Welcome to the Petrol Preserve!

Gasoline engines are shameless machines. They're loud, dirty, and they stink. They burn non-renewable fossil fuels and poison the environment. Those who choose to use them have no regard for the rest of us, whose breathing air they pollute. They force us to inhale the toxic, carcinogenic exhaust fumes they leave behind. Using motorised tools and vehicles is a personal choice, but everybody suffers the consequences: serious health risks, contaminated nature, and catastrophic climate change. Despite that, everyone is free to gas up, rev their engine, and pollute the air for any reason, no matter how frivolous – for joyrides, for sports, or no reason at all. It's an outrageous waste that we can all agree is morally reprehensible, right?

Not all of us. This website celebrates those carefree and aimless uses of internal combustion engines. Of course, diesel and gasoline engines are an important tool in transportation and industry, but beyond that, there's hardly anything in life that humans haven't found some way to introduce a gas engine to. Whether they're going karting with friends, enjoying a ride on a jetski, mowing their lawn, or just powering their garden party soundsystem with a gas-operated generator—people love to beef up all kinds of hobbies and pastimes by adding a few motors and burning plenty of fuel.

Most people would probably consider burning gas just for fun and leisure to be frivolous, irresponsible, reckless, even despicable. But a varied and passionate subculture has developed around the recreational use of gas engines. I call it petrol culture, or gasoline culture for any Americans out there. From kart racing to motocross, riding jetskis in the ocean or snowmobiles in the mountains, joyrides on the motor scooter, or radio-controlled model cars with gas engines—there's something for every taste and occasion. Regardless of age, gender, location, skills, views, and interests, there are motorsports and motorised hobbies for absolutely everybody. Petrol culture is everywhere, and its followers are imaginative, diverse, inclusive, and welcoming.

Internal combustion engines are one of the most impressive achievements of human ingenuity and engineering. With fossil fuels having quickly become the most abundant, practical, affordable, and efficient power source, mankind started coming up with countless ideas on what to use these new, marvellous machines for.

Far from just replacing older energy sources in industry and transportation, their raw and direct power also made gas engines incredibly fun to use. Almost anything can be made more exciting by strapping a gas engine to it. We've sealed them up to be able to use them in watercraft, made them smaller so we could build them into vehicles for children, built them lighter so we could carry them as a backpack for yard work, attached alternators to them so we could use them to generate electricity, and tweaked their fuels to make them run even at freezing temperatures.

That's why an estimated 200 million combustion engines are manufactured each year, and there may be around two billion of them currently in existence. Today, every child knows what a gas engine is, what it sounds and smells like. Teenagers can hardly wait until they're old enough to get their very first own moped or motor scooter. Gas engines are everywhere, making them one of the most successful inventions in history, and one of humanity's most sought after goods.

But petrol engines don't just fascinate us because of their technological sophistication. They also appeal to our primal senses because, unlike any other machine we ever built, they feel almost alive. After having started an engine, we hear it puttering away calmly. We feel the vibrations of the firing cylinders, and the heat of the engine as it's rumbling about, eager to get to work or do something exciting. It seems to be a living, breathing creature–because it is breathing, almost the same as us, inhaling fresh, oxygen-rich air and exhaling back out its exhaust fumes. And with each slight twitch at the throttle, it screams out like a fierce predator, shooting out another plume of smoke. No other machine feels so vivid, vigorous, and vibrant.

No matter what you actually use it for, with its purring and howling, the unmistakeable, piercing scent of burnt oil and gas, and the thick, blue fumes pouring out of the exhaust pipe, a running engine in and of itself is quite enchanting, exciting, and appealing on a deeply human level.

For a while, it seemed as though motorsports and motorised leisure activities had become a firmly established part of modern society. Cheap and fun as they are, people were looking for ways to incorporate gas engines into their spare time and social activities, and facilities popped up to provide that.

