If the world you live in is remotely anything like mine, it’s now immensely different from the one it was a mere four weeks ago.
While I was acutely aware of the coronavirus epidemic sweeping through China and the emerging one in Italy, here in New Zealand we had just been informed of our country’s first positive Covid-19 case – a reality that everyone knew was coming, but no-one really wanted to believe. A month on, I, like I’m assuming a lot of you, now find myself in lockdown at home wondering how this nightmare is going to pan out over the coming weeks, months, and even years.
It’s easy to become dejected at a time like this. Not being able to enter the outside world for anything other than supermarket items, essential healthcare, or a brief amount of fresh air makes it near impossible to escape the hopelessness of the situation; turn on any device and it’s there.
Yes, it’s absolutely critical that everyone knows what’s going on in their part of the world and follows the advice of health professionals and government departments in order to slow the spread of infection – we all have a part to play in that respect – but it’s also very important to remain optimistic while maintaining some sense of normality in your life, which is what the Speedhunters team in self-isolation all around the world is currently doing.
No, we’re not out there shooting, but we are catching up on a huge number of back-logged stories. When it comes to car culture, it’s our job to inform, inspire and entertain, and you can consider all of the images throughout this post as a taste of what’s on our publishing schedule for the month of April.
We also want to hear from you. Our IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER program is still all go, so if you’ve got a nice set of images and a short story to tell, feel free to get in touch. It might be something from the past, or something that’s happening right now in your garage while you’re stuck at home. We can’t publish everything of course, but do know that we appreciate every single reader submission sent our way.
How the economic ramifications of Covid-19 will affect the car community and aftermarket industry as a whole remains to be seen, and it’s going to be a long time before we have a true idea of the damage done. But while we wait and hope for the very best case scenario to eventuate, I’m using car culture as an escape. If you’ve logged on to Speedhunters I’m guessing you are too, and that’s great.
Brad Lord
Instagram: speedhunters_brad
brad@speedhunters.com