Ed speak THE NEXT ISSUE OF EVO WILL BE ON SALE WEDNESDAY 11 MAY

THERE’S NO ESCAPING IT, THE THRILL of driving is harder to seek out with every passing day. In the pursuit of, quite rightly, catching the reckless and dangerous, every motorist has a higher probability of being snared in the authority’s net. The process is black and white: the camera caught you, here’s your fine. Shame the cameras can’t also catch the uninterested and dimwitted who drive at night with no lights on because they see an illuminated dashboard as confirmation someone has turned their dipped beam on for them, too.

But it doesn’t have to be doom and gloom, because away from the congestion, the ANPR cameras and the Vauxhall Zafiras in stealth mode there are venues and activities up and down the country that allow you to go play and explore with your car.

Trackdays are the obvious first step (Have you booked your evo trackday yet? If not, may I suggest you head to evotrackdays.co.uk before they sell out?), but they are not for everyone. So why not try your hand at an autotest or autocross? Or a hill climb? Prefer going against the clock on the flat? There’s always sprinting, and if you want to channel your inner Jethro Bovingdon, take a look at the drifting events. The joy of all of these is that you can partake in your road car. But be warned, you’ll soon want to improve yourself and your car…

A dream road trip remains a core part of enjoying a car, and despite the challenges faced when embarking on such adventures they are still worth every minute and every mile you put into one.

To enjoy driving is to gain pleasure from experiencing the nuances that make one car so different from another, yet to a narrow-minded few this makes us the pariahs of society. But they need to be ignored when shouting nonsense and challenged when suggesting ill thoughtout plans to stop people from enjoying the pleasures of driving.

We’ve had a torrid couple of years, 2022 is looking shaky too, so now is the time to get out and drive, create new memories and enjoy new experiences. See you on the road.