There’s no surprise if I say winter is already here, I drove to work in my normal car today and I felt the need to wear my coat, gloves and ear muffs.As I drove I realised that my dreams of building a TukTuk begun in summer and all my experiences of traveling in a TukTuk were done in countries where even with the open sides I could feel the heat going right through me.So it’s clear, I forgot to keep in mind that it gets cold here in Great Britain and unlike in the hot countries where a fan or some sort of air-con would be nice in a TukTuk, here in Britain air-con is not required.But I’ll definitely need to find me some super heaters to keep me warm through my winter tuktuk adventures.
Just in case my super heaters don’t work and I get stranded, maybe I’ll get myself a car emergency kit and a big fleece coat to keep me safe and warm while I get rescued.
From my travels to the eastern parts of the world, I remember a rule on the roads in Bangladesh that I suppose applies in the UK as well.But our approach in the UK isn’t as aggressive as I saw in Bangladesh.
To drive in Bangladesh, you must learn how to do road rage.It’s all a part of driving, you must also toot your horn more than you press the accelerator and learn how to ignore every colour of the traffic light, especially as the local electricity tends to cut out around 4pm from overheating, at which point there are no street lights let alone traffic lights.
The rule in particular I’m talking about is the survival of the biggest rule.In the UK we call it giving priority to larger vehicles.In Bangladesh, if you are a Coach or TaTa Truck, then the road is officially yours and you can speed up behind cars and literally force them to move over, in return the cars aim for the wonderful Tuk Tuks which luckily are not the end of this chain, the Tuk Tuk crew get to push around motorbikes and Rickshaw riders.And if you thought that it ends there, then you’re wrong.The rickshaw drivers have the task of getting the sheer number of human traffic to stay out their way.So in a way if the truck didn’t start the chain off, we would have roads full of people trying to walk over each other.
So all this brings me to my latest addition to my future Tuk Tuk build, I will need a warning triangle and possibly a in car First Aid Kit.I found a great deal at www.essexautoparts.co.uk, they have 25% off their First Aid Kits and good deals on other car safety products.
So, I was thinking ahead and as usual dreaming of my future with my Tuk Tuk and it hit me I haven’t included a very important factor into my Tuk Tuk build!A sound system and my I.C.E (In Car Entertainment)
I decided that having a really expensive sound system and possibly screens was a bad idea, seeing as my Tuk Tuk doesn’t really come with doors and there was no way I’d lose the authenticity of my Tuk Tuk by adding doors to it.
The solution was simple, I stick my itouch in there, which holds all my crazy head bangers and conveniently has a screen I can watch my downloaded movies on.So off I went to my trusty search engine and typed in in-car iPod connector and up came a million results and before I knew it I got my iTuk connections ready to roll.
In my automotive life so far, I’ve been fortunate enough to drive a massive range of cars. I’ve driven big cars, small cars, super-fast ones and the not so fast cars.
When I was 19, it was all about driving the little mini Austin me and my friend had chipped in and bought. The whole £50 we paid, bought us this gorgeous silver and sky blue Mini. The yellow car you see behind is owned by our slightly more flash git friend, if your bothered then check out his blog Petrol Love.
The mini was much loved, probably because we were getting high off the constant smell of petrol in the car. But it lived a short life; we parked it up one night and when we came back to it in the morning we found it smashed to bits by little vandals.
Few years later I decided that I’d finally go get myself an actual driver’s license and I started my legitimate driving life with a “you’ve been tangoed” orange Fiat Punto. Which served me well, and I’m sure I lived in that car for the 1st week I had it. Shame it started breaking down a lot on me and I needed Fiat Parts on a regular basis.
I then moved onto something a little fast, my first BMW. Naturally having an orange car as my first car, the second one had to be a little different, so I went for the Flamenco Red BMW 3 series. I named this car the road eater; it would chomp through the road and get me to places very fast.
Things just kept getting faster after the BMW, I had the pleasure of driving a Lamborghini Gallardo, several of them actually and then went onto buy myself a Chrysler 300C Hemi, it wasn’t no ordinary Chrysler, it was the 5.7 litre monster with the modified grills and 22inch chrome alloy wheels. I was rolling like a pimp! And here’s a fact that no one believes when I tell them, the Chrysler I owned was the actual car Jeremy Clarkson test drove on top gear. See it for yourself the registration plate’s match. But I don’t blame people for not believing it, as I said “yeah whatever” to the person who sold me the car.
Above: Chyrsler Hemi when I had it. Below: Same Hemi on BBC's Top Gear
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/sand-blast-2-part-2 <--Video Link
After I had realised I’m not an oil rich sheikh, I decided to get rid of the Hemi. Since then I’ve carried on driving many different cars, I’ve managed to get my hands on a Ferrari F430 Spider and drive it so fast I was scared to look down and find out how fast I was going. I’ve even driven the car I dreamt of owning, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, which I had the pleasure to also take out on a track day event. I've driven a range of Porsche's from the Boxter to the Carrera 4 Sport and even a Rolls Royce Phantom.In between I managed to also fit in a Toyota Prius Hybrid and most recently I drove the Abarth 500, which was a mental little car.
Theres so many more cars I've had the pleasure of driving, I could go on forever. But I think as I get older and stingier, the idea of zooming around in my Tuk Tuk, while my few nice cars are safely parked at home sounds appealing. So on I go with my mission to build this Tuk Tuk, roam the street of London and start slowing down.
Below is a video of the fast days. It wasn't me but it was fun.
