The future?

As I write petrol and diesel are at a wallet-shredding £1.09 per litre. We, like most of you, really want answers as to why, when we’re still wading through the murky depths of a recession, fuel companies have the downright cheek and greed as to put up fuel prices.

While people across the globe  people continue to lose their jobs (and houses as a result), the rich as usual get richer. The fuel companies (and particularly oil) must seriously be the most greedy companies on Earth.

Anyway, we came across this article on The Mail’s website. Oil ships anchor off the coast of Britain, refusing to dock until fuel prices rise and push up the price of their loads. Some have sat there for two months now and their cargo rises in price by £1,000,000 per day.

This tallies with the fact that fuel cost 90-odd pence per litre two months ago which has now risen to £1.09.

Just how long will the tankers sit there? Until we’re all broke apparently. Our advice? Buy a car that will get great mpg and try to weather out the storm. Another piece of advice – sit back, chill out and laugh, ‘cos one day oil companies will be no more and we’ll all be driving around in Electric powered vehicles.

Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Emma Wills

This isn’t a personal rant or crusade (okay maybe it is a bit) however, the masses may agree with me on these points.

We’re talking about bad driving habits. There’s so many it’s a question of where to start really. Here’s a good starter, and they may be easy pickings, but it’s also a popular one: old people on the roads.

Ever been behind one down a country road? They can usually be seen behind the wheel of a horribly coloured Honda Jazz (place your old people’s similar car here), which is some colour that the dealer has had in stock for ages and wants to offload it, like that nasty light Bluey Purple or Gold.

Back on the country road and it’s clearly a 60 mph limit but oh no, they want to drive at 40. Why? Only they know. The tailback is huge. A mass of drivers honking horns and flashing lights. Does the old person in question check their mirrors though? Apparently not, for 20-odd cars flashing and honking doesn’t seem to perturb them at all.

Soon though, that 60 mph limit turns into a 30 mph zone through the local village, but instead of the O.A.P slowing down to say 20 mph as would be expected, they continue to drive at 40. Annoyingly, why do we always get caught doing 33 by a sneaky Police laser, and yet these lovely old people can get away with speeding past Mrs Miggins Pie Shop and out the other side of  the hamlet with no bother what-so-ever.

Old people, pay heed and watch your speed (in other words put your flipping foot down in the right places and take it off in others).

In this scenario we can also include Tractor driving farmers. Hello! There are around 10,000 cars behind you! Pull over and let us past you turnip-munching baboons.

Next victim please. Motorway lane hoggers. In much the same way as old people, lane hoggers get right up other drivers noses. Again, there’s the huge tailback, with one driver right at the front inevitably overtaking another (middle) lane hog at 70 mph, or exactly the same speed as the other driver. The dim-witted driver either never notices the line of angry drivers behind them or chooses to be completely selfish and not slide that accelerator pedal down another inch or two to get past in order to get back in to the slower lanes.

Now you may be thinking ‘70 mph is the limit on motorways so what’s the problem?’  Well pants to that. Nowadays 70 is the accepted minimum and even the Police won’t pull you for doing 80 unless they’re really bored. It’d be far too much paperwork for them if they did that every time.

The publics advice to these lane-hogging idiots is ‘use that accelerator pedal and get out of the way, you’re a nuisance and a downright danger to other road users!’

Actually, while we’re on the point of motorway users, truck drivers are in the habit of doing exactly the same thing for around ten miles at a time, especially on uphill dual carriageway sections so other people can’t get past. In Germany this sort of thing is not allowed and at most times of the day trucks are confined to only the inside lane. That’s definitely the way to go! Less danger of accidents and it also frees the roads up for other drivers too, which in turn means far less tailbacks.

So okay, we’re all guilty of our different bad road habits and we could all do to improve on some point or other. Nobody’s perfect right.

One common thing we should all work on though, is being aware of other road users. If someone’s tailgating you and wants to be past, don’t get mad and slow down even more, just pull over and let them past. If you’re a cautious road user and prefer to go slower down the road beware that there are other road users around you and do something about it. People do end up having accidents trying to pass slower drivers.

