Slowing Down

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 1^st 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.