First, he built himself a fleet of luxury yachts. Then, he upgraded to wings – the ‘Bandit’ Boeing was a familiar on the Russian radar. Now, Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, opened the doors to his garage to reveal his bespoke collection of multimillion-dollar cars.
Bugatti, Ferrari, and a rare Pagani Zonda R paraded at the Nurburgring race track in Germany. Replying to the red carpet invitation sent by the owner of the race track, former business partner and Russian oligarch Viktor Kharitonin, Roman Abramovich has made its first public appearance driving the muscle sports cars. Until now, he seems to have preferred the highways of sea and air.
Roman Abramovich – The Extravagances of a Russian Oligarch
In 2015, Roman Abramovich’s reported net worth was $8.3 billion. The Russian oligarch has several businesses that may account for that incredible wealth. Among them, the most high-profile one is the ownership of the Chelsea FC, ‘The Blues’ football club of the Premier League. Roman Abramovich also owns a private investment company, Millhouse LLC.
Forbes ranked him as the 12th richest individual in Russia, while the businessman also scored an honorable position as the 137th richest person in the world.
In terms of opulent spending habits, though, the entrepreneur hit a record. Three years ago, Abramovich was known as arguably the biggest spender on luxury yachts. The media has dubbed this prize collection ‘Abramovich’s Navy’. You might think that’s a typical overstatement on Fleet Street, however, no other moniker could suit the $1.5 billion mega-yacht collection better.
In the last ten years, the 49-year-old Russian businessman has splashed his huge amount of cash on one super sailing boat after another. The Eclipse, the world’s largest and second most expensive private yacht to roam the seas, carries a price tag of $700 million. The $150 million Luna yacht, designed by Lloyd Werft and Stahlbau Nord Shipyards, is another example of luxury at sea. It features two helipads, a sunbath area, and a swimming pool.
Luxury Cars Thundering at Nürburgring
Needless to say, Roman Abramovich is a collector at heart. He owns his own private Boeing 767, called ‘The Bandit’ and a Dassault Falcon 7X, or ‘The Mini Bandit’. Not to mention his latest million dollars Francis Bacon art acquisition.
However, he’s been out of the spotlight lately. At least until he took his $11million worth of top-gear cars for a spin at a two-day race event in Nürburgring.
The vehicles could have filled a showroom at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance. Some of the stars included a Bugatti Veyron, an Aston Martin Vulcan, a Mercedes-AMG GT3, a Lamborghini Reventon, and more.
Meanwhile, the two brands that stole the race track were the Pagani Zonda R – a rarity as only 15 have ever been produced and the prototype muscle car Ferrari FXX. The latter is also a prize collection of F1 driver Michael Schumacher.
The Russian mogul reportedly spent the day racing on the 13miles long track, the Northern loop. Roman Abramovich also tried the entire range of Porsche sports cars. Who knows? If it threw a good adrenaline kick, the 2016 Porsche Cayenne could score a place in one of the richest luxury car collections in the world.
