Sophie: Hi, I’m Sophie Marie, Odum Lifestyle Magazine’s editor,
Sam: and I’m Samantha Renke Broadcaster and Disability Rights Campaigner. And welcome to the Motability Lifestyle Pod. In this podcast, we invite all our friends from the disability community into the studio for a conversation about how we can all live our best lives.
Particularly when navigating a disabling world
Sophie: Today we are joined by two guests no less. Mike Newman, who broke multiple world records in blind racing. And together with John Galloway, he set up the charity speed of sight to give other blind and disabled people a chance to experience a life changing thrill of moving at speed
Sam: I mean, my wheelchair goes up to six miles per hour and I feel like an absolute speed demon. So that is right up my street. And of course, reasons to be cheerful this week. And, uh, Matt is back with plenty more car chat.
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Sophie: Hi, Sam.
Sam: Hello, my darling. How are you?
Sophie: I’m well, thank you. How are you?
Sam: I’m okay. I’m [00:01:00] plodding on. I am. No, I’m good.
Sophie: Good, good, good. I have a story this week, which I think will make you really happy. Can you guess what it’s about? Um,
Sam: it’s either gotta be about Buffy or cats So
Sophie: So it’s cats
Sam: Yay. I’m, I’m a simple woman. What can I say easily pleased
Sophie: Well, let me tell you about this story. So Zebby a two year old black and white cat from Derbyshire was named Cat Protection’s National Cat of the Year. As he alerts his deaf owner, Genevieve Moss to sounds around the house. He cleverly does this by tapping her to alert her to noises like the phone or the doorbell ringing.
But he wasn’t even trained to do this. He’s just a very intuitive cat, it seems. See
Sam: this is why I love cats. See, my Bruno taps me.
But it’s normally to say Oh woman. Give me more food or cat. Nibbles. funnily enough, I actually know about this story because I had the absolute pleasure of being a guest at the National Cat Awards. I am one of the, cat protections, [00:02:00] advocates. So I, I kind of help out and share the beautiful work that Cat Protection does.
And I was at the awards. It was a fabulous night. and it just reinforces. You know what I already know and what so many pet owners know is that cats are so integral to our. Culture and community and health and wellbeing.
Sophie: I mean, Zebby could also as well as alerting Genevieve to the noises like the, the phone and doorbell ringing. He also picks up mail from the doormat and carries it in her mouth to to his owner
Sam: this…
Sophie: or brings slippers.
Sam: It’s so good. I mean, but I’m actually trained clicker training one of my cats at the moment because he’s far too intelligent for himself. And he was getting bored essentially. And I started doing clicker training. So he knows commands like a dog.
Sophie: I mean, that’s amazing. maybe it’s my ignorance, but I didn’t know you could train cats like that. I thought it was dogs that you could train, but I didn’t know you could train cats,
Sam: I actually watched a little video saying, you know, it’s interesting that cats actually have boundaries. And it’s funny when someone says, oh, I’m [00:03:00] not a cat person. Essentially what you’re saying is, I don’t like when people set boundaries around me or say no to me because that’s exactly what cats do.
Sophie: And just a reminder to our listeners, for those who don’t know why Lifestyle is an award-winning magazine, um, we had an issue of Lifestyle magazine where we spoke about why animals, specifically dogs are superheroes. But we did talk about. Other animals like cats. Mr. London, Meow. Have you ever heard of Mr. London? Meow? No.
He’s a therapy cat who goes into London Hospitals to offer therapeutic care to patients. We also wrote about Charlie, the donkey who goes into care homes and hospices and rabbits, and even an owl as well.
Sam I love that. I, I am not gonna lie, I have been, um, battling with my anxiety and depression the past few weeks.
But one thing that really kept me calm and chilled I just kept looking at hamster cages, but not just normal hamster cages, like a boujee, aesthetically pleasing hamster cage.
Sophie: I didn’t know if there was such a thing.
Sam: well because, well, well, of course, of course there is.
So that’s what I’ve been doing. . But the question is, [00:04:00] do I or do I not? get a hamster
Sophie: that’s what I was about to ask you. Do you even have a hamster?
