My other car's a FUR-rari: The annual parade of supercars covered in velvet, chrome and even china flown over to London by mega-rich Arabs is more vulgar than ever

This Ferrari is bound to grab attention with its velvet-covered roof

A Ferrari 599 sits outside a designer clothes store near Sloane Square in London. These powerful supercars, which go from zero to 60mph in 3.7 seconds and can reach 205mph, are designed to turn heads.

But this one is a real attention-seeker: its bodywork has been wrapped in black velvet.

Perhaps you could call it a Furrari.

As a statement of untrammelled wealth, this motor takes some beating. Normal 599s start at £212,000, but customised versions cost hundreds of thousands more. And when that black velvet gets spattered with dirt or mud, you can’t take it to a car-wash. Instead, every inch needs to be shampooed and hand-brushed by a team of flunkies.

But for the Middle Eastern owner seen helping his leggy girlfriend and her luxury shopping bags into the passenger seat this week, the motor, with its customised vehicular dinner jacket, is exactly what he needs to keep up with the Joneses.

In recent years, around the time of Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, and the Lord’s Test, the streets of Central London have played host to an extremely modern addition to the time-honoured calendar of the summer social season. To those in the know, it’s called the ‘Ramadan Rush’.

In the weeks before and after the Muslim holy month of fasting, which this year begins on Tuesday, thousands of young and spectacularly wealthy residents of oil-rich Gulf states flock to our capital, seeking an escape from the oppressive heat and (whisper it quietly) conservative laws and social customs of their home countries.

And unlike other holidaymakers, they don’t turn up with a couple of suitcases and a carrier bag full of duty free. Instead, the glamorous ‘Gulfies’ charter entire cargo jets to fly over their collection of customised supercars.

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