It’s the start of a new motoring year and thoughts are turning to the eleven-and-a-bit months ahead. We've had some ideas and inspiration to turn 2017 into your best year on four wheels yet.
GO TO LE MANS AND STAY UP ALL NIGHT
Frankly, until you’ve stayed up all night at Le Mans, you’ve not really been to Le Mans.
You may never do it again, but to stay trackside with a few mates and a few more beers while watching 1000bhp prototypes hurl themselves at the French scenery is an experience without compare. Be at Tertre Rouge at dusk and work your way backwards around the circuit to see all the best viewing spots and be at the Porsche Curves for dawn.
And remember, sports car racing is changing: the top LMP1-H category lost Audi last, leaving just Porsche and Toyota remaining. If one of those goes, it is unlikely the other would hang around, and then the most exciting category of sports car racers since the Group C era of the 1980s will be gone. Catch them while you still can.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TYRE DEALER
The big-name tyre depots are okay but charge a fortune for their services. Most towns have a local business supplying exactly the same tyres for a fraction of the money. There may not be free coffee and a comfy sofa while you wait, but if you’re saving hundreds on a set of tyres (it’s easily done), you may well consider that a price worth paying.
RETRO -ENGINEER AN OLD CAR
Maybe you have an old-ish car already or are thinking of getting one. Chances are it will have been modified by a prior owner either to increase performance or save money. In most cases the result is a poorer car – hardly surprising when you consider the investment made by car companies compared with those who make modified parts. So get an original-spec exhaust, return wheels and tyres to their intended sizes, refit standard suspension and see just how good your old nail can really be.
GO ON A DRIVING HOLIDAY IN THE UK
Post-Brexit, and with the currency unlikely to be anywhere other than on its knees any time soon, it’s the best-value driving holiday you’ll ever have. That said…
DRIVE ON AN AUTOBAHN
While all the Germans are on holiday in the UK taking advantage of the cheap currency, this might be the time to experience life without speed limits. Most German autobahns are not the motoring heaven many people think they are, partly because many have speed limits and those that don’t are usually quite crowded. But choose your road and your time of day well and you can quite legally reach and sustain speeds that would have you up locked up if you were caught doing the same here.
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