If you’ve annoyed someone and they beep at you, don’t give them the bird and honk back, just accept it and carry on. Whatever the thing is that’s bugging us, don’t let it get to you so badly that it causes you to drive dangerously, just chill out more often.

Here’s a proposition I have for the Government. All vehicles should legally have a copy of a Jack Johnson album in the glove box. Well, it’s one way to keep us all mellowed-out and I think we should push for it.

What do you reckon?

Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Caveman 92223

We’ve all seen those wide, straight roads in the U.S.A, whether that’s been through a film or for real. They always seem to run through glorious countryside with rolling fields of grass and forests, or maybe it’s a desert road running next to some giant canyon or other.

Whatever it is, for me they always conjure up excitement, it stirs the soul and leaves a longing feeling of wanting to hop on a plane over to the States, hire a pick-up truck and just blast down some of those roads and into that sunset you always see in the movies.

I’ve been to America a couple of times before, but never done a ‘proper’ long drive over there. One trip was to Dallas, Texas (never again), and one to Tennessee, a beautiful state that has a lot of English type countryside, only larger, with bigger roads and better weather.

A road trip in the U.S is a dream I’ve always had, and with every year coming and going, it seems the right thing to do is get on with booking that flight. I mean, heck I’ve already got my tunes sorted for it. They’re the sort that conjure up images of those long, straight roads and the ultimate American lifestyle. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, U2 (okay they’re Irish but The Joshua Tree album is 100% American open road music), The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston and a smattering of Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles.

So okay, some of those may seem a bit cheesy but they are America and all the road milage that go with it. I want to immerse myself into the culture, and having that sort of music on in my hired pick-up is one of the easiest ways to kick that off. Well that and the black cowboy hat I’ll purchase at the nearest general store.

It’s not just me that’ll be going on this trip though, I’ve got a good friend (we went to Tennessee together years ago) who’s just as revved up about it as I am.

Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Dazon Blue

A highlight will be going to a NASCAR race. You may think of it as a bunch of cars going round in a circle for a couple of hours and, well, you’re right. But add to that the fact the cars are all powered by howling V8’s, drive within inches of each other and hit 200 mph, plus an attendance of 150,000 avid NASCAR fans yelling at their favourite drivers, add to that weather topping 35 Celsius and you’ve got yourself a helluva day people.

Back onto the road and it’s just about written that if you’re doing a road trip in the U.S, then Route 66 must be involved at some point. Historic Route 66 is around 2,400 miles long and runs East to West (or the other way around) across the States from Los Angeles to Chicago and cuts across some of the most stunning countryside in the world. It’s the ultimate desert road as it runs through places like California, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Missouri. Better make sure we’ve got plenty of water and fuel for that part of the journey then.

America is a ridiculously big place. For example, just to blow your minds a bit, the state of Texas alone is around 266,000 square miles whereas the whole of Britain is around 90,000 square miles!
This puts into perspective just how much room we’ve got to play about in and also how much
fuel we’ll get through in that big V8 pick-up we’ll rent.

Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Irene Shin

To add to the whole ‘genuine America’ feeling, I’ll stop in at least one sleazy motel, and I’ve no doubt that the following scenario will happen, as it does in most movies featuring a cheapo motel.

Night will come. All is quiet when we’re woken by next doors door being kicked in. Lots of shouting ensues of which we pick out “where’s ma damn money boy?” and “I ain’t got it yit darn it”. Then the ‘Bang. Bang’ of a gun and the sound of running, a car starts and floors the accelerator, steaming off into the distance.
All is silent.

If that doesn’t happen in our crappy motel I’ll be writing in to the right person and complaining about the whole thing.

A lot of what I want to do on the road trip in America may be from a film-based imagination; the deep red and yellow sunset at the end of that long, long road surrounded by desert, the whole NASCAR experience, the music, the cowboy hat and most of all, the pick-up truck, but believe me, that really is the U.S.A.
I’d better start saving then.

