Sheer Driving Pleasure – Driven To Write

How To Be a Motoring Enthusiast in the 21st Century – Part 3

Does this story have a happy ending?

In part one of this little series, I sought to share the thought process arising (inevitably, it seemed to me) from the moral uncertainty surrounding enthusiasm for cars powered by the internal combustion engine in this age of global warming. In part two, we took a trip into a possible future resulting from the current state of affairs. Both articles led to a healthy discussion in the comments and, following part two’s diversion into utopian fiction (that many found to be dystopian), I want to try to provide some sort of conclusion to this story. Can it still end well?

Firstly it is important to note that the day in the life of possible-future-me is an imagining; one of many possible futures, rather than a prediction, though I do think it reasonably plausible. Secondly, when we Continue reading “How To Be a Motoring Enthusiast in the 21st Century – Part 3”

Going for a Drive

The author regrets an increasing antipathy towards a pleasure that was very much a part of his earlier life experience and remained so until recently. There are, however, grounds for hope and optimism.

I have been driving for over forty years. In that time, the automotive landscape has changed in ways that were simply unimaginable when, as the proud owner of a newly minted driving licence, I took to the road in my first car, a second-hand VW Beetle.

Owning a car gave you freedom to Continue reading “Going for a Drive”

Advertising: Speak My Language

Vorsprung durch… advertising.

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When Sir John Hegarty; doyen of UK advertising and co-founder of renowned ad-agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty took on the Audi creative account back in 1982 the Ingolstadt marque’s image was somewhat nebulous. Yes, they had launched the trendsetting Quattro coupé and were fast gaining a reputation for unorthodox engineering ideals, but they faced as precipitous an ascent to the summit of the automotive ziggurat as Infiniti does today. Continue reading “Advertising: Speak My Language”