Supercar spotting with the V8 Audi Nuvolari in London

Currency here isn’t steering feel, ride quality and residuals, it’s about what looks the maddest and sounds the loudest, with extra points for rarity. “We like to call it kerbside appeal,” says Freddie Atkins (aka @tfjj), one of the biggest names in the game – doing it since he was 11 and now with 700k followers on Instagram. “This is the hotspot. Mayfair, Mount Street. Used to be Sloane Street before it got pedestrianised and widened a little bit for the pavement, so you can’t park there anymore. A lot of the owners actually enjoy the attention and being papped – it’s competitive, who can show up in the most exciting supercar or hypercar?”

Photography: Dean Smith

Us, of course. For this willy waving mission we’ve chosen the Audi Nuvolari, revealed to the sound of jaws hitting the floor at the 2026 Monaco GP – partly due to its monolithic styling, partly because Audi skipped the pesky concept car stage and just pulled the sheet off a finished production car. Until Audi gets busy building the 499 coupes it’s promised, at around £500k a pop, that makes this a one-of-one. Just the ticket for a swarm of hungry lenses fed on the exotic and rare – a billet of pure unobtanium.

Our first destination is The Connaught hotel, a popular hunting ground for the high performance paparazzi, but first we have to get there and I’m riding shotgun. Full disclosure, we barely crest 30mph all afternoon, so I won’t be delivering the definitive verdict on how the Nuvolari behaves at the limit of adhesion. What I can tell you is it feels stiff.

Most supercars do, but this isn’t some TT in drag, it’s Lamborghini Temerario-based, but actually turns up the wick compared to the baby Lambo with fixed-rate dampers, more downforce (yes really), more power and a generally more aggressive demeanour than the Bauhaus styling suggests. It sounds bassy, will clearly be crushingly fast given it features a 987bhp version of the Tem’s twin turbo V8, tri-motor hybrid guts, and the interior is magnificent – pared back like a piece of unaffordable furniture, then decorated with large chunks of machined metal, y’know, like Audis used to be.

I’m pleased to report it also looks properly show-stopping in person. In pictures it seemed enormous, with more than a hint of Murcielago in the vast plains of its rear flanks. In reality it’s a size down and all the better for it. I’m still jarred by that pinched front grille and there’s an odd slab-sidedness to it, but it looks like nothing else. In this world of copy-paste car design, that’s a victory in itself.

Somewhere near Trafalgar Square we bump into one of the future 499 owners at the traffic lights, the president of the FIA – Mohammed Ben Sulayem. No, really, this wasn’t planned. I drove his custom-built Koenigsegg Chimera a few years back so we stop and exchange pleasantries. I take my time to eloquently explain the Nuvolari to him; its powertrain, the price, the design philosophy. Frankly, I’m on a roll as he listens patiently... then tells me he knows all about it, he’s got one on order. Doh.

We arrive at The Connaught and the spotters swarm like flies, fully aware there’s a golden opportunity here to score views and gain follows. Back to Freddie: “You want to be the first on the scene. That’s the aim because as soon as it’s five, six videos, not everyone’s going to watch yours. If you’re the first to get it, everyone’s looking at your content. It feels like a race.”

Keen to keep this feeding frenzy rolling, we relocate around the corner to The Connaught’s sister hotel, The Berkeley, and create fresh bedlam when we park up on the forecourt. We talk to the doorman who plays a key role in this choreographed mayhem, (carefully) parking supercars for owners, picking who gets the prime spot, and deciding when a little crowd dispersion is required.

Who gets the spaces out front? “It depends, normally we try and keep them for short stays, if there’s somebody dining here for example. If it’s a supercar, which is probably low, then we would rather not park that in the garage and take the risk, just keep it up here. Sometimes the spotters become too much, so I’ll ask them not to stand inside the private property. Our concern is more that cars can be scratched, we want to avoid any silly accidents.”

In front, there’s a red Ferrari 12Cilindri parked up, the owner probably seething that we’ve got the central spot on the forecourt. Then I’m introduced to him – and he’s an actual Qatari sheikh. “The guys here, they take good care of me. Because usually they like to park the nicer cars up front because it brings attention to the hotel. The attention can be nice, but it’s also a bit annoying because everyone knows where you are. Especially now I’m changing my numberplate, it’s just going to make it even more obvious. And I’m fitting a gold-plated Akrapovič exhaust to match the 24-carat gold-flake in the paint.” Ideal for flying under the radar.

We meet Ollie (@OllieTheCarKid), the 11-year-old, self-proclaimed ‘London’s youngest car spotter’ who hands me his card like a seasoned businessman. “I got into it during COVID, when me and my dad were bored. We went to London and I saw a Ferrari, he recorded my reaction and posted it to a private account for only friends and family. When we made it public we had 10,000 followers in the first three weeks.” As this is happening a woman arrives and starts playing the flute next to the Nuvolari, while her friend films on a phone. I wonder if I’m hallucinating?

I end up chatting to Freddie again. By now, him and others have already posted multiple videos and images announcing the Nuvolari’s debut on London streets, and their view counters are spinning like fruit machines. I ask what his ultimate spot might be? “A CLK GTR Mercedes, preferably a roadster if we’re being picky,” he says without pause. “We see McLaren F1s, Maserati MC12s, but I still get a kick out of stuff like the Aventador and 458 which have stood the test of time.”

I ask Freddie if he owns anything interesting himself? “A 458 and an Aventador.” I’m in the wrong game.