Sam: No, no, no, no. But I mean, do we need, do I need a hamster to have a hamster cage
Sophie: Maybe not
Sam: just to decorate it like a doll house.
Sophie: Okay. Well that was a nice segue into mental health because there’s another reason to be cheerful that I wanted to talk about was, US gymnast uh, Olympic champion, Simone Biles has just made her return to gymnastics after taking two years out due to her mental health.
She Took a step back. Good for her yeah, and she’s come back. With a bang. she came first in the competition, a triumphant return. I just think it’s a message of sometimes you need to take a step back to move 10 steps forward.
Sam: I think it’s really great that we are seeing so publicly someone sharing their mental health journey and showing that that it’s not the end of the world if you take time out. Yes. You know? but I think, for disabled people, the biggest fear, and I’ve felt this, is that we have so few opportunities on the [00:05:00] whole, that if we say, or the fear is if we say no, or if we say, well actually I’m prioritising my health or mental wellbeing that you might not be asked back And what I’ll say to anyone who is fearing that, ’cause I definitely felt that when one door closes, another one will absolutely always open. It might not be instantaneously, but it will happen. So therefore it is worth investing in yourself. so yeah.
well done to her. Well done to Simone.
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Sophie: I wholeheartedly agree.
Setting boundaries is key.
Sophie: Our guests today are Mike Newman and John Galloway, the co-founders of Speed of Sight, an organisation that provides motorsport experiences for people with disabilities, including sensory, cognitive, and physical.
In 2001, mike achieved his first Guinness World Record by riding a motorcycle, gaining the record for the world’s fastest blind rider.
But that was just the beginning.
Sam: It’s such a pleasure to have us today and Mike, let’s start with you. So, I guess [00:06:00] many children are obsessed danger and speed. I, I not those playing Barbie cutting their hair. But I guess, Being blind and having that disability and very similar to myself being born with my impairment meant that, you know, the, the encouragement was maybe, shall we say, lacking people weren’t very forthcoming with saying that we could achieve, and I I suppose, was that very similar, the narrative that you experienced growing up, that people were, rather dismissive when you said that you absolutely wanted to turn your dreams into a reality.
John and Mike: when I was obviously little I was really keen. From going on three, or your four years old on cars and powerful high performance equipment. and
uh, I figured out myself that that’s something I wasn’t gonna be able to achieve.
because I couldn’t see. But, um, it wasn’t until I became, uh, later on adult life in, in my, in my late thirties,[00:07:00] uh, one day I said to myself I was getting frustrated. what if I had to go anyway, okay. I can’t see. That’s the way of, that’s not gonna change. But what if I found a way of experiencing the, the exhilaration I’ve, I feel my disabilities robbed me of… If I can find a way of doing that and experience that excitement of being in control of, of a, of a high performance machine,how wonderful would that be?
So I started to change my attitude to, rather than just, oh, well it’s always me. I can’t do it ’cause I can’t see to, I’m gonna have a go and I’m gonna find a way to do it.
once your, once your mindset changes Uh, and then it starts to take over your life to be fair. And eventually, after a lot of planning and preparation, what I believed I could do, I did. And it was absolutely fabulous.
Sam: What exactly is it about, you know, Being on a bike? What is, what goes through your body? Obviously, being blind means that, you see the, world very, very differently and [00:08:00] you experience things very differently, but there must be something quite grounding and quite empowering about being on a bike. Can you, can you describe that feeling to us?
John and Mike: what I thought and felt was I’ve got tired of being a passenger and everything that I’ve achieved, whether it would be in my career or whatever it was in life that I had tried to achieve or attain to, I had to do it within the environment I live in.
i.e without sight. So, there was just a way of finding out how it could be done and what, how we actually did it, both with the motorcycle and the cars, was to have a navigator. And my navigator was connected to me via a radio link. Over that radio link, I’d get directional information and it, we found it a simple but effective way of me understanding where I was on the circuit and having an idea of the speeds we wanted to achieve and importantly, staying on the track rather than veering off. Onto the grass and knowing when to stop was [00:09:00] pretty important.
