How To Still Enjoy Cars During The Coronavirus
The start of summer is not only the start of car show season but also many other enjoyable activities such as cruises, conventions, motorsports, museums, and many other enjoyable activities. Of course we all know this year had a different idea in mind which led to everything being canceled and life being put on hold and at the time of this writing 8 months later, lockdowns are being lifted but the cancelation of many events continue.
What is a car guy to do?
Here’s a quick list of some things we suggest to still get some enjoyment out of the passion of cars & trucks.
1.Check Out Your Local Grassroot Motorsport Events
(Photo credit via https://www.scca.com/pages/cam-challenge)
You may have seen that large motorsports such as NASCAR and Formula 1 have continued to have races but the stands are completely empty. This has made it enjoyable to watch on TV but still doesn’t quite do it for many of us. Smaller events are starting to pop up again which may include a number of allowed spectators or you may be able to watch from a distance a lot of the time. The smaller motorsport events include SCCA Autocross, Track Days, and NASA Motorsport events, and Drag Racing. These events are great to see some cool cars get driven the way they’re meant to be and you support your local grassroot motorsport heroes. To find these events I recommend finding your local region with SCCA and NASA and If possible doing a quick search on Facebook for this region, a lot of the time people make groups to be able to communicate easier. You’ll be able to see if events are ongoing and if spectators are allowed. You may even get lucky and see somebody having fun with their classic car/truck project.
https://www.scca.com/pages/what-s-my-region
https://www.nasaproracing.com/regions
2.Work On A Project Or Plan Your Next One
With the new amount of free time given by not being able to go to many events or seeing many friends, a lot of us have been getting back to projects that in a normal year we wouldn’t have the time to tinker with. For me when I don’t have the cash to start buying and installing parts I like to either plan a road map of the next phase of my current project or start researching the next project I have in mind years from now. For example the next project I would personally love to build (If you haven’t guessed) Is a track ready classic muscle to do some competitions with but still enjoy on the street. Now the research I need to start doing is; what classes are available for which makes/models? What’s the most competitive platform? What modifications are allowed and not allowed? I love to sit down and map out a whole plan and then imagine enjoying this project one day.
3. Check Out a Virtual Automotive Museum Tour
A few automotive museums began hosting virtual tours during the lockdown over summer but if you missed out many of these tours are still available to check out! Hands down my favorite is the Petersen automotive museum. Currently the museum is still closed but when it does open up in the future I highly recommend checking it out! I’ve personally went there last year and loved every moment of it. Make sure to attend their vault tour as well for the full experience. Lastly the National Corvette Museum also has a Google Maps style virtual tour that you can check out as well.