Here’s a very helpful site if you’re thinking of travelling Route 66. Historic66.com

Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Digammo

This is how they should be filmed

When adverts appear on the TV now, I have to either change the channel or turn off the sound to go and do something far more interesting for the 5 minutes or so that they are on, like stand in a corner and stare at the wallpaper pattern.

However, I love cars, and therefore will occasionally watch the commercials for them. I should say did watch them really though. They are now so boring and devoid of anything interesting at all, that I’m drawn to wallpaper pattern again. Take, for example, BMWs latest offering for their Z4. Now this is a fairly good looking car, if you get the right combination of paint colour and wheels.

But their advert for it sucks beyond belief. Cue cheesy music, a Z4 and a white plastic-looking floor. As the car drives around the floor, it leaves behind lines of coloured paint. It drifts and slides around. After around 50 seconds of messing (messing, paint, get it? No, okay, onwards) about, the commercial ends with the words ‘Explore an expression of joy’.

Okay, I get it, it’s fun to drive, but Hello, real world calling. Does anyone have a large white pad I can test this BMW on? Oh, and throw in a few dozen gallons of various colours of paint as well while you’re at it please, as that’s what I drive on as part of my everyday route.

No, no, no! Lets see it in real environments, on real roads! Let’s see it cornering hard on a winding country road, or blasting down a beautiful coastal stretch of tarmac, the sea on one side, fabulous mountainous scenery on the other. That excites the senses. That would opens our eyes and imaginations.

Another BMW advert that truly needs an overhaul is the M3 advertisement. It’s slightly better than the awful Z4 advert, but it still has damn bad delivery and very surreal outer-worldliness.

It starts with the M3 on a road. The surroundings are dark and almost black and white with a non-noticeable background. Add some moody and semi-heavy Fast and Furious-esque music. A few seconds into the ad, you hear at least 2 or 3 seconds of engine noise. That’s it though, so don’t get your hopes up. It rounds an easy bend doing (from the look of it) a face-contorting and huge 50 mph, onto a flat bridge. As it crosses it, the road builds up behind the M3 into a suspension bridge type thingy. The BMW goes off into the distance, and the advert ends with the BMW logo and the words ‘Sheer. Driving. Pleasure.’.

Hmm. Sheer driving pleasure eh! Well, if that’s your idea of fun driving BMW, you’ll probably all have heart attacks when arranging the annual paint balling and quad biking ‘Team Building’ day out then. I’d stick to Chess instead, it’s much less taxing physically and also less ‘heavy’ on your eyes (black and white see).

To put it simply BMW, as you well know, the M3 is one of the most focussed cars in its class. Its chassis and engine is one of the best out there too. We need to see this car (almost) flying down the Autobahn, or being pushed to the limit on some twisting Alpine road.

I’m not picking on BMW here. I love how they push for perfect engineering and build quality. But, they do have the ability to get rid of those dull, drab and eyeball achingly boring commercials. More importantly though, they do have the money and man-power to get some really great adverts put out there for their cars.

It’s not just BMW sending out the dreadful ads, most car companies are doing the same. Land Rover, your Discovery adverts show about as much of its capabilities as a mum on a school run. Let’s see it wading through middle-of-door height water or grappling with the side of a muddy hill – not splashing through small puddles that a even Nissan Micra could navigate.

How about Citroen’s advert for their C3? I may be going down to my local Citroen dealership soon, to ask if I can test drive their C3 in the sea. Hopefully some stray Dolphins may thumb (or fin) a lift. This is normal behaviour for Dolphins according to their commercial.

Or Ford’s Focus musical instruments advert. ‘Performed on actual car parts’. Wow. Yes. How did Ford know that I’ve always wanted to strip a new car down and make strange looking instruments out the parts? Which, in actual fact, wouldn’t look out of place in that scene out of Star Wars where that band is playing in the bar on Mos Eisley.

What manufacturers need to realise is that we don’t need to see a car driving about on the moon, or driving at 10 mph on some boring and perfectly surfaced straight road, or some car parts made into classical music instruments (why?).

