Half a century of Autosport memories

Last month I started my 49th year of writing for Autosport, a journey that has spanned 13 editors, 21 Formula 1 world champions, 11 British prime ministers and two monarchs.

I joined on 18 July 1977, from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Gregor Grant’s brainchild, published weekly since 25 August 1950, was almost 27 years old. I was just 19, but had gone racing at Silverstone from infancy with my father and godfather, and taken much in.

Autosport was my bible, so getting caught reading it under my school desk on Thursdays was not in vain. My exasperated French master might have been tacitly impressed to learn that it would underpin a career and way of life.

Autosport’s distribution was by train, and WH Smith at London’s Waterloo station put magazines out on Wednesday evenings. Editor Quentin Spurring’s notice leapt from its pages as I travelled from my first job to digs in Croydon.

My hand-delivered application was on pole at Haymarket Publishing before 0800 on Thursday. That I had lap-charted for publisher Simon Taylor, commentating at Thruxton, as a British Automobile Racing Club junior assistant, had flagged up my passion. An interview secured the coveted post – with a salary rise to £2250 per annum, over forty quid a week!

Mentored by ‘Q’ and Robin Bradford, magazine production was labour intensive, with Monday/Tuesday marathons – after race weekends – and countless Bank Holiday Monday all-nighters, initially at insalubrious typesetters in London’s East End, then brighter premises in Camden.

Debuting the 1974 F5000 Lola T332 co-owned with Simon Hadfield, Brands Hatch 2006

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

If home by 2230 on Tuesday a Chinese takeaway for one – three items for 95 pence – beckoned. Otherwise it was dry cream crackers, water and an Alka-Seltzer.

As the office migrated west, via Regent Street and Notting Hill to Teddington, Autosport’s logistics became easier. Typesetters in a leafy residential road in Chiswick – where Faye (an awesome woman who knew Jochen Rindt) retyped copy with astonishing speed and accuracy – improved our lot.

But the revelation was desktop publishing, which brought design and production in-house. Back from New Zealand in February 1991, having covered the Peter Jackson International Series over six weekends, new PCs changed things up again.

As the brave old world of journalism was obliterated, a new genre of instant expert, aka ‘influencer’, was born

Not least because within a month I was engaged to Haymarket IT guru Fiona – a beautiful life-changer whose photographic memory for cars/events remains incredible.

From monochrome to colour, Autosport was transformed by technology. From its analogue height chronicling Nigel Mansell’s Formula 1 then Indycar crowns in 1992-93, the 21st century’s digital era brought omnipresence and immediacy.

As the brave old world of journalism was obliterated, a new genre of instant expert, aka ‘influencer’, was born. And for impecunious would-be racers the exciting weekly scramble through classified adverts for a bargain was denied.

Leading the GT pack at Brands Hatch in Rob Cox’s Lotus Elan ‘Black Bullet’ in 1983

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Thank heavens for small mercies though. Being able to submit words and pictures from almost anywhere still seems miraculous, and I recently watched Shelsley Walsh’s national hillclimb live on my Apple MacBook, via iPhone connection, between races at Mallory Park with the circuit’s wifi down!

I’d left Autosport’s employment in 1997 – after exactly 1000 issues – but jumped at former editor and then publishing director Peter Foubister’s invitation to contribute on a freelance basis.

‘Foub’ took particular delight in the photographic scoop I landed when Tom Walkinshaw shook down TWR’s first Jaguar XJS V12 racer at a soggy Goodwood in 1982 (Tom was furious, but it was fair game).

And in 1989 my excited call from Thruxton, having seen rookie David Coulthard test an FF1600 Van Diemen, prompted Peter and Ron Dennis to launch the McLaren Autosport Young Driver programme, which the British Racing Drivers’ Club soon boosted.

I sat on its judging panel long-term, thus was thrilled to witness Lando Norris join Coulthard as the scheme’s second British GP-winning alumnus. 

In reporting circa 1300 events, from grassroots to the 1988 Brazilian GP, I have visited towards 100 venues spanning six continents. From Aintree to Zwartkops, via Dundalk – watching an FF1600 street race from a pub’s roof was crazy – to Pau, Phillip Island and Teretonga.

First win, in Dunlop-Autosport Star of Tomorrow heat one, Brands Hatch GP, April 1982, in Van Diemen-Auriga RF81

Keke Rosberg’s 160mph British GP pole lap in his Williams-Honda FW10 turbocar at Silverstone 40 years ago this month remains the most terrifying spectacle.

Spa will always be my favourite circuit, so debuting there in Chris Chiles’s Chevron B8 in 1991 was as indelible a thrill as slithering round rainy Birmingham’s streets in my slick-shod Argo JM6 or pounding round Daytona’s banking in Huron and Chevron B6 in 2000.

But Brands Hatch GP, Castle Combe, Dijon, Donington, Goodwood, Oulton Park, Rouen, the SCCA Run-Offs at Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio, Road America’s 1996 30 year Can-Am reunion and Thruxton equally hold fond memories. 

Like Autosport’s, the entire landscape of the sport has changed immeasurably on my watch

Following the Aurora British F1/F2 circus from 1978-80 was brilliant, with trips to Zandvoort, Zolder, Nogaro and Monza, as was F3000. But the most competitive championship I’ve covered embroiled British FF2000’s class of 1984.

Brazil’s Maurizio Sandro Sala triumphed over compatriot Mauricio Gugelmin, future Le Mans winner Andy Wallace, F1-bound Julian Bailey and Martin Donnelly, Tim Davies and Anthony Reid over a fascinating season. 

