When you are going for a leisurely drive, or even just your daily commute, it is nice to listen to some music instead of listening to people talking and laughing on the radio. But what songs are particularly popular to listen to while driving, and why? We’ve found five songs which are played in cars all over the UK, on the motorway, driveway, and probably in the line at a fast food drive through too.

The Boys are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy

This song is featured on the Top Gear Seriously Cool Driving Music CD set (1), and it is easy to see why. It’s a sing-along tune known through the generations. Of course this song works particularly well if used by a group of men who are literally back in town!

Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen

One to sing your heart out to, Don’t Stop Me Now is another classic driving song. You would find it hard to be feeling angry listening to this, even if you were stuck in a traffic jam.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic – Sting and the Police

Sting seems to be a popular choice for a more chilled out journey in the car, but doesn’t skimp on the catchy lyrics front either. Just because it topped the UK charts in November 1981 (2), it doesn’t mean it isn’t still cool today.

Wouldn’t it be Nice – The Beach Boys

Another upbeat song! This song makes us want to roll down the windows (or a convertible roof) and drive next to an ocean on a warm summers day. Although once you listen to one Beach Boys song it is easy to get into the mood for the whole album.

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

There have been a couple of covers of this song in the past year, but the Journey one is the most classic. Like the other songs above, Don’t Stop Believing is just as catchy and easy to sing along to. In fact, this seems like a recurring theme when it comes to driving music; if you can sing along to it, and it makes you happy, it is destined to be a song for your journey.

About the author: Hannah Warder writes for MediaVest (Manchester) on a number of topics, including car insurance.

References

(1)  Amazon – Top Gear Songs.

(2) Amazon – The Police.

But there’s one phone application made specifically for use on the road — GPS navigation. Already, several car nav programs for mobiles are available, but today the most highly anticipated of them arrived: the TomTom app for iPhone, which was announced in June.

The app was designed to closely emulate GPS navigation units for cars, and indeed it has turn-by-turn directions, voice instructions, touch-screen commands, a choice of 2D or 3D mapping, day/night screen choices and coverage of the U.S. and Canada.

The price is not cheap — $99.99 — but that’s less than the cost of the vast majority of dedicated car navigation units. Of course, the iPhone screen is smaller than the ones on most car units.

The tech blog will have a full review of the app, upcoming, but early buyers who posted online had one main complaint — the vocal directions on the TomTom iPhone app do not include street names.

At the June announcement of the product, TomTom said it also would make available a windshield mount for phone. No word yet on when that would be available or at what price.

BTW, if you still need convincing of the dangers of texting while driving, view this public service commercial recently released in the U.K. It does have graphic content: It takes a much stronger stomach than any slasher flick.

– David Colker in the Los Angeles Times

As proof, check out the new fansite dedicated to Top Gear at site www.topgearshow.com. With subject ranging from the recent Stig reveal controversy to the reviewed cars themselves, there is a ton of good information on the site. (Let’s just hope they devote a nice section to Oliver, my favorite car from the show.) They are trying to create the ultimate fan site that is dedicated to classic moments of May, Clarkson and Hammond, so stop by and take a look.

And don’t forget to tune in to Top Gear!

And that sets the tone for the World Of Top Gear section that opened last week, coinciding with the start of a new series of Top Gear today (June 21st).

The motoring programme has a huge following in 80 countries but this will be the only place in the world where you can see some of the vehicles that featured in Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s best-known stunts.

Cars such as the Reliant Robin Space Shuttle, Suzuki Swift that played ice-hockey and Toyota Hilux driven to the North Pole are almost TV stars in their own right and are expected to attract thousands of visitors to the museum in the New Forest.

Seen up close, the modifications to vehicles from the world’s most popular motoring show look amazingly crude. It’s easy to see why the 1,000ft stretch-limo Fiat Panda built by Jeremy to taxi Chris Moyles to a red-carpet celebrity event in London broke in half on the way there.

And you wonder why anyone would want to take to the water in the homemade ‘Dampervan’ and ‘Toyboata’. No wonder they drenched their occupants on the Top Gear amphibious car challenge. Other highlights include the humble Mini that was fitted with rockets and sent down an Olympic ski jump, and Richard Hammond’s Suzuki Vitara ‘police car’ with a DIY stinger device made from a rubber mat with nails hammered through it that hopelessly missed its target.

The Top Gear section is a refreshing change from the ranks of historic cars in the rest of the museum. Unlike the gleaming pristine classic cars in the main part of Beaulieu, many of Top Gear’s vehicles appear to have been simply cut up with an angle-grinder, then stuck back together with rivets.