Every larger town had a kart racing track, and the most popular vacation activities included jetski rides, snowmobile tours, and scooter rentals. Low-threshold motorsports such as motocross became grassroots sports for all. Races were held everywhere, becoming popular public festivals. Relatively affordable equipment and welcoming clubs allowed almost everyone to have a go at it themselves. Children's clubs made sure that even the youngest had a chance to discover and enter the exciting world of gas-powered motorsports.

On the professional level, successful race drivers became media stars, while the look and style of their racing gear inspired the world of fashion. Combining the impressive and elegant engineering of high-performance racing engines with the stunning physical skills of the athletes, motorsports were clearly the most modern and timely sports humans ever came up with.

Almost every teenager who was lucky enough to get one would have their first taste of freedom and mobility on a two-stroke motor scooter, which took them to school, friends, hangouts, or just a ride out. Allowance money turned into a petrol allowance, the thought of running out of gas before the end of the weekend was terrifying! You used to be able to tell when school was out by listening for the aggressive beehive of small-bore engines being warmed up, and the entire school grounds disappearing in a blue haze of pungent two-stroke exhaust fumes.

A lot of this is still true but, unfortunately, petrol culture is on a noticeable decline. Gasoline engines and motorsports aren't as widely appreciated and revered as they were a few decades ago. Using internal combustion engines, especially for fun and leisure, is less socially accepted now, and in many areas, gas engines are threatened to be replaced by electric drives. Motorsports are less mainstream. Some even consider the very idea of a sports where fossil fuels are being burned to be objectionable and outdated.

The understanding and recognition of the technical ingenuity behind the engines is getting lost and, maybe worst of all, two-strokes are disappearing! Due to ever tightening vehicle emission standards, four-stroke engines and electric vehicles displaced two-strokes from their prime segments – mopeds, scooters, small motorcycles, jetskis, and snowmobiles. This had a knock-on effect on motorsports, too, as manufacturers often cannot justify spending research and development on two-stroke engine technology if they can't use it for their street-legal models.

Today, new two-stroke engines are mostly relegated to power tools and non-street-legal vehicles, where they don't have to fulfil emissions standards. Thankfully, at least in these areas they seem to have reached a stable level and probably aren't going to disappear anytime soon. There's a big share of people preferring two-strokes for race karts and dirtbikes, and they're still almost unchallenged in children's motorsports vehicles.

Gas-powered tools are also still the best choice for gardening equipment, thanks to their unbeatable affordability and practicality compared to electrical alternatives, making this another, if unlikely, area where two-stroke culture can still be fostered. You can still see, hear, and smell plenty of two-stroke engines running in the neighbourhood whenever people bring out their lawn trimmers, leaf blowers, or chainsaws. You may just be tending your lawn, but that revving two-stroke engine and smell of premixed fuel are almost the same as at the races!

However, the fact that two-stroke scooters in particular can usually only be found on the second-hand market anymore has severe effects on younger generations. Many teens would still be very partial to the charm of real two-stroke engines, but these will probably be in increasingly short supply. In addition, with so much of professional motorsports having been forced to switch to four-strokes, many young people may not even be very familiar with the exciting sights, sounds, smells, and riding characteristics a real two-stroke could offer them, and why they might have much more fun with it than a four-stroke, let alone an electric scooter.

After school is out, it's not usually enshrouded in a spectacular, blue plume anymore. Only a few scattered fumes can be seen jetting out from under the bike shelter, by a kid who may occasionally have to explain themselves to their more environmentalist classmates. But the younger generation losing touch with two-strokes is not just a symptom, it's also a cause. Scooters are one of the prime gateways to a lifelong devotion to motorised pastimes. And many young people might have never considered motors and motorsports as a fun and accessible possibility, before half a dozen of their friends subjected them to the wonderful bedlam and stifling fumes of warming up their scooters in front of them. But without young people getting hooked, petrol culture will become even more difficult to maintain.

The time to stop this worrying trend is now, before even more two-strokes disappear from the streets and dealerships. In order for the culture and passion of two-strokes to survive, they can't be confined to remote sporting events or dedicated meet-ups. They need to be out there in everyday life, a common and permanent presence in every city and street.

