Top 5 Categories of Petrolhead Gifts

Hello Carmrades!

15 Dec 2015

Hello Carmrades!

Holidays are around the corner so I have made a list of petrolhead gifts for you, gifts that are great to give and even better to receive! (So feel free to share this post with your family or girlfriend so they’ll know what to give you). What makes this list different from the rest, is that the “bulletpoints” are abstract representation of a group of presents, so you can pick something within according to your budget, whether it is dozen(s), hundred(s) or even thousand(s) of €/$/£

1. Car Care

It is pretty cliché to give/receive products such as shampoo/fragrances and whatever the local beauty shop offers. But hey, it ain’t that bad if it is for your car. Especially in the winter (in countries where applicable) your car will be happy with extra care and love you can give it.

You can go pretty low-budget here, starting from a bottle of shampoo and a can of wax for a dozen of euro of a “medium brand”. Some “premium brands” offer gift sets consisting out of multiple items to make the treatment complete. I have experience with DODO Juice and Auto-Finesse brands and can highly recommend those, not only because of the products, but of the people behind it who would love to consult you on their product range.

Also a reminder: car care does not only involve the outside of the car, give the interior some love too! And can we count an oil change as car care too?

If you don’t have much experience with detailing, I would suggest spending more money at a detailing center for a treatment or even better if available: a workshop to learn the ins and outs and benefit from it for the rest of your life!

2. Car Events

Yes, it's a Rob Dahm T-Shirt I'm wearing

The event itself can cost you nothing if there is no entry fee attached (yes there are some like that!). In that case I would highly suggest to arrange a trip for the person you want to gift this experience. Create a (romantic) road trip, book an hotel etc.

Obviously the next step is the events that have some entry fee, but nothing crazy. Usually those kinds of car festivals are made “by car people for car people”, so if possible, try to add your own extra touch, such as arranging a spot on the list for “paddock parking” so your (carmrade’s) will be in the spotlight!

Finally, there are “expensive” events. Usually those are motorsports events where you can spend hundreds (and thousands in case of F1) of your currency on the tickets. Whatever motorsport event you’ll decide to visit, ALWAYS buy an extra option that allows you to go through paddock to check out the cars and meet the drivers. Although it can cost a bit or A LOT more, the experience is so much worth it.
Life Pro Tip: sometimes you can do it for free on the practice days before the race, obviously this is never published, so try to get insider info from the carmrades familiar with the event.

3. Car Parts

Bottom of my 700hp Impreza Time Attack Car

Well, this one is pretty obvious, so I won’t dedicate much of attention. Just a reminder that you can get inexpensive, but cool car parts starting from tow straps or strut-bars like on the picture (because race car), to something more expensive.

Also, although the general understanding is that gifts have to be new in the box, I (and the rest too I can tell) would not mind if you can purchase a valuable second-hand car part as a gift if the use does not alter the qualities (therefore no engine parts, but nothing wrong with carbon parts or wheels/exhausts).

My personal favorite is a set of track brake pads. You’ll need brake pads at some point anyway and upgraded pads have lots of benefits, from changing the driving experience to improving safety of your ride.

4. Driving Skills

Although this set of experiences usually starts at 99+ euro, it is more than worth it. There are various driving safety centers that offer various driver skills improvement programs on their facilities that can improve your skills dramatically in just a couple of sessions/hours and most importantly, may even save your life at some point.

Slightly more expensive are the drift trainings and it depends whether you use your own car or not. The next step is a complete track day, but if you have zero prior track experience I HIGHLY recommend obtaining racing license.

The latter will cost you about a thousand euros for the course alone + the material, but it will change your understanding of the car handling forever. I have obtained mine 3 months after purchasing my first car with 0 track experience beforehand and hey, I guess it helped me.

5. Car of Your Dreams

Hey, I am not talking spending 2 million on Koenigsegg. Unless you can, then you SHOULD.

But lots of people don’t know you have lots of “supercar experiences” where you can drive the car of your dreams for a lot less. The fees vary per country/car and so on. There are packages where you can drive a supercar on the street for x minutes/hours or whole day.

There are also companies that offer driving the (super)car on a local track under supervision of an instructor. The best thing about it is that you can also go for the ride-along option in case you are not confident of your driving skills OR if you don’t have your driving license yet.

Speaking of driving (or being driven in) the car of your dreams, how about adding Nürburgring to it and having fun with me? Introducing the “Winter Stop” offer from Ring Garage, where you can drive the famous “CT-86” or lots of other cars and I’ll buy you a drink after your tracktime! Shoot me an e-mail to boris@r-garage.de for the trip of your dreams!