4 Things I've Learned After a Two-Month Pandemic Driving Break
Between airport runs to catch a plane to a car launch where I drive something new, road trips to UK shoot locations where I drive some more, and trips to see my widely-scattered family members, clocking up big mileage is part of my life.
But circumstances are no longer normal. Lockdown conditions to halt the spread of Covid-19 in the UK put all of that on pause. Over a period of a month and a half, I’ve travelled 15 miles by car, going no further than our nearest supermarket a couple of miles away. And on a few occasions, I went two weeks without driving at all…
When restrictions were eased slightly, I drove a little further for exercise, and have also been able to ease back into low-scale shoots and driving opportunities. So, having effectively taken a two-month hiatus from driving, here’s what I’ve discovered on my gradual return.
I'm more patient than before
People who know me will know that I have a short temper. Whether it’s an electronic appliance that’s not working, a painful toe-stub or someone on the road who seems to have no clue how to safely operate a motor vehicle, I love to lose my rag.
After my ‘break’, however, I have much more patience. Perhaps I’m happy to give people the benefit of the doubt, given that everyone is going to be a little rusty right now, or it could be down to the fact the roads are still much quieter than usual. All I know is I’m much calmer behind the wheel than I was. Hopefully it’ll last…
Long journeys seem... long
Get into the routine of taking long journeys by road, and they start to pass a lot faster. The longer stints I’ve done over the last few days, however, felt like they lasted an eternity.
In fact, I find myself glancing back at the sat-nav more often than before, expecting huge chunks of miles to have evaporated, only to find I’ve covered only a handful. Thank God traffic jams are - for now at least - a rarity.
Modest power feels rocketship fast
If you spend a lot of time with powerful cars, mega acceleration soon becomes less shocking. After the ‘break’ though, everything felt quick, including my ~180bhp R53 Mini Cooper S. Meanwhile, ‘my’ BMW 840d Gran Coupe felt like a rocketship.
That being said, an afternoon with the brutally fast 992 Porsche 911 Turbo S has shifted me back towards being desensitised to speed once again.
Most of all, I've missed driving more than I realised
I’ve pined after a lot of things over the last few weeks. The chance to see my extended family. Outings to the pub with mates. Gnarly mountain bike trails. Five Guys burgers. But weirdly, not driving (probably because I needed a bit of a break from it).
But now, I’m being reminded what a joy driving can be; it puts great things within easy reach - be that friends, family or amazing places - and, depending on the car, it’ll make sure the bit in between is a whole lot of fun.
Of course, we’re not out of the woods yet, so a lot of the things we use cars for still aren’t possible or at least not advisable. But when life returns to some semblance of normality, the loyal car will be ready and waiting. And I can’t wait.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Tbh all i did during quarantine was driving around. Gas was cheap and i had nothing else to do, since i couldn’t go to work. I racked up like 5000kms during that time, because lets be honest: sitting alone in your car wont give you any more corona that sitting alone at home does
No, but if you had a crash you would be taking up an ambulance crew and then a hospital doctor and team who could be helping someone with covid. I think your completely selfish
Not sure what the rules were where you live, but doing that would have been illegal here during the full lockdown period. Also if you’re clocking 5000km just by driving around for the sake of it, you’re not just sitting alone in your car - that’s a lot of needless trips to the petrol station…
Matt Robinson food and driving is always nice
Where I live traffic was light for 2 weeks in March but the people who were on the road were always doing at least 10 mph(16kph) over the limit. I had to make a conscious effort not to speed, I think when other cars are around you rely on relative speed instead of your speedometer. I saw a cop make a meme about it but I can’t find it so I’ll leave you with this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fV9-Ijl5CXM
The lockdown is the only time I can achieve my vehicle’s top speed. The roads were super clear and i can merge lanes to lanes with ease… Fun times indeed >:D
This is clear signs of someone wanting to head to jail for a period of time!
I changed my oil after the lockdown started, and I’ve got about 2k km until the next change. I drove a lot during this period, mostly for the sake of driving. gas stops were pretty much contactless, the roads were free and I’ve never been pulled over even though the police was patrolling more than before. I love to just get in the car and drive so the lockdown was pretty easy for me
For me it will be weird going back to driving again, I havent driven in a few weeks and well I have driven during lockdown its been weird watching everything going on and seeing just how little traffic there is out there, its going to be weird going back to work but since work is in a shed effectively I am not entirely sure when that is going to happen….
Nation’s cars have been gathering dust and cobwebs? 😂😂
Everybody cleaned their cars almost everyday out of boredom around here.
I’ve never seen cars that clean.
Like, they even cleaned their brakes.
You could literally see yourself in everybody’s brake discs.
Everything was so clean it looked like a showroom.
Now cars are dirty again.