Everything I know about road testing 

My memory is a little hazy, but I think the very first car I road tested was a 2-litre Ford Fiesta ST with Mountune performance upgrades. This was early in 2008, meaning I’ve been road testing cars for 13 and a half years.

I had no idea what I was doing. I remember scanning the photographer’s contact sheet the following week and seeing a cornering shot that clearly showed the little Fiesta cocking a wheel in that characteristic front-wheel drive hot hatch pose. I couldn’t have been more proud.

I’d made it, I thought – I was a road tester. Actually, I was a staff writer, on a minuscule staff of three. On any other title I would have been assistant to the junior tea maker. But it was my job to drive cars, assess them and then deliver a verdict in a magazine. I was 21, on top of the world and absolutely clueless. I know a little more about road testing now – and I want to share it with you.