One of the highlights is the Mercedes S-Class Cottage. Peep inside and you’ll see the driver sits in a wing-backed armchair (I seem to remember Hammond toppling over when it went round a corner). It also boasts stone tiles and rugs, bookcases, a fireplace and a fringed lampshade hanging from the ceiling.

Visitors can wander round a mock Top Gear TV studio complete with ‘fastest lap board’ – where the racing achievements of the show’s celebrity guests are recorded – and Cool Wall, where new cars are rated.

Big screens show a ten-minute film specially made by the Top Gear team. True to their irreverent form, it starts with Clarkson knocking James May’s elbow so his tea pours down his shirt.

After a fit of giggles, Jeremy announces: ‘We’re really sorry we can’t be there – but we literally couldn’t be bothered.’

From The Daily Mail

Join award-winning television comedian Dom Joly on an epic road trip around Britain in an attempt to fill his house from top to bottom with British-made products in the brand new series Made In Britain.

As part of this unique experiment, Dom will have his family home turned upside down and stripped of everything he owns that’s not made in the UK. He’s then challenged to go on a remarkable shopping trip, travelling the length and breadth of the country to try and replace all his foreign goods with British-made products.

Before the inspectors arrive, Dom’s quaint country cottage in the Cotswolds is a safe haven for foreign merchandise: the Italian coffee machine, a television manufactured in Japan and pants made in Taiwan. In no time at all the Joly family home isn’t looking quite so jolly anymore. In their bid to find out what’s British and what’s not, the experts have banished two thirds of everything they’ve looked at including his bed, laptop and, controversially, his wife’s cosmetics, and Dom is left with little more than his Savile Row suit, a pair of muddy Wellington boots and a lengthy shopping list for his trip.

Each episode of Made In Britain will see him tackling a different room in his house in a bid to replenish its contents with British-only goods and restore normality at home. Dom’s travels take him to Europe’s oldest waterbed company (turns out us Brits invented waterbeds!); a lava lamp factory in Poole where the psychedelic favourite was invented in a shed and bath products company, Lush, which is one of Britain’s global success stories.

Dom’s journey takes him to the heart of British eccentricity and ingenuity as he meets the quirky, colourful and charismatic characters who just won’t give up making products they believe in, all the while discovering what it really takes to be made in Britain. Find out more about Made in Britain and Blighty here www.loveblighty.co.uk

Follow Blighty on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Love_Blighty and join the Made In Britain Facebook group: http://bit.ly/2eAnb now.

The screensaver is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers and is available at http://www.astonmartin.com/gallery/screensaver.

Hornby, which originally made its name with model railways, paid £7.5 million for the model car firm, which though originally a British brand was owned by a US company.

“We are pulling together the hobby elements of the British toy industry,” Hornby chief executive Frank Martin told the Guardian.

The firm also owns Scalextric, a brand that has been making a come back with Formula 1 and film tie-ins. It has also bought plastic model firm Airfix and Humbrol paints.

Martin hopes to use the formula that has worked for Scalextric for the Corgi models, hoping that not only will film-tie ins make the toys more appealing to a current generation of children, but also add value to them as collectors items.

He noted the importance of collectors to the industry.

“Toys are an enormous business these days,” he said. “There are thousands and thousands of collectors but people have also locked onto the fact that they can buy a £100 toy as a great investment. Its better than money in the bank at the moment. There are a number of people I know of who have invested tens of thousands of pounds on a portfolio of toys.”

Rapid Electronics are a leading UK supplier of electronic components, electrical products, home computing and office equipment to the Consumer Electronics sector.

Roary the Racing Car may not be the type of story Moss is used to telling, but the 78-year-old says he has had a lot of fun being the voice-over man for the new children’s show.

“My agent called me, about two years ago, I think it was, and asked if I wanted to narrate a kids’ show,” he says.

“At first I thought they (the kids) won’t even know who I am, they don’t know my name as the show is aimed at kids who are two to six years old. But he said their grandparents would hear (my) name and think, ‘Oh my gosh, I remember him’, and they would tell their grandkids who you are and you’ll get another batch of fans.”

The series is made in Britain by the creators of the hit series Bob the Builder and has already claimed the No. 1 spot on British TV. It follows the adventures of Roary (a cheeky little red racing car) who wants to prove himself as a serious racer. The series is set at the Silver Hatch racetrack (a take-off of Britain’s famous Brands Hatch circuit).

“It is the top-rating children’s show (in Britain) and we are hoping that they will have other series, which would be jolly good,” Moss says. “It’s made for the kids, but it’s quite fun for the adults too.”

Moss has been a racing commentator for many years and has also done a few narrating roles, but says this is special. “Making this was a complex thing. A tremendous amount of shots are taken. It is very clever. You have to spend many hours doing it.

“My great-grandniece and grandchildren watch it and they recognise my voice.”

