Cars

I love driving, always have, driven many vehicles in many countries in many conditions and had many accidents, but always had fun and still do.

Cars and driving them has filled a significant part in my life, starting to drive when i was 15 and passing my test at 17, albeit after three attempts, with my first car a "hand-you-down" mini minor 998 which quickly became a Cooper look-alike then various engine changes became a fun but tired car. Next was a real mini Cooper Mk1 998 which promptly had an engine change to 1275, then got married and started driving sensible cars for a while. 

Then moved through a few sporty cars such as Vauxhall Astra GTE (also known as square wheels after I braked from 130mph to standstill and put nice flats on all four tyres), Ford Sierra XR-4X4, nice and fun.

Got back into minis new and old with a middle-age crisis, got one of the first new Minis, Cooper then converted immediately to a Works model by John Cooper, had a lot of fun until a broadsided it in France, was never the same again. Same time acquired a 1971 MKIII Cooper S, spent several years and tons of money bringing it back to its correct spec and condition.   

The new oneThe old oneThe original oneAstra GTE

In more recent years I have had the opportunity to travel extensively and to drive many types of vehicles in many countries and in many terrains. A huge amount of off-road driving related to my work mostly 4x4, pick-ups, jeeps, etc. Nowadays I tend to have mostly SUVs due to where I live, not much fun but very practical.