Getting the perfect Christmas present can be difficult. Knowing what someone is interested in so you choose a gift that puts a genuine smile on their face is a lot harder in the day of internet streaming. You can’t just buy the latest DVD or CD for someone – they’ll have already seen it. The key is to find out that hobby that makes them tick. If that person is a petrol head, then you’ll know it pretty quick!

Yes, petrol heads are not shy about their passion for all things motoring. And while there are many different flavours of automotive passion, if it has a big engine, is really fast, or just looks beautiful on four wheels, it’s going to get their attention.

Here’s our gift guide for the petrol head in your life.

Car cleaning kit

Have you ever got inside a petrol head’s car and felt like they were watching your every move? Staring at the dirt on your shoes and wincing every time you touch the dashboard? The love that some petrol heads have their cars means that it feels like they resent having to share it with anyone who doesn’t treat it with the same level of reverence that they do.

So why not give them something that they can use to show just how much they care with an expensive car cleaning kit? They’ll spend hours polishing and detailing their car with one of the fancy kits available on the market. You can even find ones that you mix together yourself, giving you a flashback to your chemistry lessons at school.

And you’ll be surprised at how many people don’t have their own car cleaning gear, so even a thoughtfully put together car cleaning kit package from the local motoring store will be appreciated.

Dashcam

Does the petrol head in your life bore you to tears with stories of bad drivers they encounter on the road? Have you learned lots of colourful new phrases after sharing a car journey with them? Then a dashcam could be an ideal gift. 

Being able to record your daily driving and capture those idiots on the road who make your journey that bit more stressful. They can then share the footage on their social media or in the group chat, as they recount the stories of road rage-inducing incidents with video evidence. They can even submit the footage of bad drivers to the police and get that sweetest of things – revenge!

Just make sure that the petrol head you’re giving the dashcam to isn’t one of the idiots on the road themselves. Otherwise it could go from being a fun idea for a gift to exhibit A in their speeding trial!

Driving experience day

Does the petrol head in your life have a dream car? One that price or practicality means it’s very unlikely they’ll ever have the chance to drive it? Then the answer is a driving experience day.

Available at racetracks and events grounds across the country, you can find a driving experience that will satisfy their every driving desire. Want to drive one of the most expensive supercars in the world? There’s an experience for that. Want to drive an absolute classic that reminds them of their youth? There’s a classic car experience for that. Want to get down and dirty off road in a rally car? Yep, you guessed it.

There’s even more specialist ones, like driving a lorry, HGV or even a tank! You can go to the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, and feel what it’s like to get behind the wheel of a genuine armoured vehicle. Just be careful where you park. You don’t want to end up getting your car crushed!

Motorsport tickets

Do you lose your petrol head every weekend as they are glued to the screen watching the weekend’s racing action? Then the answer is simple. Motorsport tickets!

From Formula One, down to oddities like truck racing and lawnmower racing, there’s a type and level of motorsport for everyone these days. The British Grand Prix is the crown jewel in the racing calendar, but it’s also the most expensive. So you’ll need to weigh up just how much you love them this Christmas!

Then there are tickets for more regular events like the British Touring Car Championship that have races all across the UK. Keep an eye out for MotoGP if they prefer their action on two wheels rather than four.

If they want something a bit more different, then look for hill climb events. A time trial rather than a standard race, you get to see all sorts of cars in this type of event.

Remote control car

For a bit of fun, why not get the petrol head a remote control car? Vastly improved from the toys of our youth, you can get ones that can tackle anything from the road outside your house to the local forest. And don’t worry, they aren’t all childish. Some take the hobby very seriously and you can splash out plenty of cash on the varying different types available. You can even get ones with cameras built-in or ones that you can control from your mobile phone. A perfectly inventive and fun idea for a slightly smaller scale gift.

Fluffy dice or eyelashes

Christmas is also the time for joke gifts. So why not really dig into their petrol head credentials by getting one of the classic joke gifts? A set of fuzzy dice that they can hang from the rearview mirror? Or a year’s supply of car air freshener pine trees to give the car (or their home) that freshly cleaned car smell? If you want something slightly more serious, then see if you can get a Haynes Manual of their car or the car they had when they were younger. Not only are the illustrations pretty cool, but they have that sense of nostalgia that will put a smile on their face.

The ultimate has to be the headlight eyelashes that you can get, which adds a sense of ‘What on Earth is that?’ to their vehicle of choice?