Monday, December 30, 2013

My First Love - Cars

Starting young
Starting young!

Posing with a nice rear
Posing with a beautiful rear!

Proud Collection
So the OCD isn't a recent development!

Drawing on the floor
Look at the concentration and old school printer paper!

Work on display at exhibition at Northumbria University
Some of my work on display at Northumbria University.

Final Major Project
My Final Major Project exhibited at New Designers.

I have a confession to make, I'm in love with cars. I love cars like women love shoes! I wish I had a romantic story to tell about the first time I laid eyes on a Ferrari and fell in love, but the truth is I've loved cars for so long that I can't remember the first time this realisation struck me! I was born into a family of car and motorsport fanatics. My dad and uncle had a series of various performance cars over the years and I was even named after triple Formula 1 Champion Niki Lauda.

So it comes as no surprise that this passion was passed onto me as a young child. Every birthday and Christmas, all my toys would be either model cars or some form of vehicle, and if my parents or grandparents wanted to keep me occupied, all they had to do was give me pen and paper and I'd be happily drawing cars for hours! This eventually led to me graduating from an automotive design course at university.

As I have got older it is Formula 1 that totally consumed my life! I watch all the practice sessions when nothing actually happens and I even wake up at ridiculous o'clock to catch the races live when they're in the far east. None of my friends and family understand my love for it! They just think I'm crazy when I can watch the replay at a normal 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon! Nor do they understand why I have to, or even want to fix my own car! "Take it to the garage" they say, but they don't understand the beauty of getting down and dirty with the nuts and bolts of your car, that sense of achievement of having fixed something! It's going to sound really sad, but my feelings for my car are somewhat similar to the feelings a dog owner has to their pooch! It's a two way thing, I look after the car, and the car gives me joy when I drive it!

I can't really explain why I love cars, I never get bored of looking at them. It doesn't even have to be an exciting car, I could be following a Ford Focus in traffic and I'd be staring at it and boring everyone in the car with facts and figures about it! I can even tell the make and model of a car at night from the shape of the rear lights, this party trick is usually followed by questions such as "What was your score on the autism test again?". To many people a car is just an appliance or tool. I mean, can you imagine your friend started telling you the specs of a washing machine?! To many people a car is on the same level as a washing machine or computer, a tool that does a job. But for me, its something to study, understand and admire. I think I may have a problem...


2 comments:

  1. Wow it sounds like you really do love cars! I like Top Gear and occasionally watch the F1 highlights, but I must admit other than that I'm a bit rubbish...I'll come to you if I have any car questions now, haha :)

    Heidi

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  2. Aww that first photograph is so adorable! It sounds like you love cars as much as my boyfriend loves planes, I'm constantly amazed by how many plane related facts he tells me. Definitely not a problem, I think it's only a good thing to have something you feel so passionately about!

    Jennie | sailorjennie.com

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