Dan Cartwright has over 12 years of experience in the caravan and motorhome industry. He is a judge for a number of prestigious leisure vehicle awards and regularly heads off in his motorhome with his family. Every week, Dan shares his insights with the community. Here’s what he has to say this week.
Being a part of the CaravanTimes team as a leisure vehicle journalist has afforded me some amazing experiences that I’m incredibly grateful for.
I’m acutely conscious of how privileged I am to be a judge for numerous Caravan and Motorhome Club (CAMC) staples, like the Towcar of the Year and Caravan Design Awards. On the job, I’ve travelled to far-flung destinations, tested the latest and greatest leisure vehicles and been on international tours. Don’t get me wrong – I know I’m a very lucky man.
But just like you, I have dreams. Unlike many people though, my dreams involve Arctic trailers and smashing land speed records. If you have any leisure vehicle bucket list items, I’d love to hear them.
But for now, here are four things I’d love to achieve. Some are more realistic than others and people may doubt me, but you can’t stop a man from dreaming.
1. Self-convert an Arctic trailer
Honestly, I’d just love to see the space available and what you could do with it. I think it would be heavenly to spend a year in my garden with the tools, just making it exactly how I want it to be.
I don’t know if I could afford the towcar, which would probably need to be an articulated lorry. But I could afford the trailer, so that’s a start. Although, I’m unsure if many campsites would let me in.
2. Beat the land speed towing record
This currently stands at 140 mph and is owned by an American, which to me, feels wrong. Additionally, that speed feels tantalisingly possible. Of course, this would require a lot of preparation and an appropriate runway, but with modern EVs, I think it’s becoming more realistic.
My understanding is that you’re not allowed to modify the caravan in any way and you must drive a production towcar. But, to bring a land speed record back to the UK would be a dream for me and the wider leisure vehicle industry.
3. Tour Europe all summer long
I want to spend an entire summer holiday touring Europe with the family. We’d use the CAMC site network to take advantage of places with expansive swimming pools and huge slides. Hopefully, there’ll be something for the kids too.
My children are five and seven years old, so realistically, I’ve only got about eight years left to achieve this bucket list item. In theory, it seems quite reasonable, but taking six weeks off from work suddenly makes breaking the land speed towing record seem easier.
4. Pass down my T25
I intend to keep my 1982 Volkswagen T25 in working order so that I can pass it down to my daughter as her first vehicle.
Whilst it doesn’t have airbags, it can only do about 40 mph anyway, so I always feel safe. Also, she’ll have to learn how to fix it, which is a very smart way of ensuring she’ll visit her parents regularly, as I’ll inevitably have to do it myself.
Having translated this from a thought in my head to an article on CaravanTimes, I realise that some of these are certainly more achievable than others, but that’s what a bucket list is for!
Photo credit: derwiki / Pixabay
