One Musician’s Important Lesson about the Lamborghini Miura

When it comes to driving exotic cars, such as the Lamborghini Miura shown in the following Top Gear video from 2003, you never enjoy them alone.

Some people buy cars as investments and lock them away from other cars, the elements, and bird BMs to preserve their value. It’s their money and they have the right to do with it what they please. That might keep a lot of dough in their pocket, but it also keeps them from a lot of enjoyment.

Believe it or not, the Lamborghini Miura was designed to be driven. You could come upon one that’s parked and spend an hour just walking around it and drooling over its low-slung stance and sensual curves. You could spend another hour getting a sonic high off of listening to its mid-mounted V12 being fired up and speaking in its raspy and wonderfully mechanical tones.

Squirreling away a high-performance car like that prevents owners from experiencing the rush of its acceleration, the g-forces of throwing it into a curve, and the satisfying feeling of making its pedals and shifter work in perfect unison.

Part of the magic of a car is in the memories you make driving it. It’s impossible to experience that when the front of it only sees the back of a garage door instead of the water of a distant sunlit coast.

Not driving a performance car also deprives other people.

I’m not just talking adult strangers, either. It’s true that, even as grownups, we all smile when we see a Ferrari or Aston Martin blow by us across an intersection. People who take their high-end vehicles out on the road are philanthropists and might not know it.

Who I’m really talking about is the next generation of automotive enthusiasts. Think back to when you were a kid and saw a car that just stuck with you, made you daydream about it, caused you to get a poster of it and throw it up on your wall. Now imagine if that car and others like it never saw the light of day. Perhaps you would’ve never been inspired to buy the car you love so much right now.

It’s clear from the video that Jay Kay of the band Jamiroquai is a giver. He drives his 1972 Miura SV, giving nearby kids a chance to be stunned and perhaps motivated by it. Whether or not you think Jay Kay should keep his music from the world, I think we can all agree to be grateful that he shares his cars with the children of it, young and old.

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum, H-D Forums, The Mustang Source, Mustang Forums, LS1Tech, HondaTech, Jaguar Forums, YotaTech, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts. Derek also started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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