Picture this. You’re walking on the side of the road towards university having parked what feels like a state away somewhere in Keiraville. You’ve gotten up early, packed your bag full of books and a lazily made lunch for a long day ahead. It’s barely 8:30, its cold, and your hating how much more you have to walk.
As you go to cross the road, amongst all the sounds of commotion, cars, buses and the birds, amongst all that – bam! You hear it. Your head turns. Your ears stand up. That sound!
A quick head turn.. Nothing!
..
..
..and then again, you hear it. You stop. Look around. Your head racing. What is it?
And again, you hear it. Except this time its getting louder. Closer. That deep burble. That distinct noise. Like a classical music piece, this noise is so distinct, so sweet, it instantly puts a smile on your face.
You look around. Again nothing.
…
…
…MMM, its much louder now. The noise bouncing off the trees – you look up at the roundabout, its go to be just over there. AND IT’S COMING THIS WAY!
Wait for it…
Wait…
Bam! There it is!
As it downshifts, you hear the turbo wiz its own crescendo as the exhaust lets out an aggressive purr. The boost builds as the driver throws it into second; heads right through the roundabout and floors it up the street.
In a second it flashes by you.
And then it’s gone. Yet you’re still standing there. On the street. Your feet have long stopped walking. Your body fixated on the glint of colour of what was the car that just pasted you. You’ve got a smile from ear to ear.
That’s what happens to me on a daily basis. At uni, around town. It can happen anywhere, anytime. Just when you doing something important and nothing can break your concentration, it happens.
That’s what its like to be a car guy. For this DIGC330 project, I’m super stoked to say this is what I’ll be researching. I want to look into my own passion for cars, and similarly passions shared by car guys around Australia. Particularly, I want to examine Australian car culture, and the direct and indirect relationship it has come to have with the most culturally developed car culture in the world- Japanese car culture.
To be honest, I can’t recall my first experience with Japanese cars. My dad is definitely a lover of cars, so his influence definitely translated itself on to me during my childhood. But what’s different about me and dad is, my love for getting dirty. He loves the look of cars, the hard work that goes into them, the personal craftsmanship an owner leaves on their machine. He loves his Subaru WRX STI, but he loves leaving his mechanic to the do all the dirty work.
That’s where we are different. I love getting stuck in. Breaking things. Throwing things. Making mistakes. Working in the light. Working in the dark. Working in the sun. Working in the rain. Hating my car. Ignoring it for a week. Ignoring it for a week or two. Hating how much I’ll have to work to buy this, or pay for that. Fixing it. Finally getting the courage to jump back in. And falling back in love with it by the time I’ve reached the top of my street all over again.
And that’s what it’s all about. The love of it. That love for everything to do with cars. Magazines, blogs, videos, car games, photos, posters, long drives, track days, drift days, heading to the race track to watch your favourite series, car meets, hangouts, BBQs, car discussions, helping out friends, arguing about which brand you’d buy, why I did this, why’d you do that. That’s what car guys do.
Most people don’t understand it. “You spent how much on that new steering wheel?” “You went for a drive for no reason? – Why?” “Why is it so loud?” “Why is it so low?” “I swear it spends more time in your garage then actually drivable”
But that’s what makes it so great. It’s a mutual love for machines, shared between mates; shared amongst complete strangers. Not everyone’s tastes are the same. Not everyone’s favourite car is the same. Not everyone’s love for cars is the same. But it’s about that love. That common ground. And it’s something others wont understand. Can’t.
My research will aim to explore these car cultures and they’re direction relationships with Japanese car culture. At this stage it’ll be a series of digital sources on Prezi and WordPress– feature articles, academic writing, interviews, short videos, documenting car culture within Australia and its links to Japanese car culture. This research may provide others with information to better understand the culture, but primarily aims to create a current documentation of this dynamic culture within Australia.
Digital Asia 