There are some phenomenal journalist-drivers out there. A number of them, I’m pleased to say, are listed on our writers page. I believe there are others elsewhere too… Over the years it has been my great privilege to sit alongside many of them, to watch them at work behind the wheel and see for myself what they’re capable of.
And oh boy, can they drive. Often I have been the ballast on the wrong side of a car as it’s been performance tested on circuit. I’ve been hurled this way and that like Fay Wray in King Kong’s hand, squeezed into the seat and hung from the seatbelt. And every time I have been convinced that the car was being hustled absolutely as fast as that car would go – every bit of power, every bit of grip, every bit of braking performance, all of it exploited in full from start line to chequered flag.
But I’ve also watched several professional racing drivers at the wheel from no greater distance than the seat alongside and, well, there’s a difference. Of course there is. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a pro, who’s probably raced since childhood and spent their working lives perfecting their art, should ultimately be quicker on track than a journalist who might only have started learning to drive that way on the job in adulthood. It doesn’t diminish my friends and colleagues one bit to acknowledge that fact.