Favourite Car: I rather fancy something like a Peugeot 405 Mi16
Favourite film: Gung Ho – it’s full of Fiat Regatas!
Favourite Book: How to be a motoring journalist, by Roy Lanchester
Favourite Car: Ford Lotus Cortina
Favourite film: The Great Escape (II World War version)
Favourite Book: Humorous Quotations by Nigel Rees
Favourite Car: Alfa Romeo SZ
Favourite film: This Is Spinal Tap
Favourite Book: Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Favourite Car: Jaguar Mark 2 3.8
Favourite film: Ford v Ferrari about the head-to-clash at Le Mans in 1966.
Favourite Book: Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon
Favourite Car: Citroen DS
Favourite film: Dead Poets Society
Favourite Book: Perfume – Patrick Suskind
His passion for cars was apparent from an early age and it was inevitable that he would end up working with them. He spent his teenage years trawling car showrooms and building the encyclopaedic knowledge he has today. He has worked on Diesel&EcoCar magazine since 2007 and holds the accolade for longest running editor. He purchased the title in early 2014 and has steadily grown it ever since. In 2020, he launched Classic.Retro.Modern. magazine with some industry colleagues, a title that specialises in cars from the 1970s, 80,s 90s and noughties. The response to it has been phenomenal. Aside from being a motoring mogul (as named by Sue Baker), he’s a car statistics nut and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the motor industry.
Ian joined the Southern Group of Motoring Writers in 2009, became publicity officer in 2011 and was elected as Secretary in 2012. He took over as Chairman of the group in 2017 and is extremely proud to lead what is the largest and most active motoring writers group in the country.
I rather fancy something like a Peugeot 405 Mi16
Gung Ho – it’s full of Fiat Regatas!
How to be a motoring journalist, by Roy Lanchester
Founder of the Southern Group of Motoring Writers and currently the vice-chairman, David Ward continues to write daily on all motoring matters for the Northcliffe UK Media Group and for its parent, Associated Newspapers with its worldwide syndication system which involves editorial coverage of new car releases, road tests, industry background research and current technology developments, plus regular interviews with key industry figures. Having covered the motor industry as an editorial specialist now for over 40 years, David has a wealth of background knowledge and so is regularly called upon to use that information for all kinds of outlets, ranging from motoring publications to individual car manufacturers and research institutions like universities involved in the industry.
Ford Lotus Cortina
The Great Escape (II World War version)
Humorous Quotations by Nigel Rees
Chris Rees has been writing about cars for 40 years, contributing to newspapers, magazines and websites, as well as authoring more than 20 car books. He is currently a freelance writer and editor, editing Auto Italia magazine, the world’s leading title about Italian cars, and is Motors Editor of The Official Ferrari Magazine (TOFM). Currently secretary of the SGMW, he is honoured to help out with annual events such as the SGMW Heritage Driving Day and the SGMW Karting Grand Prix.
Alfa Romeo SZ
This Is Spinal Tap)
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Andy Russell has been writing about cars, bikes and motoring for more than 30 years. After becoming group motoring editor of a large regional media organisation, he took the freelance route. He has driven more than 2,000 cars. He now creates bespoke web content, media publicity and digital newsletters for motor dealers and an award-winning independent specialist finance broker. As SGMW publicity officer, he also updates its website with the latest group gossip and helps feed the social media monster.
Jaguar Mark 2 3.8
Ford v Ferrari about the head-to-clash at Le Mans in 1966
Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon
Chris Manning started submitting motorsport reports and pictures more than 40 years ago to the Essex Chronicle, which has led to him in attending the Le Mans 24 hour race for the past 22 years. Writing car road test reports went hand in hand with a sub-editor role at Essex Chronicle page subbing the 24-page motoring supplement and he took over sole responsibility for subbing both Essex and Kent motoring supplements. From 2014/2015 he became Motoring Editor and Sub Editor for Made in Essex newspaper until its demise, and is now freelance centring around classic cars. He took over the role as Treasurer for the Group in 2017 and enjoys the responsibility of looking after the purse strings.
Citroen DS
Dead Poets Society
Perfume – Patrick Suskind
Ben is Senior Car Manager at Hutch Games, where he curates the 6,000+ car collection for the Top Drives mobile title. He is also a freelance automotive writer, having spent three years as the deputy web editor of Carbuyer along with his freelance commitments. He specialises in car reviews, best lists, advice, and news articles. He also has plenty of experience working behind the scenes on the videos for the Carbuyer YouTube channel. Since switching to automotive writing in 2015, Ben has freelanced for a variety of websites, including Collecting Cars, DriveTribe, Car Throttle, Vanarama, Read Cars, and Car & Classic, as well as occasional automotive features in Auto Express and gaming features for Kotaku. He took over the Web/social media editor role in 2025.
Honda NSX (NA2)
Ronin
The Driver – True Life Adventures of an Underground Road Racer
Phil Huff has ridden the wave of new car launches for the last 10 years, providing reviews to national and regional newspapers, magazines and websites, along with other automotive content. While that continues, he’s now embracing the LCV world and publishing Professional Van and Professional Pickup, as well as supplying LCV content to clients. His wife, Samantha, keeps him in check as she works alongside Phil, running their third title, the lifestyle focussed CALIBRE. He’s managed to rid himself of the habit of buying any car costing less than £500, but if a Hyundai XG30 ever appears on eBay. Phil was elected as the group’s publicity officer in 2026.
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Motoring and motorsport, that’s what’s made my world tick throughout my journalistic career, which for the last 25 years has been based just outside Oxford (but I still get asked by the new breed of PRs at English-based launches: “Did you fly down?”). From borrowing a Citroen AX from my local dealer in Dundee in the mid-Eighties to driving the latest Lamborghini models, I’ve driven everything in between. Over my career, on occasion I’ve been the main motoring writer for all of Scotland’s quality national dailies and Sundays, and contributed to UK nationals including The Times, Telegraph, The i, plus magazines including Autosport and SAGA. While continuing to supply motoring news, reviews and features to The Scotsman and Europe’s largest independently-owned car dealership group, I also relish extensive adventure drive features including, amongst others, being the first to drive the 60kms across frozen Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia.
My Porsche Macan 2.0
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
The Longest Line on the Map
After a number of years working in the world of radio, I decided to roll the metaphorical dice in 2021 and take the leap over to automotive journalism. A combination of my lifelong obsession with cars and an incredibly fortunate job application saw me join the team at Auto Express in 2021, and I still work there today. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still relatively new blood, but I’ve been fortunate enough to cover some of the latest and greatest that the ever-turbulent automotive industry has to offer. I’ve also amassed my fair share of complimentary notebooks and water bottles. While my professional life sees me erring on the side of the sensible and reliable, my personal car tastes tend to be anything but. My current chariot is a Suzuki Swift Sport that’s dependable enough but still finds creative ways to chew through money. Reliability is overrated though, so my latest hobby is staring at endless Austin Sevens and Trabant 601s on Facebook Marketplace.
BMC/Morris/Austin/Leyland/Rover Mini
The Italian Job (please see favourite car)
The workshop manual associated with my current car at the time of reading
