Keep politics out of cars

Motoring enthusiasts are a broad bunch: some are vegetarian, some love nothing more than a beautifully charred fillet steak – but all of us can surely agree that there is no need to discuss anything divisive or polarising when sharing our love of cars.

I’ve been a petrolhead for as long as I can remember, and can confidently state that there is nothing less political than a car. It doesn’t matter whether the vehicle runs on fossil fuels, electricity or a combination of the two; nor is which country a vehicle is manufactured in important, how far it can travel before stopping, or what taxation system it operates under.

There is too much division among car enthusiasts, and there is no need for this. Of what relevance is our membership (or lack thereof) of various trading blocs? Does it really matter if at some point in the foreseeable future a pay-per-mile road-charging system looks likely to be introduced? Is it important if a new emissions standard launches, or manufacturers pay fines to governments if they sell too many of a particular type of car? What odds does it make if we have to take a little extra time on a journey to refuel, when this is clearly no real inconvenience? Such issues might carry weight if you’re a chief executive or member of parliament, but do they really affect anyone else, and do they really matter? Of course not.

Nothing of this kind should sully the sharing of our automotive passions, not least when discussing such contentious issues only leads to discord and disharmony. Why bother? Car enthusiasts are a sunny and homogeneous bunch: we’re all united by the same passions and there are no real differences between us or our views, and we must not pretend otherwise.

Instead, we should unite in our love of all things automotive, celebrating the wonders and joys implicit in motoring without entering into conversations about tricky matters - leave those for the bosses. All us car fans should be doing is sharing pictures and technical highlights of the beautiful vehicles we’re lucky enough to drive or see, waxing lyrical on the joys brought by each model, while shunning anyone who attempts to make a point that is anything other than unambiguously positive and encouraging.

It’s the same story with motorsports: does it matter where races are held, and what political regimes may operate in those locations? Is anyone bothered by changes in management, stewards’ decisions or spending caps? Just sit back, drink in the atmosphere and enjoy the race, chatting about any particularly wonderful bits of driving you might witness.

I have seen too many instances of car enthusiasts disagreeing with each other on social media, when there is absolutely no need for this: there is nothing whatsoever political about cars, which are that rare thing: something everyone unanimously enjoys and appreciates – a truly positive and uncontentious thing like, say, a sunset or foie gras. There is no deeper layer of complexity to cars, no political or societal angle, nothing difficult or disharmonious, and to pretend otherwise is to engage in unnecessarily provocative behaviour. All we need to do is be kind to each other and the cars we love, ignoring anyone we disagree with and protecting our positive positions by refusing to engage in anything other than delightful discourse.

For anyone who feels they might be about to share something someone else might disagree with, just stop and think: is it kind, is it necessary, is it helpful and is it true? If what you're about to say fails to simultaneously meet each of those criteria, you could be about to give voice to un-positive thoughts, or engage in uncollaborative dialogue, so stop yourself, go look in a mirror and repeat three times: there is nothing political about cars; there is nothing political about cars; there is nothing political about cars. See? Now it's true. Easy, isn't it?