Rise + Drive

‍ The Early Morning Drive: Making Time for the Cars We Love

There’s something about an early drive in the cool morning air that just feels right.
The roads are quieter, the sun is low and the cars seem to come alive in a way they rarely do sitting in the garage. For those of us who spend plenty of time admiring, maintaining and talking about our cars, it’s easy to forget the simplest reason we own them in the first place, to drive them.

As life gets busier, the cars we love can spend more time parked than they do moving. Work, family, weekends full of commitments and the general rhythm of everyday life can make it surprisingly difficult to find the time to enjoy them. That’s where an early morning drive comes in clutch.

Get Out and Drive

You don’t need a destination hundreds of kilometres away or a carefully planned road trip. Sometimes all it takes is a few mates, a full tank and a stretch of good road. Recently, a group of us headed north towards Saddles at Mount White, taking in the Old Pacific Highway along the way. It was exactly the sort of morning that reminds you why car culture is so much more than the cars themselves and why we love being apart of it.

The fresh morning made for perfect driving conditions. The roads were relatively quiet, the scenery was at its best and when you’re surrounded by a group of interesting cars and like-minded people, there was plenty of reason to keep driving.

The Cars Are Meant to Be Driven

There’s an undeniable satisfaction in seeing a car you’ve spent years dreaming about, maintaining or modifying doing exactly what it was built to do. Whatever the car, there’s a different spark that comes from sitting behind the wheel. The sounds, the smells, the way the engine responds, the push and pull of the peddles, the feel of the steering and the simple rhythm of a good road, these are the things that can get lost when a car becomes something you only look at in the garage.

Good Roads Are Better With Good People

Of course, the cars are only half of the equation. The other half is the people you share the road with. Getting together with a good group creates an entirely different experience. You might all have completely different tastes in cars, but the common ground is immediate. There’s always something to talk about, something to admire and inevitably a story or two to share over coffee. It’s never about who has the fastest, the most impressive, or the biggest collection. It’s about being around people who understand why you were willing to get up early on a cold morning just to drive.

A Change of Routine

There’s also something to be said for simply breaking the routine. An early start, a different road, a different car and a few hours away from the usual schedule can do more than just put some kilometres on the odometer. It gives you a chance to switch off from everything else for a while. No meetings. No emails. No errands. Just driving. For a few hours, the focus becomes the road ahead, the car underneath you and the people around you. It’s a simple way to reset before the week ahead. The roads around Sydney offer no shortage of great driving routes, and the Old Pacific Highway remains a favourite for good reason.

With the right company, some fun cars and a destination worth stopping for, you don’t need much more. So, if there’s a car sitting in your garage that hasn’t seen enough of the road lately, this might be your reminder to change that.