Automotive Academy

Car cleaning products can be made at home, much less expensive than the store bought cleaners and they are better for the environment too. Here are some home made recipes that will take care of all of your car care needs.  

CAR WASH SOLUTION: Add a couple drops of liquid castile soup which can be found in health food stores to a bucket of water and wash with a sponge or soft cloth.

WINDOW CLEANER: Fill a clean spray bottle with full strength white vinegar and spray onto windows, then allow it to sit for a few minutes, then, wipe dry with a piece of newspaper.

CHROME CLEANER: Mix together equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Then, spray it on your wheels; and work it in with a sponge or cleaning rag. Note: Vinegar should not be used on aluminum alloys.

CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY STAIN REMOVER: Mix white vinegar and baking soda together to form a paste. Then, work the paste into any carpet and upholstery stains with an old toothbrush or something similar. Allow the paste to dry. Then, vacuum up the baking soda, and the stains should be gone. Note: Some stains may need to be treated more than once.

INTERIOR CLEANER: Mix together equal parts white vinegar and water. Then, spray it on any vinyl, plastic, wood, or leather surfaces in your car that need cleaning. Allow it to soak in. Then, wipe dry with a clean rag. Note: As with any leather cleaner, you should test on a small area before applying to the entire surface.

WINDSHIELD WASHER FLUID: Mix half white vinegar with half water and fill your windshield washer fluid reservoir. The acetic acid in the vinegar dissolves grime, bugs, and sap. It also helps keep windows frost free in the winter.

Scottish driver Allan McNish has been voted ‘Driver of the Decade’ in the American Le Mans Series. Allan McNish is a Audi racer, who won the 2000, 2006 and 2007 ALMS championship titles and received the most votes cast by fans of the North American-based endurance sportscar series.

‘It is an accolade that has come completely out of the blue,’ said McNish. ‘Over 70 drivers, including all of the legendary names from the past 10 years of sportscar racing,  were eligible and I’m honoured to have been chosen by the fans – especially as I’ve only completed three full seasons in the ALMS and just two races this year.’

Recently McNish managed to make up two laps in the first two hours and 45 minutes of the Petit Le Mans race after crashing his Audi R10 TDI on the pre-race reconnaissance lap. He went on to win the 1,000-mile race with Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro by 4.512 seconds.

The famous Nurburgring is having building work on a massive scale and it’s all part of a €215 million investment that’ll see Europe’s most famous race track build on its popular track day reputation to become what marketing boss Stephan Cimbal describes as a motor sport theme park that’s open 365 days a year. Work started just one year ago, but it’s on track, so to speak, to meet the self-imposed 11 June 2009 deadline.

The plans are to include the world’s fastest rollercoaster. There’ll also be a new arena with up to 6000 seats for ‘everything from boxing matches and beach volleyball to new car presentations’; 100 budget condominiums; and another hotel – currently only the Hotel Dorint is track-side – with 148 rooms, a casino and a heli pad for motor sport moguls; plus a proper welcome centre to lend a sense of occasion to the slightly anti-climatic greeting today’s visitor’s receive. 

Manufacturers have embraced the German circuit in recent years, so the ’Ring Boulevard makes perfect sense – a 300m-long ‘motor sport mall’ with Ferrari, Aston, Nissan, Yokohama and Bilstein showrooms. Other attractions will include the Eiffel Village Green Hell that’ll house a steak house, bar and disco. There will also be a Ring Werk theme park that’ll really get tongues wagging, it will be a 15,000 square meter theme park with a science and history exhibition and a crazy rollercoaster that will start inside and then run alongside the track doing 0-135mph in 2.5 seconds – twice as fast as an F1 car and 3.4g, which is the highest permissible by the German authorities.

Cimbal hopes the outlay will add an extra 500,000 visitors to today’s two million and extend the season from the current April to October – I certainly wouldn’t bet against it!