Driving just for the hell of it!

[georgeb]

Go on then, is this why do we do this?

This last few weeks have been pretty crappy in that I've not been able to drive for anything over about 15 minutes and have relied on others to ship me around, I’ve had to cancel a planned road trip twice, but I didn't realise how much it had got to me.

This morning, early, I thought stuff it, climbed into my 20 year-old money pit of a P38, on which I've done 95% of the necessary work myself, fired up the V8 and just smoked around a Sunday traffic free Manila for three hours.

Does my ankle hurt? Yes, it bloody well does. Do I have a huge smile on my face? Yes, I bloody well do.

This is what driving a vehicle that you love (retro or no) is all about. Driving for the sheer and utter pleasure of it!

[adam73bgt]

Know the feeling! I've not been out of the house much in the past 3 weeks cos of illness and when I did get out it was boring driving in traffic to and from work. Plus I've not been able to use the 750 as its been sat missing a headlight while I waited the best part of a month for a replacement lens I bought off ebay

But last night I just went for a random B road blast and all was well, its not even a very good car for that sort of driving and half my angel eyes don't even work ¬¬



But its always nice to go for a drive just for the sake of it!

[swampy76]

Adam where is the Saab?

[adam73bgt]

Aug 30, 2015 16:19:28 GMT swampy76 said:

Adam where is the Saab?

Still got it! Its been doing reliable daily service and is (finally) due to get its lowering springs fitted and wheels fitted

[swampy76]

Mine has just completed a 1500 mile jaunt around Europe!
Never missed a beat and did it on much less than three tanks of fuel

[DWDarkWheels]

Good stuff, George. TBH, I rarely go for a drive just for the hell of it. But neither can I imagine being unable to enjoy my fleet.
I'm probably lucky my 30 mile commute consists of free-flowing A and B roads. Maybe I'd go for more random drives if I didn't get my entertainment that way.

[niwid]

Yep. I very rarely drive these days, as I live right in the city centre in which I work and study. A couple of times I have taken the missus 1.0 peugeot 205 out at night and gone for a bit of a blast. It's slow, but has a great chassis and you can push it pretty damn hard without breaking any laws!

[Mercdan68]

Had A great drive out to goodwood races in the old E class I recently bought hour and a half journey and the heavy oil burner lapped it up at around 45 to the gallon!! Oh and we came back from the horses £90 up!!! Enjoyed driving the merc far better than my xj8

[bortaf]

I allways take the long route to and from work, through some country roads, it settles my mind
I don't mind what i drive (aloder the better obv) as long as it makes an interesting drive, i did London to swansea and back this week in a 106 diesel, A roads all the way made it interesting and relaxing, it's like a workout for the brain, tight hairpin corners in a little car with interesting handling traits (80/20 weight distribution for a start!) was fun, the journey there and back is the R and R, not the 3 days doing curse word all in wales
When cr@p gets on top of me it's a couple of hours out in the truck that sorts my head out

[Deleted]

If the weather is okay I'll take the Spitfire out for a blast just for the fun of the drive.

[nomad]

Aug 30, 2015 9:28:09 GMT georgeb said:

Driving for the sheer and utter pleasure of it!

^ Bingo!

The return trip to RRG15 for me should be 2 days and about 450 miles, instead I spent a week and covered over 1,000 miles "just because I could"

It's not often I get a chance to just switch everything off and drive with no direction or deadlines, but I feel much better when I do 

Picnic, sunbathing & watching surfer dues @ North Wales last week on way back from RRG15  

[The Jackeria]

I work nights which realistically is very unsociable, there is next to no-one in the building whilst I'm there and they all have their own things to do in seperate areas, but also because when I get home at 2am or 6am depending on the day I have to be quiet because I don't want to wake my flatmates up (which is something no-one on the day shift understands who tell me if I finish early I should go home to which my response is "why? I'll just have to sit in the dark and can't watch TV or cook etc and I'm not tired, how many people go to sleep as soon as they get in from work only to wake and go back to work?" So I very often if I'm not tired take a trip in the car down to Portsmouth/Southampton to watch the boats come in and go out as well as the sunrise, or go down through all the villages in the area, I've seen a lot of cool cars on my trips and have a much better knowledge of the local area now though I still have a lot to explore, by the time I get back my flatmates are awake or have left for work so I can be myself and make as much noise as I want again, luckily for me my company has a brand new social area with a decent stocked kitchen, showers, comfy sofa's, computers, flat screens etc which has become essentially my second home when I don't want to go home yet. Having a car is very important for me for relaxation, as something to do when it needs repairing but also to keep me sane when there is "nothing" to do. I speak to you now from "home" at work.

Really I need to find a job in the day, but then I wouldn't drive my car as much because I would be out seeing friends going to movies in the evenings etc instead of at work.

