An Infatuation With Speed: Why We Love Sports Cars

Janette Vince
August 28, 2007

A car is just a mode of transportation, right?

Wrong! A car is more than just a way to get from one place to another. It’s an adrenaline rush. It’s a sex symbol. It can make us feel powerful, focused, and alive. Sports cars are designed to enhance all the best qualities of automobiles. They’re associated with glamour, fame, and fortune—and they attract a lot of attention. Here are just a few reasons why we love our sports cars.

You feel like you’re part of the car. Talk to any sports car enthusiast, and one of the things they rave about is the responsiveness of their car. A good sports car brakes hard with a tap of the foot, turns precisely with a touch on the wheel, and accelerates at the speed of thought. Drive one of these super-responsive cars a few times, and you’ll start to feel like you and the car are one entity. It’s exhilarating to feel like you’re completely in control of every bump and turn in the road—even while you’re hurtling down a track at top speed.

That feeling of power. Sports cars are powerful. There’s nothing like accelerating through a turn and feeling like you’ve been shot from a cannon. You’re heart’s pounding, the landscape is screaming by, you’re passing other cars right and left. But you’re completely in control. That’s a powerful feeling, and power can give anyone a thrilling rush of adrenaline.

Speed is addictive. In normal life, we’re always thinking about the past or the future—what we should or shouldn’t have done, or what we need to do later on. But when you’re racing along at top speed in a sports car, you’re thinking about nothing but where you are right now—and you’ll never feel quite so alive. Speed can focus your mind like nothing else. When you’re speeding down a track, you’re entirely focused on the car, on the road, and on what you’re doing—your mind is completely in the present. It’s a feeling you’ll want to experience again and again.

Beautiful lines. Let’s face it—sports cars just look beautiful. While more practical cars are designed for fuel efficiency and space, sports cars are designed to turn heads. A truly beautiful car has the same properties as a truly attractive member of the opposite sex—sleek, graceful lines with a hint of barely-concealed power.

Sports cars are sexy. And the best thing about a great-looking car is that it makes you look more attractive, too. Whether we like it or not, members of the opposite sex are naturally attracted to someone in a sports car. Drive a gorgeous car around town and chances are you’ll get plenty of admiring glances. A man or woman in a sports car looks sexy, exciting, a little dangerous, and—let’s be honest—a lot well-off. All of these qualities are compelling to the opposite sex, and when you combine them, you’re practically irresistible.

It takes skill. Driving a sports car well takes experience and talent. Many of us love driving our sports cars because of the challenge, and because when we do it right, we know. There’s nothing like feeling as though you’re truly in your element. When you learn to handle a sports car well, you’ll feel like a professional driver.

We love the status. A sports car is a status symbol—plain and simple. When people see you in a sports car, they assume certain things about you: that you’re wealthy, you’re virile, you’re exciting and adventurous, and you’re sophisticated. Those are powerful assumptions to have on our side. A sports car can make us look more interesting and powerful than we are. With the jump in status you get in a sports car, is it any wonder we love them?

Sports cars can easily become addictive—once you get behind the wheel, chances are you won’t want to go back to the family hatchback. Sports cars aren’t usually the most practical choice. While other cars are designed to be fuel efficient or convenient, sports cars are designed to make us fall in love. And we do—with the speed, the power, the adrenaline rush, and the attention we attract just from driving one. It’s no wonder we love our sports cars—and as long as there are automobiles, there are sure to be sports car enthusiasts.

About the author

J Vince is director at the gifts and experience days ECommerce company ThanksDarling.com Fro more articles as well as a range of driving experiences visit http://www.thanksdarling.com/categories/supercar-driving-days.htm