Our kind of ASMR: listening to cars online

We live in stressful times. There's a pandemic that has the world in its grip. We've got lock down situations, have to be indoors before the curfews kick in. To top it all off, there's a lot of political unrest to stress us out even more. And there are loads of other things to make us worry.

The financial crisis that's inevitably striking us somewhere in the near future when government aids end, for instance. Mutations of the virus might keep us in our homes even longer. When this all started about a year ago, we never thought it would have us cancel drives, meetings, races, road trips, trackdays or driving vacations. This 'thing should go away within a few months right? Right. Well that turned out a bit different now, didn't it?

We get our relaxation from driving, and meeting other petrolheads. But there's not a lot of driving to do, there's no meetings to attend, there's no relaxation to be had in the way we're used to.

This is hard. Because cars and the car community are our relaxation, our safe haven. We love cars. We love the speed, the smells and everything else about them. And one thing we particularly love are the sounds they make. And recently I found a way to get some relaxation.

Call me crazy, but what I've been doing to clear my mind recently is listening. Listening to induction noises, engines roaring, exhaust popping and crackling. It's almost like meditating, it's some sort of automotive mindfulness maybe. I don't know what label to put on it, but it works: I listen to cars. Video, after video, after video. And it works, it actually clears my head.

I especially enjoy rally videos, where the cars most of the time come driving towards the camera. You hear them coming towards the camera at speed, shifting down through the gears, brakes squealing and tires screeching. Then a slide around a corner, some dirt might be kicked up, it maybe gets thrown around the wheel arches. Then the accelerating begins. Shifting up, exhaust banging, soaring off into the distance. Most of the time I don't even watch the video, I just imagine the images in my head and try to figure out what car I'm listening too.

But it's not just those rally videos. Vintage Formula 1 cars work great as well, and I also love me some turbo whistle compilations. The only problem with those videos is that often it goes accompanied by uselessly hitting the rev limiter endlessly. It's nice when they come by every now and then though, makes me smile a little.

Maybe you are stressed too. Maybe you can relax like me when you listen to a Subaru Impreza WRX or a howling Ferrari F1 V12. Maybe you love the sound of a naturally aspirated hill climb car? It's all in there. Check out the playlist at our YouTube channel!