The series combines stop-frame animation and CGI. Each 10-minute episode has a storyline, songs and humor.

The series was the brainchild of David Jennings, who worked at the Brands Hatch circuit. He got the idea in his living room while watching a GP with his then 18-month-old son Tom.

The show has 17 characters, but Roary, Maxi, Tin Top, Cici and Drifter are the main cars.

Maxi is an Italian formula one racing car and is the fastest, loudest and most expensive car on the circuit. He may have a lovely Italian accent, but his breeding means he is easily damaged and spends most of the time breaking down.

Tin Top is a sedan racer. As a big car, he is not the best suited to a tight racetrack like Silver Hatch and is a bit accident prone.

Cici is a little French stunt car who loves driving fast and taking it to the extreme, much to the surprise of the boys.

Then there is Drifter, who represents the latest craze sweeping the world and spends most of his time sideways around corners.

Big Chris is the gifted chief mechanic and a father figure to the cars. Often forgetful and disorganised, he is saved by his helper Marsha, who brings a female dimension to the blokey world of motor racing.

According to the show’s website, the series aims to teach children how to do the right thing, how to be positive and helpful to others, road safety, the environment, ways to share and communicate ideas, solving problems, being creative, the importance of doing exercise and healthy living.

Moss is not the only recognisable name in the show. Comedian Peter Kay is the voice of Big Chris.

Moss says since his retirement in 1962 he has maintained his connections to motor sport. He has done commentary on GPs and appeared, uncredited, in the original 1967 version of Casino Royale as a driver. He stopped racing after a near-fatal crash and says he suddenly found himself having to earn money elsewhere to support himself.

“I was 32 and a student. I had to start working for a living. With no specific skills, there are only two choices — one is a real-estate agent, the other is (a politician) — they are the only two options.” He built a career in real estate.

When Green Guide interviewed Moss he was in the US with his third wife Susan, undergoing a medical so the pair could gain their international racing licences to compete in coming rallies. Susan is Moss’ co-driver in these events. The couple will compete in various events this year, including the Tour de France in April and Targa Tasmania.

Moss says that he will continue to race historic GP cars and hopes to be part of a demonstration event at the Melbourne Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne next month.

Source: The Age

Building on the runaway success of 2006, which saw the expo return to London for the first time in 30 years, the two week extravaganza expects to attract over half a million people, making it the biggest event in the UK.

With over six hundred cars, 60 car marques, plenty of global premieres and interactive features, the Show promises something for everyone from car enthusiasts to families looking for an exciting day out.

Better still, we can offer you the chance to purchase three tickets for the price of two* on General Day tickets when you book online at www.britishmotorshow.co.uk or call 0871 230 5588 and quote ‘Auto Express’

NEW FOR 2008!

In addition to the features from the last show being even bigger and better, you can also look forward to brand new, exciting features, including:

The Heritage Enclosure and Parade
A unique driving display of high performance supercars from the last five decades, from the 1950s to today.

Positioned right at the front of the Show, with the awesome backdrop of an ‘Elite Fleet’ of Super Yachts moored in the dock, the parade will rev up regularly throughout the day and perform a circuit of the Heritage Enclosure.

The Drift School
An exciting opportunity to be driven sideways around a demanding circuit by professional drivers! Not one for the faint hearted!

The Honda Theatre of Dreams
Honda presents the 3,500-capacity purpose built Motor Theatre will provide wheel-spinning, rubber burning action in a live-action stunt show. Breath-taking stunts to wow you with performances throughout the day.

Kidz Car Zone
Entertainment for all the family – The Kidz Car Zone is a fun-packed area for the drivers of tomorrow. Children of 2 to 14 years of age will be kept amused with ‘car-themed’ entertainment whilst learning important lessons about cars and road safety.

Children young and old can also enjoy putting the remote control VXR cars through their paces in the VX Racing Village.

The Motor Show Music Festival – TICKETS ON SALE FROM MID FEBRUARY
A hot collection of world-famous live acts will perform late night concerts in the purpose-built dockside arena each night of the Show.

Line up includes UB40, Status Quo, Squeeze, Here and Now 80’s Tour and Jools Holland featuring Marc Almond.

Updates to the full line up can be found at www.britishmotorshow.co.uk Tickets are sold separately and include free access to The British International Motor Show on the day of your concert giving you two Shows for the price of one.

For more show details visit www.britishmotorshow.co.uk

Source: AutoExpress

Roary, the Racing Car focuses on Roary, a small, cheeky, zippy, red racing car, and all his friends at the race track. I suppose it was entertaining, in a Boy’s Own sort of way.

There’s a lot of color and movement, competition, going fast and stuff but where are the princesses, the mermaids, the fairies? Entertaining? Yeah, if you’re a boy.