Even though two-stroke scooters are still a bit more popular with young people in the countryside and suburbs, where I grew up, the decline is still noticeable. I really loved when in the afternoons, so many teens used to be out and about on their mopeds that a faint, lingering smell of two-stroke exhaust could suddenly engulf you anywhere and anytime—even if nobody was around, just wafted there by the wind. This has sadly become a very rare experience. Consciously enjoying two-strokes at dedicated events is great, but I wish for a future where a sudden whiff of two-stroke is a common, everyday occurrence again.

Plenty of people appreciate and enjoy the recreational use of gas engines. Despite growing up with a very strong environmental consciousness, I've been one of them ever since I was a little boy. The clouds of noxious exhaust fumes, reeking of burnt gasoline and oil, are not just an unfortunate side effect of motorised activities for me, they're a major part of why I enjoy them. Rather than seeing the massive amounts of fuel wasted and air poisoned at a motorsports event as a shameful atrocity, I love the brazenness of causing that level of pollution for fun. However, I'm not an anti-environmentalist, and I don't endorse or enjoy pollution in general. I only take pleasure in it if people are polluting for sheer fun and pleasure, senselessly and shamelessly.

Over the years, I've discovered that many people around the world share this sentiment. I've personally talked with with dozens, and used to run community boards with members numbering into the thousands. There may be millions more, assuming that those who have noticed, acknowledged, and accepted this side of themselves, and started looking for like-minded people online, are only the tip of the iceberg. It may be just a very faint feeling for many; it's quite common for people to admit that they like the smell of gas, or think the fumes of a passing two-stroke motor scooter have a somewhat pleasant smell. I consider them, too, to be on a spectrum of people who could get some kind of kick out of simply letting an engine puff out some fresh exhaust fumes.

However, finding joy in something so flagrantly destructive to the environment is not socially acceptable. Many seem to react with shame and hide their feelings when discovering that they find a certain allure in the thought of purposeless pollution. I did the same throughout my childhood and teenage years. But suppressing this itch doesn't make it go away, it only leads to frustration and unhappiness. Finding excitement and pleasure in senselessly produced exhaust fumes isn't something people choose. It's a primal urge they couldn't get rid of even if they wanted to.

That's why I created this website. The Petrol Preserve aims to be a place where casual, mindless, joyous, unjustifiable, aimless air pollution is not just accepted, but celebrated.

To anyone who recognises a part of themselves in these texts and stories, or who finds the photos and videos appealing, who maybe still feels confused, embarrassed, conflicted, or guilty about their feelings, I want to say that it's okay and perfectly natural to enjoy the thought of recreational, "senseless" air pollution, indulge in it, even actively pursue it. You're far from the only one who's into it!

I also want to use this website to appreciate, celebrate, and promote petrol culture in general, to thank and honour those who are wasting tons of fossil fuels on sports and frivolous activities, and encourage them to keep going. Keep pumping those lovely, pungent fumes we like so much into the atmosphere! Finally, I write also for myself. The Petrol Preserve is my way of accepting, asserting, embracing, and maybe better understanding my own penchant for exhaust fumes.

The world of motorsports and motorised recreation, particularly using two-stroke engines, is incredibly fascinating, exciting, thrilling, and rewarding. Unfortunately, because it pollutes the air, contaminates nature, burns non-renewable fossil fuels, and contributes to climate change, it's facing a lot of backlash in current society.

I want to fight this by taking the offensive. I won't downplay the environmental impact of two-stroke motorsports, or claim that the problems can be solved through innovative technologies. Instead, I defend the view that for me, and many people like me, the pollution is a major part of what we love about it. For that reason, it's also not possible to just replace the gas-powered engines and go electric. This would get rid of much of what makes these activities so exciting to us, and turn it into an entirely different sport which we have no interest in.

