Benjamin J. Reisman | My Life on Wheels

BRUSSELS - Dec. 13, 2017 - PRLog -- Introduction

Cars have been a massive part of my life. I have so many memories of these wondrous contraptions that not only take us from A to B but for some, it is the place where we spend tens or even hundreds of hours each month.

According to recent data obtained from surveys (see) the average western household keeps their new car for about six years. With this information, and with the average driver staying on the road for about six decades, a normal person will own about ten cars during their lifetime. If you then add to this number rental cars and courtesy cars (when, for example your car is in for service) this number may reach twenty or even thirty.

The fact is, though, that the automobile is something that all of us, including children, are exposed to throughout our lives.

Even when we drive to work the average westerner will see tens, hundreds or even thousands of cars EACH DAY! They will pass many different models and colours. Is it any wonder that there are so many "Petrolheads" out there?

There really is nothing like a good car. Speeding down a winding country road enjoying the beautiful scenery can only truly be experienced inside this glass box with four wheels underneath it. (There are some who say the exhilaration of a motorbike beats that of a car but I can neither confirm nor deny this claim as I do not have a motorbike license and do not plan on getting one).

I actually got the idea for this book from reading Primo Levi's "The Periodic Table". The book is split up into lots of short stories (some fact, others fiction), based somehow or other on elements from Mendeleev's Periodic Table. Rather than Chemistry and how it affected Primo Levi's life, be it before the war in Turin, in the Buna Rubber plant in Auschwitz or back home after the war, I looked at something that could join the experiences I have had throughout my life, be it in London, Israel or on my travels.

Maybe a story is based on a particular function that I remember from the car or something that happened whilst driving it. I hope this to be of interest to other car lovers of all types.

I am very fond of Top Gear. I was devastated when the boys (Clarkson, May and Hammond) left. I also enjoyed Top Gear US, even though the banter and rapport between the presenters was completely different from that of the UK programme. One of the things that Top Gear US often did, compared to the UK programme, was to look at standard cars that you or I might own or drive. The British version often did fantastic fifteen-minute reviews of Super and Hyper cars with tons of skidding round corners and attempting to reach the magic 200mph barrier. This was fun, but for the average person it is unlikely that they would ever get a chance to do anything like it in their lifetime.

I travel quite a bit for work, and this gives me the chance to rent lots of different cars. On the whole, they are boring mid-range rental workhorses, but occasionally there are some automobiles that ignite the spark. It might be the comfort that I remember, or the feeling of the kick-down upon putting my foot on the gas pedal. Considering that the car is only about a hundred or so years old (maybe a bit older – say, a hundred and twenty five years), much had changed over the years.

Comfort, speed and convenience are the three big changes and developments, but efficiency is something that is continually being worked on. How can the OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturer – i.e. the automotive companies) get the engine to give out a few more horses when using a bit less fossil fuel? First there was the move to gas from octane, then, the hybrid and electric cars of the last ten years have brought us to a place where efficiency is at the cutting edge of world technology. Reducing the battery cell sizes and seriously increasing the range is going to be the next major breakthrough.

Hydrogen cells that give clean energy might be achievable within a generation. Who is to say that nuclear generators cannot guarantee clean energy in a car as they have done in submarines?
When in Israel I drive to work. It is exactly one hundred kilometers in each direction and four times a week I do the trek from Neve Tzuf  (ten kilometers north of Modi'in - twenty five kilometers due east of Tel Aviv) up to Kibbutz  Ein Hanatziv (two kilometers south of Bet She'an - twenty five kilometers south of the Sea of Galilee). The route I drive takes me along one of the most ancient roads in the world: Road 60 – also known as the "Road of the Forefathers".

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