Fly on Corporate Wall
Kampol Tansajja, director of Nongnuch Garden & Resort in Pattaya, is a 64-year-old hotrod nut. He says he'll keep driving cars fast as long as he can still sit behind a steering wheel.
A friend bought a supercar and Kampol asked him why. “You always drive a pickup truck at work!” The friend replied, “How much longer do you think you’ll be able to drive a fast car?”
The response got Kampol thinking, he tells Hello! magazine, and the next thing he knew, he too owned one – a very fast car. Now he’s also got 30 so-called “toy cars”, meaning full-scale replica vehicles that are more fun than fast.
All of his wheels are on display at his popular tourist attraction, adding to the photo opportunities for visitors. You can pose with a Lotus 304 or F1 or a Morgan or a KTM superbike.
Lovely, say his pals, but why don’t you have a Ferrari or Lamborghini? “They’ve never been on my wish list,” he explains. If he’s got Bt20 million to spend, he’d rather buy three more “toys” than one Ferrari. “I prefer the more unique cars that no one else wants. I know they’ll still look good in 20 years.”
Driving the faster models in Thailand – and in Switzerland where he’s got a few more – is one of Kampol’s few passions. He has no “nightlife” despite being single and only goes out occasionally to see a movie.
Maybe his life is too simple for a successful businessman, Kampol wonders. He owns exactly two jackets and has no intention of buying another unless one of them gets damaged. “I think I’m on the sufficiency path at my own level,” he chuckles.
That does not extend to Nongnuch Garden, however. His plans for the resort are what they call “ambitious”. Within five years he wants it to be a world must-see, the best botanical park on the planet.
He’s going to have to be very fast about it.