It may be difficult to explain to someone who has not yet discovered the allure of Petrol Culture, but the very things that might seem repulsive or indefensible to an environmentalist, are what make these sports and activities so appealing to many of us in the first place. The noise of the revving engines, the vibrations and the heat, the feeling of direct connection to a powerful combustion engine, the smell of burnt petrol and oil, and the thick, blue clouds of stifling exhaust fumes aren't just unpleasant side effects to us which we would get rid of if we could. They're a fundamental part of why we love motors and motorised pastimes so much.

With this site, I want to contribute a small part to the preservation of Petrol Culture by simply celebrating it, and promoting it to the world. In order to start appreciating two-stroke engines and support the cause of saving, defending, and once again making them commonplace, people first have to be exposed to them. They have to hear the revs and see the fumes; I can offer this virtually on this website. But they have to take a few deep breaths of real, fresh two-stroke exhaust in order to really get hooked. I bestow this privilege on people wherever I ride my two-strokes (you could call it evangelising), but I like the idea of this becoming a movement. Like-minded people could get involved, fill the world with fumes in order to find more like-minded individuals, and find ways to further the cause. How about sponsorships to pay young people's petrol allowances?

The reason it's called the Petrol Preserve is also because it's supposed to be a sanctuary for like-minded people. Being fond of reckless pollution is bound to trigger some judgemental reactions from society. But on these pages, people should not feel embarrassed to admit that they enjoy these incidental effects of gas engines: the brash noise of the engine, the smell of pungent exhaust gas, the sight of thick exhaust fumes wafting over a race track. Here, we even admit without a guilty conscience that thinking about how harmful the exhaust fumes are, how much they contribute to the pollution of the environment and the destruction of nature, and how pointless the reasons for which we cause it are, is in itself one of the major allures of motorsports.

Explaining this to anyone who doesn't share these feelings is difficult. I think it's important to point out that I didn't deliberately choose to be into senseless, reckless pollution. It's something that I simply discovered about myself, at a very young age. It's a part of me that I couldn't change even if I wanted to, and there have been times where I tried. Everybody is pretty much at the mercy of their penchants and kinks. Luckily, it doesn't cause me any suffering (nor anybody else), so I have decided to accept it, indulge in it, and enjoy it as much as I can.

I also want to point out that I'm decidedly not an anti-environmentalist or climate change denier. The topics on this website are completely apolitical. I'm quite an environmentally conscious person in general and, apart from what you see and read about on this website, follow a relatively sustainable lifestyle. I've struggled with this cognitive dissonance for quite a while and concluded that, while I'm eco-minded by conviction and support climate action, I also can't deny this very deep part of my nature, so I occasionally engage in a few environmental sins becaues they make me very happy.

In fact, I think my deeply ingrained environmental consciousness is what has actually led to this morbid passion for its exact opposite. Interestingly, most people I've talked to who share this penchant of mine have told me about similar feelings and histories. Being deeply saddened and appalled by human-caused pollution as a child, and feeling very emotional and helpless about it, often seems to lead to the intense counter reaction of developing a defiant, carnal infatuation with it. Distraught by the fact that we can't stop people from wantonly destroying our environment, we reclaim control over our feelings by turning their recklessness into something we take pleasure in, encouraging them to poison nature even harder to satisfy our craving.

And, of course, reclaiming the ultimate control by starting to senselessly pollute ourselves. I love the excitement of doing something unreasonable for once, something that's pretty much inexcusable considering how far-reaching its negative consequences are. Something completely legal, which doesn't do anyone any harm, but still feels a bit evil and unconscionable. The temptation to do something inappropriate which increases my ecological footprint excessively, and the aftermath of which will outlast my own short existence. Centuries after I'm gone, the exhaust fumes that I pumped out of my two-stroke dirtbike's tailpipe, or while racing laps on the karting track, or while simply letting a string trimmer idle for no reason and watching the toxic clouds puff out, will still be there, desecrating and poisoning nature.

Even when I was a little boy, the exhaust fumes of petrol engines occupied my mind a lot. As I was a very environmentally conscious kid, it devastated me to see how casually and indifferently we humans pollute our nature. Wherever I spotted an exhaust pipe spewing out thick, stinking exhaust gas, I was so disgusted and outraged that I couldn't look away. The despicable smoke and the penetrating smell made me both sad and angry. I promised myself that I would never use anything with a gas engine, for as long as I lived.