Sam: Wow. I dunno. I don’t even know who I would be able to trust if I’m honest. Can you?
Sophie: well, I guess kind of to seeker, don’t you? yeah. That’s, that’s the main part of it.
Sam: And, notupset the person that was navigating
Sophie-1: Exactly.Make sure that they’re your best bestest friend. Um, so John, how did you begin working with Mike and what compelled you both set up speed sight?
John and Mike Well, I, Igot to know Mike because, uh, strangely enough, he was my business bank manager. and um, we had a, a very good, friendly, um, business relationship.
And I, I got to know Mike after he achieved this amazing achievement on the motorcycle, which was incredible.
Uh, I was a little bit, uh, awestruck because I’m not a very brave guy. I’m definitely not one of those people that do bungee jumps or skydives or, or even ride a bicycle. So, what Mike told me, and I saw the, the, [00:10:00] the certificate for myself that he had just achieved a Guinness World Record driving or riding.
There you go, riding a motorcycle on his own. And they achieved the, the speeds that he was reaching, you know, in practice with up to a hundred miles an hour. Uh, I was absolutely gobsmacked. So, Finding out from Mike, well, if you’ve done this in a motorcycle, what more is there to do? Well, what, what are you planning next?
And I should never have asked him that question because he knew what he wanted to achieve next. And that was to be the fastest blind driver to drive a car solo without anyone alongside him. And I asked him why he hadn’t yet done it, and, as you can appreciate, Mike had a full-time job working as a bank manager at the bank.
Um, so there was not much free time to enable him to go off andpull something of this magnitude together, and as, as a luck would haveit. I was the owner of my own web design [00:11:00] marketing business.
Uh, so I thought, well, actually, I think I can help in terms of doing some of the project managementand, and help to pull this together in our spare time.
Um, so. My role was is, is basically the guy behind the scenes and who helps to pull together locations, cars, boats, you name it, and get sponsorship to pay for it, and try and organise the, the media coverage.
The charity came about after I achieved, uh, my first record in the car. So 2003. And after that event, um, I met a lot of people. That had become struck down with disabilities in adult life, either through illness or accident.
And the consequences of these particular disabilities was that they, they had to relinquish their driver’s license.
And whilst they’re trying to build a new life and trying to find a way forward again in a, in a way that they never thought they’d have to worry about, the constant message I was getting from them was the thing that they [00:12:00] missed most was the fact they can’t drive anymore.
So, I knew how, how much I valued the experiences I was getting when I could. So it started me to ponder the idea of how could I get these people back behind the wheel? it happened 12 years later, we’ve, work across the country with our special cars.
They’ve been the most exciting driving experiences that people can imagine. But what we never thought at the time, well I didn’t anyway, was that half the people that we’d be working with and do work with will be children or teenagers.
And I would certainly say that the, the vast majority of people who do these experiences say it’s life changing.Um, you know, to do something that the world has told you or never be able to do.
Um, and once you’ve achieved that is more than just a driving experience. It’s, it’s changing your whole mindset. If I can do that
then what else is it that I can do that someone’s told me I can’t.
Sophie: That is certainly [00:13:00] one ofmy questions. Um, just wanted to ask, how does speed site work exactly? So it’s obviously adapted cars,
John and Mike: yeah. We have, our cars are adapted, uh, for people with very different differing challenges. So we have the traditional, uh, dual control pedals that you’d find in a tuition car, or learner car. But our cars have a twin steering system going on as well. So they have two, two steering wheels so that the instructor is able to control the vehicle, if required.
And depending on what the person who’s coming for our travel experiences, challenges are. Our instructor can assist or as much or as little as required. But at the same time, keep the car safe, keep the people safe, but still give them the, the exhilaration that I’ve been talking about earlier.
Sam: love that now I have a few friends with motorbikes and I, I personally find It.really sexy and I’ve always said to them, I just want, I want you just take me quickly round the block. And none of them [00:14:00] have been brave enough and I understand why. ’cause A, I’ve got brittle bones, So you know, we need to.
