Hi, it’s me again – Mario – and I hope that you’ve been enjoying the ride with us so far. We’re about to take a detour and make our way to the latest, and possibly greatest, part of our website: the Backroads.
By now you should have some idea of what Turnpike is, and the far-reaching facets of car culture that we’re presenting; insane off-road racers in Iceland, Bavarian beauties in Japan, Romania’s hottest car show and America’s most iconic hillclimb event.
Variety is the spice of life, and we like it hot on our website.
Larry is always globetrotting, Alec and Dino have Japan on lock, Alen is scouring Scandinavia and I’ve got my ear to the ground in the UK and Europe. Yet the five of us don’t have the resources to cover every story going – even with our esteemed friends and colleagues who contribute to Turnpike.
Enter the Backroads, the community-focused, community-driven side of the website, where we’re taking a step back and letting the lesser-heard voices do the talking. A place that you – yes, you – can call home for your story.
I’m talking about your local open-wheel Formula club in Argentina, or the Portuguese Festival of Speed. You’ve got a niche, former Japanese Idlers race car that now lives in sunny California with you? We’d love to get your story seen.
But where some of you might be expecting an old-school, forum-style free-for-all, we want to take it a step further. Forums died because Instagram made it easy to share your opinion or a post online, but in doing so it took away the longevity, too.
Articles have been reduced to throwaway captions, photos are now shot solely in 4:5 aspect ratios and the art of storytelling has taken a hit. Not on the Backroads.
Submit any story that you’d like and we’ll take a look at it, help you find your angle and work with you to get it live. You’re not left to fend for yourself, because we personally read through and edit every story that goes up on the Backroads – a luxury we don’t want to gatekeep.
We’ve got our first batch of community stories up and ready for you to read, so check them out and see the beautiful variety of car culture your world has to offer. Our inbox is always open, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your idea – no matter how big or small.
Turnpike is still in its infancy, but with thousands of you already signed up on the website -, we’re unbelievably happy with the community spirit that’s come together around our passion project.
It’s not just Turnpikes and highways that connect people, it’s the side streets, avenues and Backroads that make up our day-to-day lives, after all.
Love that we get to have a section where we can share our personal stories and connect with other car guys in the community
I’ll definitely share my story very soon once I can get a good camera and learn how to take good shots lol
It seems like there is a variety of aspect ratios and resolutions for pictures on this site.
Is there a preferred aspect ratio if people are shooting for articles? Will you accept 4:5? 😉
This is a great idea. As you alluded to, things can easily get lost in the sea of social media and the likes of Instagram and Tiktok. The days of long build threads on forums are also dwindling. So to have an opportunity for community car stories to be shared on a platofrm like this is really awesome.
I’m so happy something like this exists. With social media sites pivoting towards being more video focused and algorithms prioritizing short form video, photographers needed an outlet dedicated to appreciating photography and photographers without compromise. So excited to start creating here.