But apart from my concern about exhaust fumes as a little tree hugger, there was apparently another reason why they were so compelling and captivating to me. I noticed that the sound of engines and the stench of exhaust also excited me in a sensual way. I also discovered that a situation felt especially thrilling to me the more recklessly someone was polluting the air, or the more pointless I thought it was – such as leaving an engine idling, or burning gas for motorsports. I even had a confusingly excited reaction when I saw seemingly healthy trees being cut down. Everything that was most upsetting to me as a would-be environmentalist gave me a massive adrenaline rush at the same time.

For some reason, that part of me felt a great pleasure whenever I had to witness the environment being contaminated and destroyed. It was an urge I couldn't suppress, so I started looking for situations of unscrupulous and senseless pollution in my everyday life, not just to condemn them in my mind as a tree hugger, but also appreciate and enjoy the thrilling feelings I got when I saw nature being desecrated and polluted. The moral conflict this caused with my environmental conscience made me want to suppress these feelings at times.

Ultimately, I decided that this fight against my "dark side" was hopeless and that life was too short. I gave in to my desire. I didn't want to just passively watch pollution happen anymore, so I started arranging for situations in which I would be directly exposed to the pollution myself, or in which I could play around with running engines and cause exhaust fumes of my own – deliberately without any purpose.

I always struggled to understand these feelings. Isn't it completely paradoxical for someone to derive so much pleasure from something which destroys their basis of life? Natural science taught me that I should feel most attracted to women who would ensure the best chances of survival for our offspring – yet here I was, a teenager who was most turned on when a pretty girl was revving her motor scooter, spewing harmful, noxious fumes into the air, poisoning it for everybody.

Out of my confusion, I decided to create a website about my strange feelings. It was a way to sort my own thoughts and write down theories on how such a strange fondness could have come to be, especially considering my history as an environmentally conscious boy. To illustrate what I was into, and for the off chance that someone found my site and wanted to understand what I was writing about, I added pictures of exhaust gas and air pollution which I found especially stirring, from a huge collection I had started building.

I had always assumed that I'm the only person on the planet with such strange thoughts and feelings, but not long after publishing the first version of this website, I was surprised to find out that I wasn't. I started getting e-mails from people who were also secretly into exhaust fumes, found my website while looking for pollution pictures, and recognised themselves in my descriptions. Many of them even told me similar stories about having been a very eco-minded child, and being most thrilled by situations where the pollution was caused mindlessly or without purpose. Many told me how surprised and grateful they were to find out that there are other people who understand. While there may be many thousands, if not millions of people that secretly have a thing for exhaust, many seem to instinctively assume that they're the only ones.

That's why I decided to revive my website. I want to once more help give current and future "closeted" exhaust fume enthusiasts the opportunity to find out that they're not alone, that they can find like-minded people and exchange stories and thoughts.

On a separate page about me, I write in much more detail about how I discovered my love for exhaust fumes, and how my approach to it changed over the years. That little biography is probably most interesting to those visitors who have recognised glimpses of themselves in this short overview. But maybe there are some "outsiders", who find this whole thing awfully bizarre, but still would like to learn a little more about it.

I try to find a balance between these two target audiences on the site. Of course, the site is mainly written for those who share my passion for exhaust fumes, people who are attracted to stories, reports, photos, and videos of pointless air pollution. But I hope to also give random visitors a glimpse into this world of weird feelings and thoughts, and maybe even make it somewhat intelligible to them, to the point that that's even possible. Hopefully, it will at least be comprehensible in the sense that we all have our quirks, kinks, and dirty little secrets. And because barely anyone else is writing about mine, I'll try to do it as exhaustively and descriptively as I can.

Whether you were brought here by your exhaust fume fetish, pure curiosity, or mere coincidence: welcome to the Petrol Preserve, where internal combustion engines, fossil fuels, and exhaust fumes are under conservational protection.