What we do need is to get a sense that the car is fun or exiting to drive, in real life. Or that it has soul, or character or both. These qualities can easily be portrayed in scenarios that involve proper roads and situations.

In fact, an easy way to do this would be to get Jay Leno and Jeremy Clarkson in to produce and direct the advertisement. Mass viewing and attention grabbing would be guaranteed.

Come on manufacturers, who’s going to be the first to do it?

Photo Credit - tdeeken

Love cars? Well, obviously you do, that’s why you’re on this site. Anyway, carry on reading, we’ll get to the point in a minute.

If you’ve already heard of, or are a member of the (hugely) popular website Flickr, that’s great. You already know what a gold mine it is for car fans. For all of you out there that haven’t yet discovered the joys of Flickr, you’re about to strike gold.

This site is an amazing source for some amazing photographs. Of course it’s not just for cars, there’s everything on there, but for the sake of all the petrol heads, we’re talking about cars.

Lower 2 Photo Credits – Nigel Smuckatelli

After joining Flickr (it’s very easy and also very free), you can upload your pictures and put them into the relevant groups. If you want, you can allow people to comment on your photos too.

Now comes the good part. Whatever vehicles you’re into, whether it’s supercars, sports cars, 4×4s or luxury cars (to name but a few of the thousands of groups), they’re all here for your enjoyment. There are some truly awesome ‘finds’ (rare vehicles) by members of Flickr.

Ever heard of the Ferrari P4/5? A one-only car built by Ferrari for a customer, to their specifications, for (supposedly) around $5,000,000. It’s on Flickr. Remember the Lamborghini LM002? It’s a 4×4. Yes that’s right, a Lamborghini 4×4. It was built for the Saudi army, and they only ever built 300 of them. Yet someone on Flickr has spied one on the street and, for our pleasure, put it up on Flickr.

Lower 2 Photo Credits – tdeeken

It’s not just rare ‘finds’ and supercars here though folks! At the other end of the car-world spectrum, if you love off-roading, it’ll be on there. From mudding in a Ford Bronco in America’s deep south swamps, to rock climbing in a Jeep in Utah, to crossing huge wilderness expanses in a Toyota Landcruiser, to green-laning in England, all the amazing pictures capturing those highlights are there for you to enjoy and comment on.

Whatever the vehicle, from the rarest of the rare to the mass manufactures, it’s almost guaranteed to be on Flickr. But it’s not just about the cars though. It’s also about the people that take those photo’s, and the members of the groups, that all add up to making it a great experience.

From young to old and amateur to professional, there are some great stories to discover.

Lower 2 Photo Credits – TakenPictures

There’s the Vietnam war veteran (Flickr ID Nigel Smuckatelli), that has, in pictures, an account of his service in that war. He’s also met Steve McQueen at the Sebring 12 hour race in 1970. Then there’s the guys (Flickr ID tdeeken) that have set up their own car review website, which includes high quality and entertaining videos. It’s going to be huge! There’s someone (Flickr ID TakenPictures) that takes photo’s at scrap yards in the USA that are full of ’50s and 60’s cars. Once beautiful cars that are now abandoned to the harsh elements of the desert.

The point is that nearly all of the people on Flickr involve you emotionally somehow in their work. Whether it’s through their photographs, or through their life stories they make the atmosphere and general resonance of Flickr a hugely positive one.

It’s a great experience. What are you waiting for? Joining is free!

If you decide to join Flickr, we run a group on there called Unique and Exotic Cars, take a look and see what you think.

Koeniggsegg CCR

It’s an ever changing economy, one which is seems to heading for oblivion, and one where governments are encouraging (and nigh-on telling) car manufacturers to start looking for alternative fuels and energy sources for their vehicles. Doom and gloom encompass us from all directions in the media, and it does bring people down.

Ferrari F40

Lets change that outlook into a more positive one. In the world of exotic supercars, most of us can only dream of owning or even getting a drive in one. Still, we love to look at and listen to them. Who doesn’t stop and stare when seeing or hearing a Ferrari or Lamborghini. We’ll talk to the owners of these insanely expensive cars about them. Complete strangers that you’ve never met. It can make a dull day into one of joy.