Factor that little, that little thing into into play. But also because I am under four foot tall, I wouldn’t be able to reach the, the, I don’t, I don’t know the technical terms, the, bars at the bottom where you’ve got however, so this is this is for you two both to work out. How are we gonna get me on a motorbike?
John and Mike: Well, we might not get you on a motorbike. but we never say never.
Uh, but we certainly can get you racing one of our cars.
Sam: Oh yes. Tell me where I need to be and when and I’m Oh, we’ll absolutely be, be there.So explain a little bit more about how people can get involved. First of all, you know, what is your website? Where are, what are your social media handles? And also, you know, for anyone who may be listening to this and still is a bit hesitant and thinking, oh, it might not be for me, what, what do words of encouragement do you have to to maybe just, just. just take an interest
John and Mike: well, we’re, we’re happy for people to do. We’re bit old fashioned.
We’re happy to pick up the phone and talk to people, [00:15:00] uh, and also people who we’re not sure can come along to our event as a spectator. Have a look. We’ll see what it’s all about. chat to the participants that are taking part that day. Chat to the instructors for reassurance. Chat to the volunteers uh, we we’re quite relaxed. And, uh, to answer your earlier question, if you are serious about getting on the back of your bike, I’m sure we can make it happen.
What I would say, you also asked us about how do they get in contact with us. We do obviously have a website, which is speedofsite.org our social media is speedofsite Um, you have to be mindful that disability, can be, restricting, in terms of social interaction. So our track days are very beautiful. Uh, it’s bringing people together from all walks of life who sometimes mightbe isolated at home, who aren’t used to being able to access. Motorsports in the way that they are, [00:16:00] uh, or the way that they would like to.
And on that day, they turn up a racing circuit, not knowing what to expect. Probably a little bit apprehensive, probably be a little bit nervous thinking, am I really gonna race a car today? And then all of a sudden they meet a group of other like-minded people who all have their own different level of disabilities.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re blind, cerebral palsy, autism had a stroke. Uh, epilepsy. The list is endless. Everybody’s welcome, regardless of your age, from age seven to age so far, the oldest is 90. And let me tell you when each of those individuals have had their driving experience, they don’t want to go home.
Sophie-1: Especially when, like you said, it’s the first time that they’ve, they’ve been able to get behind wheel after such a long time or the, first time because thought wasn’t possible before that. In terms, of the rules and laws surrounding, um, Driving with a disability. Like for example, if you’ve gotyou know, [00:17:00] you’re blind, you might not be able to drive legally on the road. because listeners think, might think, Oh how, how can I do that? Will I be, breaking any rules? is it legal.
John and Mike yes, it is legal.
Uh, we are, we are, we are using purpose-built and dedicated race tracks. within that environment, you are allowed to drive a car, uh, without a driver’s license.
However, our vehicles always go out with a trained instructor. We do our best to, uh, and to keep people very safe. They understand what they’ve got to do. Um, and they’re talk. We talk ’em through it before they set off. And as I said earlier, the instructor can help as much or as little as required to make sure that they get the most interactive time, uh, whilst they’re, whilst they’re on track.
And we get many people once they’ve come, once they come time and time again. So it’s, we don’t restrict them to one, one session. They wanna come again and again and again, which happens many times. We make them very welcome. Come we actually have a [00:18:00] nickname for them, right? Don’t we? What we call them. We call them all repeat offenders.
I mean, what I want you to imagine, let’s take blindness for one second. You are blind. You are in the car. I’m bearing in mind, I can’t stress enough. It isn’t just about blindness. It’s all a large array of different disabilities. But let’s use blindness for this example. You are now sat in the racing seat of a real racing car.
You’ve got the, the brakes, the accelerator, you’ve got the steering wheel. You are in full control of this car, and you’re thinking, I can’t see You’re sat alongside a fully trained instructor, him or her, and they too have the same controls that you now have, but they also have a steering wheel, so our cars have two steering
wheels. So you sat alongside the instructor and the instructor will say, more power.
More power, more power. Or break. Break. Break. Or left, left, left, right, right, right. And if you’re not steering enough to the right to stay on the circuit, then the instructor [00:19:00] will be able to do that with their steering wheel. And if you’re not braking enough or accelerating, then the instructor can also do that.
