The ricer or Racer test.

Ricers are those kids who know little about style and subscribe to the "if it makes more noise it must be faster" philospophy. Although Typically aimed at Japansese cars the word has evolved to apply to any kind of tastlessly modified car.

The racer is the ultimate car enthusiast who drives with skill on our roads and only goes fast and pushes the limits on a race track. There are of course many categories in between but this survey will help to identify which classificiation you fall into.

http://www.torquecars.com/tools/racer-ricer-test.php

Here is what I got - do let me know what your results are using the feedback section.

The Track day Racer
Congratulations you are officially a Track Day Racer. You shun all things glossy and shiny. You know a lot about tuning and performance cars. You would rather have a standard looking car with a highly tuned engine than drive anything that shouts "look at me!" You accept breakdowns and component failures as the price of trailblazing the cutting edge of car ownership.
Your average weekend will be spend underneath the car tweaking the suspension and tuning up the engine. Alternatively you will always attempt to be the first away at the lights, but only if you are up against something that looks it might be a challenge!

You have the reflexes and driving skills of a pro driver.

Because of your responses to the survey we can make the following, more detailed comments.

You are welcome to join TorqueCars as you enjoy many aspects of cars and driving. You can join here www.torquecars.com/forums/ We feel that you would have a lot to contribute to our tuning forums and will certainly learn a lot. You do not enjoy general chat forums so our car specific topics are where you will spend most of your time.

We are sure you will appreciate our mpg calculator so you can now quote your exact fuel consumption and see how much you can save in fuel prices! You will also appreciate the fuel saving tuning and driving tips we have in our main articles section. You are the type of person who expects to get what they pay for. Quality over quanity is your mantra so have a read in our styling section and see which mods would be the most worthwhile. www.torquecars.com/styling/. Our articles will help you to avoid making mistakes and purchasing the wrong modifications.

This personality profile report for you demonstrates that your main focus is on speed and performance. There is a lot more to driving than going fast in a straight line. When you learn to take the corners you will achieve a higher place of driving Zen. Perhaps you should look into drifting or track day driving rather than the drag strip.

Sharing a car.

We all have that gut wrenching experience of sharing our beloved pride and joy with someone at some point in our lives. Here is a little insight into the problems this can cause.

The experience varies from letting a mechanic briefly drive the car for a test run, to regularly parting with the car whilst your other half, son, daughter, friend, room mate etc takes the car on a regular basis.

Nothing causes friction like the pressures caused by a communal car share arrangement. Expect arguments over the amount of fuel used, to the division of bills for wear and tear items like tyres and breaks. Then larger focused discussions occur when the car has new scratches and scrapes which in fairness could have been caused when the car was parked up.

The regular annoyances will stack up though. Drivers tend to adjust the seat, mirror (usually all 3) and even set the radio to a different station or just keep swapping the CD. Then after you have delicately set up the balance of warm/cold air jets and angled them precisely your evil NEMESIS car sharer seems to take delight in turning them to the opposite settings. After a week this will really start to grate then the tension will build and build.

Another thing that happens is that the car gets dirty and needs cleaning and hoovering. With 2 people sharing a car this job seems to become less frequently done and the last one to clean it will continually whinge at the other when they bring it home slightly dirty!

So next time you enter into a relationship, or worse still offer to teach someone to drive think carefully about the implications of sharing a car. You need to have a strong personality and set the ground rules firmly at the beginning. A camera will help you establish the defaults switch settings and resolve disputes about damage but this can be rather time consuming.

Sorry - I've got to go now! My wife wants to use her computer now so I must dust off the keyboard and realign the mouse mat. (NOT!)

Phsycology of thanking other drivers

The way we thank other drivers for letting us go through tells a lot about our personality:- Interested to hear your impression on these and any others you think of (keep the gestures friendly though ).

• Nod - Nervous driver typically too scared to take hands off the wheel.
• Thumbs up - Younger hot hatch driver who has just taken advantage (Cheeky person).
• Full Palm - The older Jaguar driver usually does this (Denote confidence).
• Wave of the Hand - an old Jedi mind trick useful when you are in a hurry!
• Thumb and little finger extended with bend wrist - Gangster tendancies shown usually by a wannabee rapper!
• Index finger raised - Usually done when other driver has only just managed to realise he has to give way - a token thanks.
• Index and first finger raised. - A Bit PAPAL this one again typically done by the older driver in a Mercedes who actually owns the road you are on!
• Both Hands wave - Muppet style thanks - you recognised the other driver and they are oblivious to who you are. (This one is fun to do to see the reaction. One Torquecars member reported "just thought i'd let you know i tried the muppet wave tonight......a word of warning to other drivers, do not try this at home.....the guy i done the muppet wave at was so shocked that he just missed hitting his jag off the railings")
• Flash of the lights - All social interaction is shunned by these loners - all their holiday pics are of scenes with no people in them.
• V Sign (backwards) - Churchill style Victory salute 'cos you won the game of chicken.

The List goes on and on - but we are firm belivers that the way you thank other drivers says a lot more about your personality than you would like to admit! Please visit the Torquecars site for original articles on driving, tuning and styling cars (a bit more serious than this one) we would also encourage you to consider becomming a member and getting involved in topical motorist related discussion in the forum.