Inside mining mogul Matt Latimore’s ultra-rare Ferrari fleet
M resources boss Matt Latimore owns more than 10 Ferraris worth millions and spends his spare time photographing birds. Wealth isn’t wasted on Australia’s newest billionaire.
Billionaire Matt Latimore spent part of last month in Whyalla, South Australia, examining the wreckage of Sanjeev Gupta’s business empire.
Weeks earlier, he was driving an ultra-rare Ferrari through the Dolomites with an Italian police escort. The 53-year-old has carved out a fortune built on steelmaking coal since he founded private company M Resources 14 years ago.
On Instagram, one million people follow his adventures as a Ferrari ambassador.
Mr Latimore, whose coal investments are spread across trading, mines, mining contracting and rail and port infrastructure, says he’s long on cars.
He owns ‘more than’ 10 Ferraris but won’t reveal the exact number. It is a love affair that started when he was a boy growing up in the NSW country town of Wingham, and has flourished alongside his business career that started at Mitsui, then a decade with Wesfarmers before the Perth-based conglomerate sold out of coal.
“I see them as rolling artworks,” Mr Latimore said of his Ferrari garage. “They’re also very strong investments if you buy the right ones. Unlike a boat which depreciates, the cars in which I’m investing are all going up in value, substantially.”
One of his latest is a Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione, one of five ever made, and which he describes as the final iteration of the 288 GTO and transitional model to the F40.
“Fun times” he said of driving the 650 horsepower car through the Italian mountains as part of the invitation-only Ferrari Cavalcade Classiche event in September.
His social media style comes with Aussie flair, borrowing from AC/DC or The Angels.
Incongruously, his other hobby is photographing Australian birds. Latimore has documented more than 580 from the Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park in Cape York to the Mitchell Plateau in WA’s Kimberley and other remote bush locations. With less time to go bush, his heart is in Maranello.
“It’s not really the number that’s important for me. It’s getting the right ones that are limited, special and really, really high performance,” he said. “I get a lot of amenity out of using them. I attend these events overseas, where I get to drive them for a few days and meet really special people.
“I take business associates or I take friends who have the same shared passion and we have a good time.”
The first Ferrari he purchased was a 458 Speciale, a high-performance version of the 458 Italia and the Ferrari to feature a naturally aspirated V8 engine.
“It’s a lot of lot of fears and energy around driving that car. I love that car. I love the look of it, and it’s probably gone up three times (in value) since I bought it, which is also a nice thing to happen on a relatively modern car.”
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