Most of us can only dream of owning or even getting a drive in one. Still, we love to look at and listen to them. Who doesn’t stop and stare when seeing or hearing a Ferrari or Lamborghini. We’ll talk to the owners of these insanely expensive cars about them. Complete strangers that you’ve never met. It can make a dull day into one of joy.

So let us say to the likes of Spyker, Koenigsegg, Maserati, Ascari, Lamborghini and Ferarri, ‘keep making your mad, bad cars’! Lets encourage them to carry on making their hand crafted interiors and please do use the finest and most expensive materials around to build your cars. Carbon fibre, airforce grade aluminium, kevlar, titanium and magnesium are definitely welcome.

Lamborghini Gallardo LP560

For in these times of economic darkness, we need a light to carry on shining and that light is you. No, the vast majority of people can’t afford to buy your beautiful and insane cars, but to see and hear them gives us all hope that, while manufacturers are still building them, and people are willing to buy them, the world will be a better place for us all, owner or non-owner.

Alternative fuels for cars of the future? They’re welcome. Just promise us you’ll keep alive the sounds of those magnificent wailing V12’s or howling V8’s, and it’s all good.

Formula 2 cars in the live arena

Dreary, grey sky. Seemingly endless cold and damp days. It’s about time I got a much-needed fix to brighten the mood I’m in! The fix in question will be a car show. The PistonHeads & Autosport International Show, to be exact.

Held in January every year, this is the perfect time for it. It’s situated at the N.E.C (National Exhibition Centre) in Birmingham, which has large, (and most importantly warm and dry), halls, which accommodate the huge amount of cars and stalls nicely.

I booked my ticket a couple of weeks earlier, buying the Paddock Pass ticket, which is a bargain at £35 (normal tickets are £30), as, with the pass you can access the backstage area of the Live Arena (I’ll come to that later), which also gets you a comfy seat there too. The Paddock Pass also allows you meet the stars of the show and get autographs and pictures with them.

The show itself started at 9 am, and my ticket into the Live Arena was for 9:30 am. There are quite a few Live Arena shows throughout the day, but the first is always the best as the stars and the cars in the show are bright and fresh, ready for action. By the end of the day and the last showing (6pm), the acts are tired and don’t tend to give 100% in my opinion.  On with the live show then! It’s a frenzy of bright lights, moody music and noise. The noise made by a variety of machinery. On the scene with a few words first though are F1 commentator Martin Brundle and retired F1 driver David Coulthard, who give us a briefing of what’s to come (with their careers and with the show). This is the PistonHeads & Autosport show after all, so the cars that enter the arena are some of the fastest, and most powerful vehicles around.

They include Formula 2 cars (similar to Formula 1 cars, but smaller and less powerful) and the Super Mighty Minis, which take a normal Classic Mini Cooper, up-rate the engine, lighten the car, fit roll bars, Perspex windows and racing tyres and suspension, add a few other modifications, and hey presto, you have a fast racing Mini. Also raced is the latest Ford Focus W.R.C (World Rally Championship) car. This is the real deal with 300 bhp and 406 lb-ft of torque, the 0 – 60 mph time is around just 4 seconds.

Legendary stunt driver Terry Grant also made an appearance too, to wow the crowds with his usual outlandish but precise driving. These are just a few highlights of the Live Arena, there are many others, too many to mention here in fact, so you’ll have to attend the show next year to find out what’s going to be hurting your ears and making you cy with envy and jealousy over the fact that more than likely, you will never get to drive one of these rare race cars. Still, at least you get to see them in action eh!

KTM X-Bow

After the one hour show, I headed into the halls to check out the cars on display. What I like about this show is that it really is for petrolheads, whether you’re into exotics, racing cars or just normal everyday motors, there’s something for everyone here.

