Martin Wheatley’s tiny boutique Squid Ink (isn’t that just the best name!) Detailing brand sure punches above its weight with some outstanding products.

Blue Lagoon wheel cleaner is the most pleasant-smelling wheel cleaner I’ve ever used.

Some of these wheel cleaners smell like a peroxide explosion in a hairdresser’s salon, while others smell like oven cleaners. Worse still are the ones that try and conceal the pong with flowery smells, which normally fail dismally. Lavender-tinged egss? No thanks!

Anyway, Blue Lagoon has a lovely bilberry meets cola cube scent, is safe on sensible wheel finishes and is also PH-neutral.

I used it neat, but More >

Keeping a turbocharger cool is the secret of maximising performance whilst encouraging faster spool-up and minimising turbo lag and one of the best and cost-effective ways of keeping a turbo cool is fitting a turbo heatshield. A turbo heat shield will also reduce engine bay temperatures and protect sensitive components.

DEI now offers a variety of turbo shields in three distinct ranges.

GEN-3 TITANIUM™ Turbo Shields is DEI’s most technologically advanced shield line.

GEN-3 TITANIUM features a silicone-coated TITANIUM LR outer layer, a silica blend insulation layer with a glass-silica-stainless weave inner layer and a protective stainless mesh liner. This is the strongest, More >

GTechniq’s products rightly have a great reputation for their quality. In my view, their recent re-branding with cool new labelling has lifted them to another level.

GWash has a pleasant grapefruit smell without being like a bubblegum factory however, the levels of suds were great but crucially didn’t ‘eat’ the water in the bucket, while unlike some rivals the product’s colour remained in the bucket.

The product performed beautifully was easy to use and seemed to rinse very easily, too. Nice smell of berries., I noted. A top-notch car shampoo.

A 500ml bottle costs £12.95 and is available via appointed Gtechniq re-sellers or More >

Looking for the perfect gift for someone who loves cars? Top Trumps has it covered this Christmas!

Top Trumps has been a family favourite card game for over 40 years and has always been well-known for its car titles. Here are some of their latest packs…

007 James Bond Vehicles & Gadgets Top Trumps

Familiarise yourself with thirty vehicles and gadgets that are closely associated with the double-O agent known as James Bond. Pick from iconic weapons and tools like the wrist dart gun, Dentonite explosives and the Parker pen, as well as vehicles like the Q Boat and the Aston Martin Vanquish.

This pack of More >

In the overall scheme of things, despite having a brilliant kitcar enthusiasts club, Northern Ireland hasn’t really had very many kitcar manufacturers. I think we worked it out recently at about eight manufacturers since 1949.

Anyway, the latest is a company called Vale Automotive located near Derry City and run by a nice chap called Shimie.

They are launching a Porsche Boxster (Mk1 986-generation) based body conversion. Although described as an original design there’s plenty of Porsche 911 GT1 in the car’s styling. Shimie tells me that a Mk2 (987-generation)-based version is also being developed.

Vale’s kit is a very interesting pastiche of More >