So together as a team, you will have the most unimaginable driving experience that in the world has told you you’d never be able to have.
Sophie: That’s amazing.
Sam: Just need to work out.my left from my right though. ’cause still sometimes get a little bit confused with that one.
Sophie-1: Don’t get it wrong track, Sam? Don’t get it wrong on the track.
Sam: It’s alright. I, I’m not gonna be on my own, so it’ll be fine.
Sophie: Mike. You awarded the British Empire Medal for services to people disabilities. Congratulations.That’s amazing. obviously we were talking about why, people who take part find this like a life changing experience.
I mean, that’s just amazing to know you are touching people in that way and that you’ve just changed their view and
just, youknow, given them these experiences that they’ll just remember forever. so can you just us bit about that,
John and Mike: charitable work that we do, uh, is probably the most, uh, humbling, but the most rewarding project I’ve ever been involved [00:20:00] in.
I knew people would enjoy it, but didn’tquite understand how much they would enjoy it.and we’ve never, we’ve, we’ve never turned anybody away.
one day we’re at a, we’re at a circuit and this young man comes along. and he’s got quite a lot of challenges in life. So yes, he’s a wheelchair user, but he also has to use a, a mobile respirator.
Uh, now this wasn’t, this thing we haven’t come across before, uh, but we got him in, we got him in his hoist, and we hoisted him into the vehicle. We made sure that his respirators were strapped down securely, and he drove the car for the first time in his life. And, uh, we were all very proud.
Lots of tears, as you can imagine, and we often have tears of joy in Speed of sight. Uh, and we have a, we’re a very happy charity. Uh, everyone, uh, goes home with hearts as light as a feather. I
mean, I would say without any doubt not is it just life changing for the individuals to have the experience. Uh, we can’t do what we do without volunteers, and I don’t mean to make [00:21:00] that corny. It, is true. It this has an amazing ripple effect. You know, the, the loved ones that witness their family, individuals having their experience are equally as touched as the instructors who have volunteered to help that person navigate around the circuit. The other volunteers helping to get people in and out of cars, on hoists the hospitality crew meeting and greeting the families.
It’s life changing for all of us and it really is inspiring
Sophie: speed of sight, thinking about it is very similar in a way to Motability in the sense that it offers independence and freedom in terms of like getting out and about in car.
And I. know, um, Mike, you are a Motability customer.
John and Mike:I, I, am a Motability customer. I’ve been for now, uh, probably 11, 12 Yes..And Motability as an organisation have been extremely supportive, uh, uh, for me as a client. And they even, they even [00:22:00] allowed me to, they even allowed me to, uh, fit a tow bar to my present car so that my wife was able to take me and our trailer to all parts of the uk. And that is such a big help to us, uh, to have that vehicle working hard and not help, not only helping me as a Motaility client.
But helping lots of other people with disabilities. I mean, even my mother had a Motability vehicle for about 15 years bless her. And uh, yeah, Motability are doing an amazing function, helping people be mobile, incredible.
Sam: Even pay them to say did we? I know we didn’t. Hey, That was, that was organic, wasn’t it? Um, Mike, you seem like someone who is always looking for the next thing justto give him that. Spark of life. Is it, have you got anything else up your sleeve? Is there anything else you wanna tick off your list or do you or is this, is this okay for now?
Are you, like, you know, you’ve, you’ve done a, you’ve done your dos or I I, feel like there’s a twinkle there. [00:23:00] There’s like, there’s like, no, look at that smile. He is like, nah, I’m not done.
John and Mike I’ve started tentative conversationwith a guy that’s building a
very, very fast and powerful boat.
Sophie: Oh Wow. Trains, planes, automobiles, All of it..
Sam: Automobiles Can you get a turbo on my power wheelchair. as well? just fit that one in. Um, so before we let you gentlemen leave, we have a bit of a uh, tradition. That’s the word I was looking for. Tradition. love for you to come up with a question that we can pass on to our next guest. We can’t tell you who the next guest is ’cause it is top secret, We will have to kill you if we told you that. Um, but it could be anything. It can be what is your favourite cream? Or it can be you know, what is your favorite car because hey, it is The Motability lifestyle podcast.
