This article is not really about cars. This stray article, published late in the morning, it is above all an outburst about the pleasure of driving and a handful of other banalities. It is for those who have followed Reason Automotive for a long time and are already used to these ramblings.
Who has never ended the week wanting to make everything take a turn? And when you feel like ordering everything to take a turn, the best remedy is for us to be the ones going to give “that” curve. Without meaning to, I went to take this curve…
Weeks that never end
Yesterday I left the Ledger Automobile office late and tired. Fed up! But even fed up with cars. A whole week of writing and talking about cars, after the next week I took it with an overdose of cars at the Geneva Motor Show.
I would like to meet the genius of the pocketbook who once said “those who run for pleasure never get tired”. What a big lie. Doing what we like is a lot of work and also tiring. I ended this week putting powers, displacements, standard equipment and the problems arising from the daily life of any company through the eyes.
The problem with making our professional life what we like most is that we contaminate this “hobby” with the normal problems of any activity – unpaid bills, unpaid bills… the normal.
Testing a car is no longer just driving, writing is no longer just writing.
When I left the office I just wanted to go home and rest. It was really accumulated tiredness. As you know, there is nothing that gives me more pleasure than sharing some stories with you here at Razão Automóvel – like this one, for example. Or this one about my first car, which has a number of years on it.
"1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear. It counts revs always hitting 5,500 rpm (it wasn't worth stretching any further)."
The rest are normal articles, where factuality and rigor prevail that made Razão Automóvel what it is today.
And since you're taking the trouble to read this (I said that this article was only for the «hards» who have been following us for a long time) you should know that soon, very soon, we will be launching several new features here at Razão Automóvel.
Among other news, you will also be able to contribute content to our website. But let's go back to the topic of this article and leave the news for another time…
Things can always get worse...
I left the office and got into the Mazda MX-5 RF with as much desire to drive as to take a beating to the «old Portuguese».I protested that the car was small and short, and this and that. I started the engine, pointed the wheels towards the South Rim and off I went towards the house – saying some mental curses along the way. The mood was so good that I'd rather be behind the wheel of my 1.5 dCi Mégane with 200 000 km — which happens to have a problem with the ring of an injector — than the MX-5 RF.
Returning to Mazda. “Damn it! Who messed with the bank?” I teased with everything in the car—everything! Until some lights, already at the foot of the south-central roundabout, caught my attention. “Operation STOP, well then… it was just what I needed”. “Good evening Mr. Driver, your documents please”. Fuck I forgot my wallet at the office!
"The car gives us the feeling that we are the ones in charge of events."
I just needed this one. Fortunately the law enforcement officials couldn't have been more understanding. They let me go after showing some photocopies of my documents and blowing the balloon — I didn't accuse anything, of course. But I was so disoriented that I ended up going to the Costa de Caparica side instead of going to Almada.
But they can also improve…
1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear. It counts rotations always hitting 5500 rpm (it wasn't worth stretching any further). And when I realized I was unloading the frustration of these days on the little Japanese boy. And it resulted damn.
I had come all the way haranguing the car industry and suddenly I was back to my normal self: nice car! I got back to liking cars. Not that I had stopped liking it, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd driven with such satisfaction.
I ended up not going back at the Monte de Caparica roundabout. I decided to explore the back roads I had never walked on. I've been looking for turns and trying to escape the A38's speed radar.
I picked up the electrically operated metal hood (I like the MX-5 better with the manual canvas hood…), turned on the radio and got lost along the South Bank. I'm from Alentejo, I work in Lisbon, but I live around here. It was easy to get lost because I don't know anything on this shore.
The cloud hovering over my head was blown away by the wind – perhaps because I had pulled back the hood. Driving is really the best medicine. I didn't solve any problem but I got a clear head and I didn't even have to go beyond 5500 rpm.
From that moment on, my wish was to have driven until sunrise – the only reason I didn't do it was because I felt like going to the bathroom (a real reason for m… shit!). But it was good to get lost at the wheel.
That's why we like cars.
There is so much in our lives that we don't control — the urge to go to the bathroom for example (lol). And in the midst of it all, the car remains an exception. Cars still give us that control, that freedom. At the wheel we go where we want, and how we want! If it's a rear-wheel drive car, it can even be on the side… it should be on the side.
The car gives us the feeling that we are the ones in charge of events. Right turn, lock. Turn left, accelerate and shift gears. 5500 rpm! This happened to happen in an MX-5 RF – an excellent companion for this purpose – but it could have been any other car.
It is for these and others that cars fill our imagination. I bet we're in this together: we've all had a terrible week where we just want to get in the car and go somewhere, no matter what. My day was yesterday, and yours?
I take this opportunity to dedicate a few words of appreciation to the Mazda MX-5 RF that took me through this troubled weekend.
He behaved at the height. It's not a sports car with overwhelming power (the 1.5 l engine with 131 hp is fair), but it was exactly what I needed this Friday. A car that was well behaved, incisive, that didn't challenge me and that did everything I told it to do. And did.
It was excellent therapy. I recommend. Driving is really the best medicine...