The salesmen and enthusiasts on the stands are more than helpful, and are always happy to answer your many, many questions even if some are boring. One of my favourites is, “ so what’s the drag coefficient on this car?”, it always baffles them for a while.

There are a lot of great trade stands to peruse, from suspension, brakes and exhaust systems, to Steve McQueen posters and books, it’s all here.  With the economy being in turmoil at the moment, this is a good way for the traders to create more sales and interest in their products, after all it’s much better to go and actually have a look and whet your appetite at say, a brake calliper and disk-which can almost be a work of art at times-than it is just taking a gander on the internet!

You can also get yourself a bargain too. A lot of the time, the products at these shows are at least 10% cheaper than shop or internet prices.

Myself with the 1,300bhp Chevy Monter Truck

Wandering around the halls, there are some really unusual vehicles on display. On the Santa Pod Raceway stand, there is a beast that brings out the kid in all of us. A Chevrolet pick-up monster truck, which is a 1,300bhp, 5-ton, 4-wheel-steer brute of a machine. Also on the stand was their Jet powered Funny Car, which is not-so-funny when you read that it has over 5500 lbs of thrust and can run a quarter of a mile in 5.7 seconds, crossing the line at 336 mph!

Then there was the attention grabbing British built Bowler Nemesis, the famed 4×4 that has a cut away Range Rover type body and a supercharged engine with 450 bhp and 600 lb-ft of torque. Oh, and just to top things off, it also competes in the Paris-Dakar race. What a machine!

Another smattering of cars included the 242 mph Swedish manufactured Koenigsegg  CCR, the £120,000 Ford GT, the evil looking race-car-for-the-road TVR Sagaris, and a variety of tuned and customised Porsches, Range Rovers, and other high end marques.

Prodrive tuned Aston Martin Vantage

Prodrive, a tuning company for some of the greatest cars around, including Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, also had a great stand too. It was well lit and laid out, and their tuned cars, which included Aston Martins and Subarus, were in the whitest of white colours. Very cool. The PistonHeads & Autosport International Show was a great day out, for enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike, with more than enough to do and see. I’ll definitely be going back next year.

Besides, it’s changed my mood to a much brighter one – there’s nothing like a good car show for that!

What some may not know is that he also is one of the most famous car, and motorcycle, enthusiast and collector’s around. He even has his own website with an Emmy Nominated videos section. Other features on the site include a photos section and a community – where fellow enthusiasts can sign up and share pictures and thoughts on their own cars. Along with the videos are articles on the vehicles that go into more depth about them.

Now when I say Jay Leno has a ‘garage’, I’m not talking about a two car space mostly filled with boxes of old clothes and magazines. No, based in the U.S.A in Southern California, he has two large, hanger sized buildings, filled with one of the best, and most varied, collections of cars in the world. Then there is the actual garage for working on the cars. This is 17,000 square feet of state-of-the-art, custom built garage, which has its own mechanics, tools and machines to mill and fabricate parts for the cars. In fact, a lot of these vehicles are so rare and old, that most of the parts needed have to be made in-house.

Filming at Jay Leno's garage

The website emphasizes that Jay Leno’s collection are not museum pieces by any means. Jay regularly uses all these cars and motorbikes, and enjoys using them for what they were built for. From a 1906 Baker electric car up to the latest 2009 Corvette ZR1, Jay has them all.

The videos on the site are excellent. They are informative in a highly entertaining way, and Jay always holds your attention with interesting facts about the vehicle and it’s history. Even if it’s something that you’re not into, (for example. there’s also a video section for aeroplanes on there), you should still give the video a look as a lot can be learned from this wise man of motoring. I mean, have you ever been taken on a tour of a McLaren F1, a Lamborghini Miura, or a 1966 Dodge Hemi Coronet 500? Or maybe a 1932 Duesenberg Model SJ or a MTT Y2K Turbine Superbike? Didn’t think so. But you can at Jay Leno’s Garage!

Another great thing is the way that on every vehicle reviewed, Jay will take it out for a drive, with a camera man in the passenger seat and in a following car, so you can really appreciate all the looks from different angles, and also the sounds of the car or motorcycle. He really makes you feel as if you have been taken along with him for the ride.