John and Mike: Uh, no, I’m guessing your, your guests, uh, are sympathetic and understand the fabulous work that Motability does and the freedom that they provide to [00:24:00] your clients. my question, I, John May have one as well, but my question might be, uh,what would it be like to drive a car with a blindfold?
Sophie-1: I love I love, that’s really good question.
John and Mike: We do do that with, uh, some of our corporate supporters, uh to show what the uh, experience. what the experience is like. Mine’s probably gonna be a little bitmore simpler. Uh,who inspires you and why
Sophie-1: deep. Love it. So our, the question from our, previous guest was, if you had to choose a superpower, what would it be?
John and Mike: Well, when I was, little, now you may not know this, but you might. I’m a bit older than you guys. When I was little, I used to enjoy the bionic man,and I always wanted his eye.
Sam: Oh, yeah I never thought, yes. Um, I do you remember Bananas and Pajamas? dunno why. dunno where that came from, but there you go.
John and Mike: well actually I was a big fan of the $6 million man, to be fair. and I wish I could have his speed.
Sophie: you [00:25:00] go. Well jump in one the cars and you do.
John and Mike: absolutely.
Sam: Mine’s a bit naff now, Banana man,
John and Mike: so the challenge is out there for you.ladies, We’d love to get you into one of our cars at somepoint
Sophie-1: We’d love that. Absolutely. Thank you so much guys. It was really great chatting to you andyeah, we’ll definitely keep in touch if we get to have a, an experience in one of the cars, no thank you.
Sam: We’re not self-centered in anyway.
Sophie: Not at at all. No,
John and Mike: thank you
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Sophie: Sam, what time is it?
Sam-3: It’s car chat with Matt
Matt: So Matt, what are we here with today? So today we are talking about tips for saving fuel and keeping, keeping fuel costs low. So basically one of the things that, that I come across a lot in, uh, the scheme is people either get new cars and aren’t expecting that.
Actually that car uses more fuel than their previous one and suddenly they’re surprised by the increased fuel costs. And obviously no one needs that in their life. Uh, and [00:26:00] even things like courtesy cars, sometimes people need courtesy cars ’cause there’s an issue with their car and suddenly they can’t afford to run it.
Um, so it is a problem. So there’s, there’s certain things that people can do to help kind of reduce those costs and spend that money on much more interesting and exciting things
Sam: gadgets.
Matt: Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah. Like
gadgets. We’ll come to that. We’ll to that. Um, so yeah, so I thought I’d, I’d run through a few things that might help.
might help keep those bills low. I mean the first thing is obviously actually to think about when you are choosing your car. That’s the first time where you can do something to reduce that cost. Um,
So the first thing to consider if you are conscious of keeping your fuel bills low, is the actual size of the car you are ordering.
It is nice to have a big car and lots of people do need a big car, which is fine,
Sam: just size matters.. I
Matt: I mean, it does. If you wanna get a a, a scooter in the boot.
Sam: Of course.
Matt: but, but outside of that, who am I to say? Uh, so some people will need a bigger car, but if you don’t, it’s worth considering whether actually a smaller car might be more suitable.
And the reason for that is, and I’m generalising here, uh, smaller cars are generally lighter and generally more aerodynamic and [00:27:00] therefore use less fuel. So that’s the first way uh, the second thing to think about is how that car is powered, what you’re going for, like a petrol engine, diesel.
Or a hybrid So if you do a lot of your mileage around town, it might be worth you looking at a hybrid car ’cause they actually do very well in stop start journeys. Whereas petrol and diesel cars don’t like that so much, especially if you’re doing lots of short journeys uh, you know, think about how you use your car Um, One of the ways that you can see, how sort of fuel efficient a car is. Every car has an M P G rating, so miles per gallon, sorry, sorry.
Yeah, yeah. Miles per gallon. So what that means is how many miles you can drive on a gallon of fuel. It’s a very weird measurement ’cause in the UK for some reason, we, we mix a match with imperial metrics. So I don’t know what a gallon is, but I know what a mile is and I know what a litre is, but I don’t really know what a kilometer is.
