drivers had a fantastic time because we took the time to include them in everything we did as well as gift them with luxury products that added to the experience.
Craig and I sat down after to discuss the success we just had and strategize continuing to host more rallies. I knew at that moment we had a business and a great idea.
dR: What rallies have you put on recently?
LRC: Since the start, we have done three Bentley Rallies including the 100 years of Bentley Rally into Pebble Beach, the Route 66 National Park Rally with the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Lamborghini Countach Rally with Curated and the Endo Rally. In addition, we have also hosted the Preserve concourse and the Rolling Hills Country Club Wine and Car events for two consecutive years, despite 2 years lost to Covid and navigating that challenge.
dR: What’s next for LRC?
LRC: We want to be the number one experiential company in the automotive industry —and be more involved in all of the automotive events that happen around the world. We want to create packages that help involve everyone in the car community during events such as Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach is a good example because there are a variety of exclusive events throughout the area, so we want to create an all-inclusive experiential package that includes access to all of these places.
We also want to do more stagnant events since we are partnered with The Quail and put on the Santa Lucia Preserve Party, and have a VIP Paddock at Laguna Seca. We plan to do more things like this. We encourage partners and clients of LRC to feel like they are invited to everything.
We also want to continue to do these Anniversary Rallies around the world with the backing of the OEM’s. Getting these like-minded people together in one place will forever be the best experience. Especially since you can put miles on your car now without them depreciating a lot in value.
With COVID hitting I had a chance to look at how to make this business more sustainable, I brought in our CTO Jesse Teindl who has big ideas and a passion for cars and technology. Having someone I knew I could trust, with the same values and goals for LRC, we’re looking to the future and finding new and exciting ways to offer our exclusive bespoke services to people across the globe. Luxury Rally Club will continue to strive to put on events that exceed expectations, while also trying to reach a wider demographic and making partnerships with companies that we can stand behind.
dR: Why Carrera GT?
LRC: This has always been a car on our radar and arguably one of the hottest on the market today! The way the Carrera GT conversation started was when Jimmy Prountzos, a Porsche expert and owner of Junipero Serra Porsche Mercedes in California, called me and said: “I saw what you did with the Countach Rally. Can we recreate that with the CGT?” After hanging up the phone, ten minutes later we had the Porsche Carrera GT Rally in motion!
dR: What should people expect on the Carrera GT Rally?
LRC: Expect to make history with like-minded Carrera GT owners and enthusiasts and people that really enjoy driving their cars. Not to mention we bought out the famous French Laundry for a night. We are going to multiple top wineries to bring this first-class experience full circle, all while celebrating the cars. This is not just a car meetup, it is a luxurious life experience that everyone is going to enjoy. People just show up with their cars and we take care of the rest, we will handle the whole process from door to door. Every aspect will be handled by us, just come and enjoy your car. On top of all that, each attendee should expect a surprise visit from some very influential people, some of which may be related to the history of the CGT as well as a special appearance by Porsche!
You are not going to want to miss this! For more information on how to be a part of history, click the link below!
Contact: info@luxuryrallyclub.com