Like Autosport’s, the entire landscape of the sport has changed immeasurably on my watch. Gone are Aintree, Ingliston (for now), Longridge, Rufforth, hairy Croft (transformed into a shiny new one) and Rockingham – but Anglesey and the second rise of Donington and Goodwood sustain enthusiasts. And the British Hillclimb championship, 80 in 2027, is thriving with innovative livestream coverage.

First F1 drive, in Lotus 78-1 at Donington Park by courtesy of Colin Bennett

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The TOCA package, built around the BTCC since 1993, radically altered the domestic racing scene, focusing Renault's and Vauxhall’s investment that trumped Ford’s beyond touring cars at the time.

Sadly, one-make single-seater categories stifled free-thinking young designers and torpedoed job opportunities by shrinking the marketplace. Formula Ford, particularly in Historic (1967-71) and Classic (pre-1982) flavours, still offers unbeatable value and spectator entertainment.

Today’s aspiring racers will be amazed that in my early 1980s FF1600 days, minor accident damage was sustainable for privateers. Fibreglass mat, resin and a rattle can paintjob patched up a battered nosecone for peanuts with a few hours’ graft. After an equivalent F4/GB4 knock the Tatuus could be back on track in minutes, with a new nose/wing assembly at eyewatering cost.

Running circuits to ever-more-stringent safety demands has meant huge investment at Silverstone and by MotorSport Vision, operator of Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park, Donington, Oulton Park and Snetterton. Anglesey, Castle Combe, Croft, Mallory Park and particularly Thruxton have never looked better.

The BRDC has long left the BARC and BRSCC to run clubbies, an area where the 750MC continues to espouse new grids to complement its roots. As the HSCC soldiers on towards 60, the CSCC’s 20-year rise is totemic, offering what customers want.

I had no racing aspirations on joining Autosport, hence 550 race cars and 230 events on my CV, since debuting at Thruxton in 1981 in Clive Wood’s Pine City Racing Van Diemen RF80, is remarkable.

In ex-works/Thierry Tassin Argo JM6 tussling with an F1 Fittipaldi F5A at Birmingham in 1986

Sharing Thruxton with Ayrton Senna in FF2000 – I didn’t ‘race against’ him – or pulling 190mph up Woodham Hill in a DFZ-powered F3000 Lola T91/50 en route to third in a BOSS Formula race in 1996 were unexpected.

A few wins – the first for Tony Sinclair’s new Jade watched by my family at a very wet Brands in October 2007 – lap records and top six British Hillclimb and Sprint round finishes are cherished memories, topped by being accorded BRDC membership in 2003. 

Chevrons captivated me from the moment I saw a B8 at Great Auclum in 1969. In the marque’s 60th anniversary year, to have driven 46 – from 1965 Clubmans B1 to one-off F5000 B37 and an F2 B40 – is to appreciate founder Derek Bennett’s genius.

I passed an observation or two and he said something like, ‘You have a good voice and should have a go at this’, and handed me the mic! No pressure

That I never knowingly met him is my greatest regret in racing. Forty years after finishing second in Oulton Park’s Gold Cup Thundersports race (in a B36) and 20 since battling – in Simon Hadfield’s B37 – with hero Brian Redman (B42) I’m still in awe.

Other highlights include ERA R5B ‘Remus’ (tested for Autosport’s 50th anniversary issue), Talbot 105, Cooper Mk5, F1 Lola-Climax Mk4 V8, Porsche 917, Can-Am McLaren M8s, F1 Lotuses (72, 78s and twin-chassis 88B), Lola Mark 1 and T294 sportscars plus T330-T430 F5000s, Williams FW06 and FW08C, March-Porsche Indycar, Nissan RC90 and IMSA Audi 90 Quattro and Reynard SF84.

And of course David Gould’s sensational 84G hillclimber, which begat the stellar marque. My bucket list is very slim beyond March 782, Brabham BT44 and Porsche 935 K3, which almost happened.  

Donington FF2000 1984: in Mark Galvin’s Argo JM14, duelling with Carlos Sainz (Reynard SF84)

Commentary has added another perspective to my writing. It’s a skillset I might not have developed without journalist Brian Harvey, Tim’s late uncle and Grand Prix Models founder.

Brian was voicing a 750MC clubbie at Silverstone in the late 1970s when I dropped some info to him. I passed an observation or two and he said something like, ‘You have a good voice and should have a go at this’, and handed me the mic! No pressure.

I have commentated at hundreds of events since, learning from the maestro Ian Titchmarsh, the late Neville Hay, Brian Jones and others. While losing the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meeting gigs was gutting after 25 years, I’m doing 40 days this season.

That includes the Spa Six Hours, of which I’ve worked 25 since competing in Lotus 23B and Elan 26R in 1997, as the English voice for most of the past 20.

Having carved a career from my hobby, the people I’ve engaged with – colleagues, drivers, teams, marshals, officials and friends – and the sensational cars seen and driven have coloured it.

There have been black days, but the buzz of seeing a story over your byline, regardless of media, or commentating, never wanes. In both I have endeavoured to elucidate, entertain and hopefully educate, but every day is still a school day. Just without Autosport under the desk!

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the Summer 2025 issue and subscribe today.

Keke Rosberg’s record 1985 British Grand Prix pole a highlight

Photo by: Sutton Images via Getty Images