Sam: I … don’t know what any of it is So I’m, um, I’m out on this one.
Matt: it’s more of a just rough guide. So a car might say, oh, it’ll do 50 miles per gallon, and in the real world it does 40. But it’s a good rough guide to start with. You can look at car reviews or look at people [00:28:00] online forums. People will tell you what they’re getting in, in the real world.
So um, so once you’ve sort of chosen a car that’s suitable and useful, the next thing you can do is moderate the way you drive. there are quite a few things you can do to save fuel. Oh, unfortunately, unfortunately, none of them involve driving, uh, in an erratic, exciting, lunatic
Sam: Oh,
Matt: Oh. But they all involve being a bit sensible and
Sam: spoil all our fun Matt.
Matt: Um, but yeah, the, the first, um, and, and it’s quite an obvious one, I guess is being gentle with the accelerator.
Sam: I see
Matt: it actually makes quite a big difference when you’re accelerating. If you accelerate gently, it uses a lot less fuel than sort of stamping on the accelerator or grabbing that accelerator and, and rocketing up to the limit before
Sam: might be worth investing in a therapist and meditation. Yoga Retreats just to combat that then
Matt: Yeah, don’t drive angry.
Uh, the next thing is, is just anticipating, which is, which is useful in just all aspects of driving. It’s, it’s improves road safety if you’re kind of anticipating what’s ahead and thinking about what’s going to happen.
Um, but the reason that saves you fuel is. If you can see that lights are changing ahead of you, or if you can see there’s a [00:29:00] roundabout coming up, just backing off the accelerator and coasting rather than accelerating right until you get to the red light and then slamming on the brakes. That saves you quite a lot of fuel.
Uh, and I’m amazed how often I’m in cars with people and you can see the traffic lights ahead of red and they’ve still got their foot on the accelerator. I’m like, what you doing? You’re gonna have to stop. You’re just burning fuel. Literally burning money. Well, not literally burning money, burning fuel, which is money.
Sam: That’s a little bit like when I go on a train and we get the ramp out and then people like are clambering over me to get on the train and it’s like the train ain’t going anywhere until I’m on with my wheelchair. So there’s no need.
Matt: Everyone’s in a rush, which is, uh, yeah, sort of the opposite of the theme of today, I’m afraid. uh, but the next one, speaking of everyone being in a rush, we should all abide by the speed limit. Of course we should. Of course there are some people who don’t necessarily, but that is an area on a long distance drive where you can save a lot of fuel.
So, um, the difference between driving 60 miles an hour and 70 miles per hour, uh, is actually quite a big difference. You’d save about 10%. You… it takes about 10% more fuel to drive at 17 than it does at 60.
Obviously this is [00:30:00] a rough estimate. but where there’s a bigger jump is between 70 and 80.
So, the faster you go, the harder it is for your car to punch a hole through the air. Um, so the difference between 70 and 80 can be as much as 25%. So you could be using an extra…that’s amazing… 25% of fuel to go 80 rather than 70, which no one should of course be doing, and I’m sure no one does.
Sam: Are there any kind of like, tips, so, and I see people put like covers over the windshield, you know, to keep the insulation in or even, ’cause we were talking, uh, last time about gadgets and um, you know, heated seats and on, which are all amazing. But do these little. Bits and bobs and, and gadgets, do they add to what we’re spending on a car or are they neither here nor there?
Matt: No, that is, that is a valid point. So air conditioning does it, it puts an additional strain on the engine and that will use more fuel…windows down. It’s, yeah. So if you can get by with windows down, great. The, the final bit on that is, long distance driving cruise control is very useful.
Generally only on the motorway. Um, if you can set your cruise control, that’s helpful because it keeps your car at a constant speed rather than slowing down, [00:31:00] speeding up, slowing down, speeding up.
And that’s not good for fuel economy.
Sam: What we really need is AI technology to anticipate how good or bad a driver we are.
Matt: Well, our fingers crossed. That’ll be coming soon. Um, I guess the final couple of things to consider are, um, most sat navs now will have an option, to, rather than go the fastest route necessarily to save fuel.
