Celebrities and their affairs with cars

1. ERIC BANA

10

Local lad Bana is such a massive car nut, he made a film about it. Love the Beast told the journey of his beloved XB Coupe from street hack to race-prepped 450kW weapon. The car was rebuilt after its Targa Tasmania crash and is occasionally spotted in Melbourne. Bana is also a handy racer, having competed in the Aussie Carrera Cup and three Bathurst 12 Hour races.

2. JERRY SEINFELD

10

Here’s another guy who is happy to mix his passion with his craft. Seinfeld’s latest series has him driving around in a variety of exotic machinery chatting with fellow comedians. A Porsche devotee, he bought a 959 despite not being able to drive it (it didn’t comply with US road rules). Other highlights include the ex-Steve McQueen 917 and a rare 550 Spyder.

3. NICK MASON

10

Racing is the Pink Floyd drummer’s passion, and his substantial collection reflects that, including as it does a Bugatti Type 35, Maserati Birdcage, Ferrari 250 GTO, Ferrari 512 S and a McLaren F1 GTR – all used as intended. Over the decades he has also regularly lent his cars to the media for road tests, which makes him an absolute legend in our books!

4. RALPH LAUREN

10

Unsurprisingly, beauty is the prevailing theme of fashion guru Ralph Lauren’s mouth-watering collection. Of particular note are his Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic and 59 GP, Mercedes-Benz SSK and 300SL, Ferrari 250 GTO and LM, McLaren F1 LM, Jaguar D-Type, Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 and 2900. A couple of hundred million dollars well spent, we reckon.

5. BRIAN JOHNSON

10

The enthusiastic AC/DC frontman is another dyed-in-the-wool racer, regularly taking part in historic racing on both sides of the Atlantic in everything from a Lola to a Mini. Johnson also competed in the 2012 Daytona 24 Hour, finishing 12th in the Prototype class. On the road car side of things, there’s a Rolls-Royce Phantom, Audi R8 and Ferrari 458 in his shed.

6. JAY KAY

10

Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay is fond of the outlandish, which is why his new LaFerrari is painted a lurid shade of green. Other treats include Coco Chanel’s 600 Grosser, a Lamborghini Miura, 911 Carrera 2.7 RS and one of the last 300SL Roadsters. An absolute automotive obsessive, he has been banned from driving for speeding numerous times.

7. JAY LENO

10

Everyone knows about Leno’s car collection. One of the largest in the world, it’s regularly documented on his YouTube series Jay Leno’s Garage. As well as the usual exotics, Leno loves interesting, quirky cars such as the Chrysler Turbine Car, Mazda Cosmo, Howard Hughes’ steam car and the EcoJet, a concept built by GM specifically for Leno’s collection.

8. SHANE WARNE

10

Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Warnie has a long history of being spotted on the streets of Melbourne in a variety of flash autos. A couple of Ferraris kicked things off, but more recently the blonde-tipped spin king has opted for AMG daily transport with Lamborghinis for the weekend. And then there’s the Veyron for his European holidays.

9. ROWAN ATKINSON

10

Atkinson is the very opposite of his clumsy alter ego, Mr Bean, behind the wheel. His McLaren misdemeanours are well known, but he is a very handy historic racer. His passion for engineering explains his love of the F1, which has recently been put on the market. It also explains his choice of daily driver for many years, a Honda NSX.

This article was first published in MOTOR April 2015.