All in all this is a great site for petrolheads. Informative, fun and most of all, you get to see some of the worlds greatest autos.

Check out the website at www.jaylenosgarage.com

Image Credit - Derek Bakken

Dull, cold and damp weather. You go to work in the dark, you drive home and it’s dark. Yes, it’s good old winter. The bane of many peoples lives. However, I have the answer to cheer up the nations of the world. Music! Yes, music is the answer to this oppressive, depressing time of the year.

Picture the scenario. Monday morning, it’s dark outside and you REALLY don’t want to get up for work. You somehow manage to get ready and out of the house, immediately slipping on a patch of ice. Body contortions, various pirouettes and other ballet moves ensue, the situation, however, cannot be saved and you fall flat on your backside.

Looking around to check if the neighbours have seen what happened you limp to your car, only to find it’s frozen over. Curses ensue. Finally you get driving, and hit the worst tailback in history. Again, curses ensue.

After finally making it to your beloved job, parking 10 miles away, then getting shouted at by your warm and welcoming boss, you settle down to a days relaxing work schedule. Or not. Yes, it is the worst day in the history of work, and even out-does the day that someone decided that having a cigarette in the fireworks factory would be fine.

Work finishes, you run the full length of the office, onto the car park and dive into your car, and floor it out onto the road. In your mind the boss is chasing you like the T-1000 out of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. He won’t give up or slow down until he’s told you that you must do overtime tonight.

Ha ha, you’ve escaped! Into traffic. Again. Resisting the urge to pull the steering wheel off your car and throw it out of the window, you push the power button on your stereo, and out of the speakers comes… your favourite song.

Suddenly, the world is a better place. Things seem to have a brighter outlook. Singing along at the top of your voice, you really do not care that you look a complete idiot to the next driver. Out comes the CD wallet or plug-in MP3 player.A fine selection of music later and, much sooner than you thought, you’re home, and even in time to watch The Simpsons. Nice.

So next time you have to get up early and, in the dark, slide your way to your frozen car. Get in and turn on your stereo. Listen to your favourite breakfast team on the radio, or put on a great song, it’ll make that bad old depressing winter journey to wherever, a much happier one!

What makes a really great car? It’s easy to make a guess. Take Ferrari for example. A car company with a long history in racing. A company that knows how to put soul and speed into a car, and keep it looking beautiful.

But although beauty and speed are nice, they’re not always the be all and end all. It’s all about what you know and love.

One of the first few cars I had was a 1991 Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk2. Now considered a classic by many, this early hot hatch was, and still is, one of my favourite cars to drive. I used to be genuinely excited knowing that I was about to drive this vehicle. Being the big bumper model, in black, with its meaty quad light and GTi badged grill, plus the BBS multi-spoke wheels it looked the part in a square-jawed, early nineties German sort of style. Get in, turn the key, its naturally aspirated 1.8 injection engine firing first time every time, it would go from tappety sounding while warming up (as do all the early Golfs), and turn into a low rumble.

Out onto the road, it had instant acceleration with it being the revvy 8 valve, which I always preferred to the 16 valve version for around-town use. It always seemed like it wanted to be hurrying you everywhere and straining at it’s leash, instead of relaxing and going with the flow.  It was all square dash inside, but nothing every rattled or broke. Yet seeing the very basically designed rev and speed counters rise quickly as I flew through the five gears made me a very happy man. It wasn’t amazingly fast, but it did handle well for a front wheel drive car.

To me though, I’ll always remember it as a sort of close friend. Reliable, fun to be with, plenty of charm and the rest of my friends enjoying it’s company too.
It’s the same story with many cars. It’s all about soul and character, not just speed and looks.  Sure it’s great to have a Ferrari or an Aston Martin, but you can have just as much fun in a Fiat or Alfa Romeo.
Summers day, sunglasses, the keys to your favourite ride. Happy memories.

So what’s your most favourite car you’ve ever owned?