[Dorset_Clive]

I'm very lucky to live on the SE corner of Salisbury Plain, so it was fun to take the rally car for an early Sunday morning blast before the dog walkers and horse riders wanted to share the tracks.

Sadly, having crashed on a rally last year, the rebuild is taking a LOT longer than I wanted...'real life' getting in the way

[davethepieman]

Used to enjoy going out just for a drive for the heck of it....when I was still able to drive.

[pistonpopper]

Doing the my twelve cars in a year saga i seem to be going out driving just for the heck of it a lot lately. I'd forgotton how much i enjoy just going for a spin in the car, a lot of my friends are bikers and they go out riding. They're not going anywhere in particular, they just hop on their bikes and head on out on the open road, for no other reason than a recreational ride. We or atleast I, as car drivers don't tend do this. As a rule if we get into the car we're going somewhere, there's a purpose, we're off to work, the shops, meet family or friends, go to the cinema, or whatever. We don't just jump into the car for recreation, just for a drive round, just for fun! I can't understand why this is? Why don't we just go for a drive, i like driving my car, it's fun, but it sits forlornly out on the street with several of my other cars waiting for me to need to go to work, the shops, take the kids to school etc. This is a shame, as when i drive my car, whatever it might be at the time, it's an event, a bit of an adventure, it's fun (unless it breaks down and i end up on the side of the road for hours on end waiting for the RAC to show up!). I don't even feel the need to be blasting through the countryside at warp speed like many of my Power Ranger clad biking mates feel the need to do on their bikes, i'm happy at just 50 to 60 MPH! I was struggling a bit this evening, i couldn't get a wheel off my car, i ended up snapping three sockets, a wheel brace, a two foot bar, and my extending wheel bar! Not happy, the wheels still on the car and it is going nowhere! I'm just glad it happened outside my house and not in the middle of nowhere! Why do tyre shops feel the need to ram the wheel nuts up so damn tight? Anyway, thouroughly urinated off i slumped in the chair. I then decided that i would just go for a run in Mr. T, my latest acquisition, just for fun. i did about 50 miles or so, some on windy country lanes, and some on the motorway. It was pretty qiuet out there this evening, and i just put some Rock n Roll on the wireless and cruised along happily. I arrived home refreshed and in a much better frame of mind.

[igor]

Back in the '80s I used to often go for a drive just for the sake of it and not care that my '51 Vanguard only got 20 mpg but nowadays petrol is too expensive and life's responsibilities get in the way. Still like a road trip with the radio up and the window down on a sunny day but I need an excuse now whereas I didn't back in the day.

[georgeb]

Hmm, we seem to have three camps at the moment:-
1) Those who do;
2) those who have a good commute run and can use it for chilling;
3) and those that did but don't (for whatever reason) any more.

One thing seems common though, is that a good run appears to promote relaxation and helps clear the mind.

As I work mainly from home and Manila during the week is a pig to drive around anyway, then early Sundays are the only real period when the city is tolerable. However, get out of it and it's a different world any time of the week and for me at least, everything outside the city is still new.

Before I did my ankle injury, I had a run into the Sierra Madre range, the mountains that separate the Manila plain from the Pacific Ocean. No particular reason, but I was on my own over a weekend so thought, what the hell, let's go see. Once clear of Metro Manila, traffic just dropped away to virtually zero, apart from small motorbikes, and driving was sheer pleasure. I got back feeling so laid back I was almost horizontal! Same when we had a long weekend to Matabungkay. Madam had a day doing her 'stuff' so I took off for a few hours of fantastic roads, scenery and driving. Total relaxation.

That's why I'm looking forward to my Bataan roadtrip when I'm fit enough (soon now, soon!). Just me, the old '38 with the road to ourselves, ending with a top feed, a few cold ones overlooking the bay and a good night's kip before heading back. Lovely.

So get out there guys, if only for an hour or two every now and again just for the hell of it. To quote nomad, "It's not often I get a chance to just switch everything off and drive with no direction or deadlines, but I feel much better when I do"

It's obviously good for you!

[120y]

My 13 year old Mondeo has done 186000 ive done a lot of work on her recently, now shes blowing oil smoke and she is a pain in the ass. I still take her out and drive her just for the sake of it, I still love the way shes drives, guess I just love the old girl. She will get her engine sorted eventually LOL

[andyf]

I still drive for the heck of it although I usually think up an excuse to do so, such as I need some milk so will drive to a supermarket 10 miles away and then take the scenic route home, when reaqlly I could have walked to the corner shop.

[vitesseefi]

Does driving round Europe, 12 countries in 6 days count......? In a 48 year old Triumph Vitesse......

It's a bit uncivilized on the motorways and you do wonder what the hell you were thinking of when freezing your nuts off, trying to sleep in an Austrian layby in seats that don't recline...... but yowling through the mountains very early in the morning with the road more or less to yourself........



.......oh yes. Pity the road in question is about 1000 miles from home!

Nick