On Missing Driving

I've missed driving my car. Call me crazy given that I was in a massively hot country enjoying such delights as lazing around on a beach, but I genuinely missed driving my car.

Now that I'm back, I'm driving it if not every day then probably 6/7 days a week. It has helped me move house, kept me warm when it's cold outside and of course made sure I got to work quickly and safely. As such, please salute my car, Black.

Named after it's colour. Original or what...

Scary Mopeds

Whilst on holiday I had the (mis)fortune of bombing down a road at about 8 in the morning on the back of a moped driven by a rather nice person who gave me a lift. I'll say right now that it is probably one of the seemingly fastest rides I've ever had, but it was scary nonetheless.

Comparatively, a car feels invincible. This is a feeling that is quickly changed when in a crash, but still, I'd bet it feels a lot more safe than being thrown tens of feet from a glorified rollerskate on wheels. Nonetheless, bikes aren't my thing. I'm not quite sure I'd want to repeat it either. It sure was an experience though.

Estate Cars

I was passed by a couple of estate cars today - they were going pretty fast. One of them was an Audi, maybe an S4 variant. I know that estate cars as a rule aren't the prettiest or the most cool looking but this was a case in point - they can have appeal. Of course, the power helped...

Well, here's Clarkson banging on about the Dodge Viper SRT-10. I couldn't not feature it after seeing a Dodge pass me in real life... Absolutely fantastic.

Paris Hilton - A Bad Driver?

Paris Hilton has reportedly been driven screaming back to jail. She's doing some time at the moment as firstly she was on probation for drink-driving but then took the decision to still drive her Bentley without a valid license.

So, not just one but two offences. Drink driving is pretty despicable. Someone at work recently admitted they had 'four or five drinks' and still drove home because they felt fine. Tell me when you don't feel 'fine' after a few drinks? Frankly I think the law as it stands isn't hard enough on drink driving offences. It's pretty obvious that alcohol can have a huge effect even in small doses if you're say stressed or have had a very tiring day (or suffering from lack of sleep, or a whole range of other affects) so why risk it at all?

Paris Hilton also drove without a valid license. I haven't followed the full facts of the case but I'm assuming that this means whilst on probation she was under a driving ban. Whoops, she still drove. As if she can't afford a chauffeur. Well, whatever. I guess her Bentley will just have to be parked for a while. Given how rich she is (coupled with her total disregard for the safety of others) I am hoping that the 45 days in jail does make her think twice before getting behind the wheel of anything faster than a boxcart.

Bike Vs Car

At an undisclosed location on private land (no risk to the public) I was fortunate to have a race against a bike. I'm not sure what the bike was but it was a big cruiser type by BMW. A few things came out of the race:

• Cars will almost certainly never win out against bikes, due to the power vs weight and cornering ability of the bike.
• That is all.

So there we have it. I was well and truly smoked by the bike. The story may have been different if I was in a Lotus or a high-end Caterham but my trusty large hatchback stood no chance whatsoever. Good to see the bike making away at full throttle whilst I waited for the next change up though.

Drop Tops

Yes, I'm very jealous. I would love a car where I can pop the roof down. The weather we've had here in the UK has been pretty good for driving, and damn good for posing of course. Still, I like the stability and space of my bigger-than-average hatchback. Of course given that I'd like a drop top and the weather is good I couldn't not give a list of some I'd like:

• Nissan 350Z Cabriolet
• VW Beetle
  
• Mazda MX-5
• MG TF
• Ferrari F430 Spyder