The Concours Club is one of Miami’s most in-demand memberships – here’s what you need to know about it.
From Miami to Monaco, the global spectacle of Formula 1 is also a lifestyle event nonpareil, where even top celebrities vie for a souvenir selfie with Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and other stars of the world’s fastest sport.
Here in Miami, The Concours Club offers members year-round experiences that even Brad Pitt or an Emirates prince might envy. Such as: Flying a personal jet into Opa-Locka Municipal Airport, to find your own supercar or vintage classic, fueled and waiting on the tarmac. Then, driving straight onto this country-club-style racetrack abutting the airport for a lapping session with a professional coach, with 11 corners across 2.0 miles. Afterwards, perhaps, a meal prepared by Bradley Kilgore, the club’s culinary director and one of Miami’s most-awarded chefs.
The Concours Club membership privileges
In a world whose streets are increasingly inhospitable to fast cars, The Concours Club is part of a wave of country-club tracks in the US, Europe and Asia. Luxury residences, clubhouses and lavish amenities are part of the attraction. The Concours Club opened in 2020, in a city teeming with Lamborghinis and other South Beach-friendly supercars, but in a state notorious for snarled traffic and flat, straight, monotonous roads.
Aaron Weiss, president of The Concours Club, estimates roughly half the club’s members hail from Florida, the rest from other states and countries. Members tend to fall into three categories: Collectors who want to store valuable cars at the track, with expert maintenance from the club’s technicians. Secondly, people who lean into the social scene, bonding with fellow car fanatics or attending curated dinners by Kilgore and Master Sommelier Dan Pilkey. Finally, committed drivers who soak up professional instruction and compete at tracks. This includes The Concours Cup, a club championship where members rival in delightful BMW M2 CSR racing coupes. Drivers may find themselves racing against Helio Castroneves, a member and four-time Indy 500 winner, or a former F1 star such as Felipe Massa. (The big names are scored separately from other drivers, keeping competition fair).
With enough coaching, ambition and natural talent, members can graduate to serious competition. Custodio Toledo credits the club with making his racing dreams a reality. The Brazilian-born Toledo grew up watching the F1 exploits of the late Ayrton Senna, and never imagined he’d own a Ferrari, let alone drive one on track. But in just six years, the Miami-based businessman, 56, has gone from a raw track novice to a seat with the Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari team. He’s now competing in the European Le Mans Series in a Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo, a formidable track version of Ferrari’s 296 GTB street car. Toledo logged 700 laps in his first six months at the club, a sign of his near-obsessive dedication to learning the craft. This summer, he’ll take on an epic challenge, driving the fabled 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in France.
“Custodio went from never having been on track in his life, to one of our fastest guys,” Weiss says. “You can’t imagine the pride I feel, watching one of my members drive at Le Mans.”
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The Concours Club review
My first experience of The Concours Club Lounge was this year, where I attend a glamorous trackside watch party at the Miami International Autodrome, the F1 circuit that snakes for 3.36 miles around Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins. Before Saturday’s opening round of F1 qualifying, club members can be miles ahead of even the most-VIP racegoers, having donned a racing suit and experienced the sport’s g-force thrills firsthand.
After any stay in Miami, members can drop their Ferrari, Porsche or McLaren back at the club for detailing, maintenance and pampered storage, and hop back on the Gulfstream. If they’re lucky, they may spot a driver like Kimi Antonelli – the 19-year-old wunderkind who I’ll soon watch win the 2026 Miami Grand Prix – as he boards his own private jet at Opa-Locka. Go ahead, spray the Mercedes-AMG driver with a bottle of Krug that’s older than him: Members can have the club’s catered wine and food waiting onboard their plane as they depart.
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Looming thunderstorms force F1 organizers to scramble and move the race’s start back by three hours: These drivers are always prepared to show off in the wet or at night, but lightning is another story. Somehow, the rain never arrives, and the tropical party is on. I ascend stairs to the two-story Concours Lounge. It’s built from scratch over weeks leading up to the race, with new design flourishes every year. Previous editions integrated a swimming pool, a handy spot for a celebratory plunge for a winner of one F1 support race.
No dips are possible at the track’s artificial marina, yet it’s possible to pay $10,000, $20,000 or more for a nautical vantage point here. The lure is 10 actual yachts that sit in dry-docked splendor, a cheeky nod to the Mediterranean vibe of the Monaco race. Those yachts appear to float atop 25,000 square feet of vinyl-covered wood that mimics turquoise waves.
With an estimated 800 million fans worldwide, Formula 1 ranks among the world’s most-popular sports. Yet much like soccer, F1 flew below the radar in the United States for decades. That changed when F1 added races in Austin, Miami and now Las Vegas to its globehopping calendar. The phenomenon of Drive to Survive, the Netflix docuseries that follows the lives and intrigues of these dashing young racers and their ruthlessly competitive teams, has drawn new fans to the sport. Last year’s F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt and co-produced by seven-time series champion Lewis Hamilton, also cranked up the cultural spotlight. Apple’s foray into a theatrical release became the surprise hit of the summer, grossing more than $630 million worldwide. Now in its 77th season, F1 has gone from an American obscurity to a sports staple since the inaugural Austin race in 2012. And for Miami’s international travelers, the May race has become the closing bookend to a high season that kicks off with Art Basel Miami Beach in December.
With so many sensory and social distractions at the Lounge, it’s not always easy to save mental bandwidth for the Grand Prix itself. The racers howl past the Lounge’s posh vantage point at Turn 3, in groundbreaking 2026 cars that, controversially, now derive 50 percent of their power from hybrid electricity.
I make my own well-timed move through a secret door in a bookcase into an intimate, wood-lined space. This is almost surely the first private omakase speakeasy at any F1 race. It’s the vision of Kilgore, a multi-time Miami Chef of the Year, and recipient of a ‘Best New Chef in America’ nod from Food & Wine magazine. In a room that seats just ten, I sample omakase courses such as kanpachi with truffle ponzu vinaigrette, smartly paired with champagnes from Moet & Chandon. They include a desert-dry Brut Natur, the Collection Impériale Création No. 1. It’s the house’s first ultra-luxury ‘Haute Oenologie’ line since their introduction of Dom Pérignon in 1936. Drivers won’t be dousing each other with this stuff on the podium.
What cars you’ll find at The Concours Club
The club features more than 40 trackside “Autolofts,” where owners can store and display up to a dozen cars on a ground floor, and entertain guests on a balconied upper level.
“The sweet spot is a car-museum feel, with six to eight cars,” Weiss says, typically encompassing some precious specimens. “We have some individual cars here worth tens of millions of dollars.”
A paddock garage is stuffed with fantasy cars that would wobble the knees of any enthusiast or fan of automotive design. A triple-stack of models along one wall recalls a child’s Matchbox collection. Only these cars are real: A Pagani Huayra, the DaVinci-like hypercar from Argentine-Italian engineer Horacio Pagani. An Aston Martin Valkryie, with only 150 coupes and 85 convertibles ever made, originally priced from $3m to $4.5m. A McLaren Senna GTR. A vintage, open-wheel Formula 2 racer. And invariably, serious drivers are drawn to race-prepped Porsches that dominate tracks around the world, such as 911 GT3 Cup cars.
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The Concours Club membership cost
As with many exclusive clubs geared to high-net-worth individuals, The Concours Club doesn’t publicize entry fees or annual costs. The club confirms that founding members paid $350,000 to join five years ago, and that fees have risen since. Prospects are often referred by other members. Those prospects invariably tour the club for a full immersion, and are thoroughly vetted by club management.
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