So they’ll take you a, a route that might be actually save you a bit of money on, on, on sort of petrol diesel, whatever, which is quite useful. And the other thing to bear in mind is unnecessary weight. People often leave loads of stuff in their car or leave a roof box on. Obviously some people need those things all the time and that’s fine.
But if you aren’t using them carrying weight or roof boxes, things like that, that that will cost you, Uh, and the final one, which thankfully Motability customers don’t have to worry about too much is maintenance. Just so getting your car serviced when you’re supposed to get it serviced will help.
Make sure it’s running as it should, and that will save you fuel. Tyre pressures, that’s, that’s a big one. If your tyres are underinflated or overinflated, that…
Sam: we all need a good service, don’t we? Every now and then. Even I do
Matt: to keep you running
Sophie: But what’s next? What’s our gadget?
Matt: It’s [00:32:00] Sam’s favourite.
Sam: my favorite bit, let’s get back gadgets.
Matt: Gadgets. Alright. Today I’m, I’m, I’m afraid to. I’m going for a sensible one today. Oh, but don’t worry, I’ve got an exciting one for the next, next week.
Okay, cool. So, one of the problems some people face is parking their car on their drive. when you’ve gotta park up against your house or a garage, a lot of people need to go in forwards because they need to get a wheelchair out the back or a scooter out the back or whatever.
So they need to drive in forwards. Now, while a lot of cars come with rear parking sensors as standard, not so many have front parking sensors as standard. So you have that kind of gamble of, am I close enough? Am I not close enough?
there’s a couple of fixes for this, but I think the simplest one is you can buy a couple of little rubber curbs, and what you can do is you can, once you’ve got your car somewhere where you are happy that with the distance you can just sort of drop those in front of your front wheels and next time you drive on, you just hit that little bumper and you know you’re not gonna hit your house.
It’s like though, oh, they’re only like,
Sam: oh, okay. Fair
Matt: Not, they’re not, it’s not like
Sam: neon yellow?
Matt: No, it’s not some big ungainly thing. It’s just like a little black…
Sophie: and they stay on your drive?
Matt: Yeah. You can just sort of leave ’em on your drive, or you can pick ’em up and put ’em in the boot if you, if you wanna get rid them. But, Um, [00:33:00] yeah,
Sophie: that’s useful. ’cause my mum, she’s got a driveway and I drive up her driveway when I’m dropping her home yeah, I always think, oh, why too close? Am I gonna go through like the garage doors?
Yeah.
Matt: There are fancier, fancier methods, but I quite like the, the good old fashioned reliability of hitting a, a lump of rubber.
Um, but you can get ones that you stick on a wall. And it has a sensor, and there’ll be a light. So you put the light at the height where you can see it, and it’ll go from green to amber to red when you’ve got a stop. that is, that is an option if you want a more high tech
Sam: get out bit bit more, Matt.
Matt: I agree.
Sam: That’s what I…
Sophie: I thought was interesting, I’m gonna go and buy one or two,
Matt: I’m slowly winning over Sophie.
Sophie: Thank you, Matt.
Matt: You’re more than welcome. That’s
Sophie: always informative as always.So thank you very much.
Matt: No problem.
Sam: And that is it for this episode of The Motability Lifestyle Pod. Thank you to our guests, Mike Newman and John Galloway, and of course, our car expert, Matt Lizzimore.
Thanks to our producer Joleen Goffin at Rethink Audio and our editorial assistant Lucie [00:34:00] Rhodes at Wonderly.
Sophie: If you like this episode, follow us. Tell your friends, and please leave us a review. If you want to tell us what you thought or if there’s something you’d like to hear, come and say hello on Instagram for behind the scenes content, follow us on TikTok and watch the full video on YouTube. You can find us on: motability_ Lifestyle_ Mag. Finally, if you want more information about the Motability scheme, go to motability.co.uk. Or if you want to learn more about Motability, The Charity, visit motability.org.uk.
And that’s it. I’m Sophie-Marie Odum.
Sam: And I’m Samantha Renke. See you all in two weeks.
Sophie: Bye.
