October 23, 2012

Inside Lane “the podcast” Episode 53

Episode 53 of Inside Lane “the podcast” brings controversy in almost every form. Tyler announces that the best car you can buy on a tight budget is a Mazda MX-5, Steve talks about BMW’s plan to produce an M4, and Matt reveals some shocking revelations ongoing within WRC.

Enjoy!

Download from iTunes or listen online. SEE PODCAST PAGE FOR DETAILS

RAC Inside Lane Winter Competition

Brrrrrrrr! It is sure getting cold out there and as the dark nights come upon us our attention turns to winter. Even here at Inside Lane we have to think about essentials to take with us on road test for this time of year. Obviously breakdown cover is one such essential as the last thing you want is to be stranded out in the cold with a car that is throwing 101 problems at you.

This winter we are teaming up with the RAC to bring you a competition well worth entering! Prizes consisting of RAC “winter driving kits” that are worth £19.99 each as well as digital tyre pressure gauges. The kit in particular includes; de-icer, screen wash, foil blanket, microfibre demist pad, antibacterial hand wipes, wind up torch and an ice scraper. Sounds like it’s worth a punt doesn’t it? So this is all you have to do to enter…

 

Take a picture of your car and in one line sum up why you bought it. Simple! It can be any car, boring or interesting, but a good one-liner could just be your secret to success. Just E-Mail your image and caption to: [email protected]

Below is an example just in case you are in any doubt.

Caption: “Never fails to put a smile on my face…”

All entries must be in by 31st October 2012 and winners shall be notified via the E-Mail address you contact us with. We shall judge entries on quality and how unique their caption is. We do not share data with any third parties. Please read the terms and conditions below to ensure that your entry is valid. GOOD LUCK!

 

Terms and Conditions
Please note that you must meet all of the terms and conditions for your entry to be valid.

  1. Entrants must be aged 17 or over upon the date of submission.
  2. Entrants MUST be a resident of the UK. Sorry, we don’t like to exclude anyone but shipping prizes all over the world is a nightmare.
  3. The car in the competition image must be your own and the image MUST NOT be copy righted in any way.
  4. Any entries that do not abide by the terms and conditions of this competition will be disqualified.

Tyler: “I am so sick of SHIT drivers!”

Today didn’t start all that well and so long before the topic of this rant arose I was not in the mood to tolerate anyone. Keeping it brief in a bid not to turn Inside Lane into some sort of agony aunt, I was a bit down in the dumps as a good friend moved away today. “That’s life” I told myself as I brushed my teeth this morning. So I carried on with my day that involved me photographing a car for an up and coming review. Just as I was turning the car around to head off to the chosen location, some tit in an Audi TT very nearly ploughed into the side of our test car! He clearly wasn’t paying attention to the road or else he would have seen there was a bloody car stationary in the middle of it! I also have my suspicions about his speed, but these things happen from time to time and so I continued on with my life.

Not 10 minutes later my progress was halted by a pensioner in a Nissan Micra doing 15MPH, maybe less, in a 30. WHY IS IT ALWAYS A SODDING MICRA!!! Whenever you just want to progress with your daily tasks, you can almost guarantee it will be a slightly confused and dubious old lady in her Nissan shit-box causing a traffic jam because she has left her glasses at home. I don’t mean to generalize all old people there, just the ones who drive Nissan Micras. On my return trip I encountered a bus that pulled out of its stop with no indication, a man in a Rover that exited a roundabout with a sudden change of the wind direction, and a young woman who was far too busy styling her hair to realize she was drifting out of her lane.

Call it a bad day, but you know as well as I do that these occurrences are far from abnormal. I for one have had enough of people who cant drive properly. Yes, people make mistakes whilst driving, but it is every bloody time my tyres touch tarmac I find yet another pillock tearing about in a lowered Citroen Saxo just waiting for a encounter with a rather large tree. I wish I had a button I could push to delete these people from the road. If you think about it I would be proving a public service. Fewer idiotic drivers on the road, fewer accidents. Less cars on the road, less congestion. No “go-slow” Micra in residential areas, no huge rant on Inside Lane…

Inside Lane “the podcast” Episode 52

Tyler and Matt bring you news of one of the biggest stories of this year. McLaren’s new MP1 supercar storms into the Paris motor show! Also we have details on Aston Martin’s new DB9 as well as the latest from the WRC.

Also this episode features music from our favorite teenage artist, Matt Cahill. His new single “Fell So Hard” from an up and coming album.
Enjoy!

Download from iTunes or listen online. SEE PODCAST PAGE FOR DETAILS

The Motorcars Last Hope

Look around you… What do you see? I see a world where we are no longer made welcome, a world where the likes of us are cast out.

Our hunger for mechanical masterpieces makes us abnormal, the minority, and these days, the hunted.

Cameras sit where we once played, not to capture the beauty of our combustion powered counterparts, but to punish and scar them.

Conform or be no more speaks the devil of many guises. But we stand firm… Pistons pounding we stand our ground. BHP not MPG, excitement not ergonomics, freedom not submission.

You can shackle our alloys, grind our carbon fibre with your speed bumps. But you will never extinguish the flame that is the soul of the automotive industry. The cars last bastion of hope… The petrol head.

Inside Lane Podcast #50 LIVE

Welcome to the 50th Podcast!!! Marking this milestone is our live one hour show that you can list to live right here between 7 and 8PM BST. Just hit play and if you are on time you are in for a real treat. With plenty of special features this episode is not to be missed! Oh, that is unless you download it from iTunes at a later date of course… Enjoy!

Missed it? Episode 50 went out live on 9/8/2012 and was, let’s say eventful. No editing or second chances, this was it! The boys brought news of the last SSC Ultimate Aero, Lexus LS, an obscure twist to rally corner, as well as asking the twitter fraternity the question of “If you possessed the last few litres of fuel on earth what would you take for your final drive?”

If you missed it fear not as it is all right here in a special 1 hour show.

How To Keep Your Ride The Envy Of The Neighbours

Amidst all the excitement of the 2012 London Olympic games you might have forgotten about your pride and joy. It’s still there, go on look. After all the celebrations of gold for your home nation it may have been sat out there for a while as you raised a glass or two. So it’s rather dirty thanks to tree sap, insects, and baked on dirt. If you live in the UK summer has only just arrived and what used to be the shiniest thing in your street isn’t gleaming in the sun. So here it is… Inside Lane’s guide to returning your car to top form.

If you are anything like me when you wash your car, no matter what it is, you want it to literally look like it has arrived fresh from the showroom. That isn’t me conjuring up imagery in your head for the sake of it, it is possible. I had a 13 year old Vauxhall Corsa at one point, and with a bit of dedication you could swear it was 1999 all over again. Firstly set aside some time, don’t bother rushing because you have something else to do, the end result will just look crap. I would say about and hour for the exterior if you want it immaculate and half an hour for the interior.

For a kickoff you are going to need the right tools. The vast majority of people just use a bucket and sponge with a dash of washing up liquid in the water. WRONG! Firstly the sponge can actually do more harm to your paint than good. On a molecular level what happens is that the sponge simply moves the dirt around on the surface of the car in vain hope that when it is rinsed it will just go away. Also with the sponge moving the dirt around on the paint quite often leads to little scratches that are hard to get rid of. Washing up liquid is very good at blasting the dirt from your car, after all it made short work of the pots and pans last night, but the truth is that it is just too harsh and leaves no shine. So now you know that everything you thought you knew is useless what should you do? Well, here is your shopping list and it is all about microfibers. These tiny little guys lift the dirt off the paint as opposed to simply moving it about, so first up is a microfiber mitt. These are great as you can really get into the hard to reach areas of the car. Better yet get one with a netted surface on the palm as they are perfect for removing insects also. A microfiber towel is invaluable for drying the car. I use Zip Wax in the water as it does a good job of removing dirt whilst saving you the extra job of waxing the car after. Finally a sponge, yes I know I said sponges are evil but this is for the tyres and so it needs to be fairly abrasive. Lastly some alloy cleaner to get rid of that nasty break dust and some tyre dressing to make that rubber look brand new. All this should cost you no more than £20 and of corse you can use it all many times over.

You will need two buckets of water, one with Zip Wax and the other just water. BOTH SHOULD BE HOT. Park the car in a cool shaded area to avoid the water drying too quickly and leaving watermarks on the body. Start by rinsing down the car with a hose just to loosen  up the dirt. Next grab your buckets and microfiber mitt to get going. First use the Zip Wax, then rinse with the plain water to get the dirt off of it before going back into the wax bucket. Your strokes on the car should be firm but smooth. No little circles, it potentially scratches the paint. Follow the body lines of the car and you will be done in no time. Rinse the whole car down with a hose once done within 30 minutes of beginning for the best results. Now take your microfiber towel and begin drying the paint. This bit is a little tedious so I would advise putting on some music or something to keep you amused. Again follow the body lines and no circle. Keep folding the towel so that a dry part of it is always touching the paint. The friction should dry the rest of the towel as you go. Spot an imperfection? Find a damp part of the towel, firmly rub until the blemish fades into the paint, and then return to using the dry areas. The paint should now be spotless with natural light reflecting off of it in a uniform manor. Moving to the tyres where with a damp abrasive sponge you should carefully apply the tyre dressing. Scrub it in hard but don’t use too much as in the case less is more.   The alloy treatment should be applied as the bottle suggests. That is the exterior of your car completely done. The interior is easy as all they tend to need is a hoover, some plastic and leather polish. With a little bit of extra attention to detail the inside should look and smell new.

So there you have it folks! With a little bit of extra knowledge your car will never have looked cleaner.

Inside Lane Podcast #50 LIVE 9/8/12

So… It is almost time. Podcast number 50 not only marks a huge milestone but it also becomes our first LIVE episode. Being broadcast right here on the main site get ready for an hour of special features including our ultimate last drives, rally corner with a twist, the triumphant return of Steve’s unnamed game, as well as the usual combination of talking about vaguely interesting bits and bobs. Thursday 9th August is the date to remember and 7:00PM BST is the time. Check out and share our promotional posters and classically comical video. We shall see you back here next Thursday!

Inside Lane “the podcast” Episode 49

Hello and welcome to Episode 49 of the podcast! As we sit on the edge of the big 5-0 podcast Tyler, Matt and Steve bring you your healthy dose of the latest news on all things four wheeled. This week Matthew reveals the controversial new Renault Clio, Tyler talks Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster, and Steve announces Aston’s brand new Vanquish. All that as well as the latest from Formula One and the WRC.

Enjoy!

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Inside Lane “the podcast” Episode 48

The boys are back in town! Fresh from their latest adventures of drifting Caterhams and chasing BMW’s new Gran Coupe at the PGA championship. News of Mazda’s supercharged MX-5 as well as Aston Martin’s DBS replacement are all part of this episode, not to mention the latest from the WRC.

Enjoy!

Download from iTunes or listen online. SEE PODCAST PAGE FOR DETAILS