Favorite automotive journalist.
 

I could never choose between James May, Clarkson, Chris Harris, Tiff Needell, and Harry Metcalfe.

Pete Lyons.

WAAAAAAAY before your time.....

Just sayin'.......

TO

Entire staff of Car & Driver before the corporate takeover & makeover they suffer from now. Longtime fav Patrick Bedard's commentary on government issues like the national 55mph limit inspired some of my high school essays. Also like Larry Webster who bailed from C&D & wound up as Road & Track's Editor in Chief after their shakeup ousted many long time editors. Larry Webster took over the C&D TV show that ran during the time I was test driving the vehicles before delivering to auto jounalists, so I studied every show. Brock Yates was great too. Never liked David E. Davis pompous a$$ though he was 1 of the biggest ever & started Automobile mag. I worked with his former assistant. C.Van Tune is cool. (Editor in Chief at Motor Trend for 15+ years) Enjoyed talking with him several times after he quit MT when they went corporate & changed everything. :(

L J K Setright

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._J._K._Setright

Peter Egan - Road & Track

I enjoy Dan Neil's Rumble Seat column in the Wall Street Journal.

And who among us can ever forget the immortal musings of Nigel Shiftright?

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1392173748.jpg

Just reminiscin'..............

TO

+1 on Patrick Bedard.

Patrick Bedard


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patrick Bedard (born August 20, 1941, LaPorte City, Iowa)[1] is an American automobile racing driver and journalist.

In the early 1970s, Car and Driver magazine challenged its readers to a series of Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)-sanctioned, 25-lap "Showroom Stock Sedan" races. In the Car and Driver SS/Sedan Challenge II, Bedard finished first, driving Car & Driver's own Opel 1900 sedan. In the Car and Driver SS/Sedan Challenge III in 1974, Bedard drove a 1973 Chevy Vega GT #0, winning the tie-breaker race. This lone Vega beat 31 other well-driven showroom stocks.[2]

The first racing victory by a Wankel-engined car in the United States was in 1973, when Bedard won an IMSA RS race at Lime Rock Park in a Mazda RX-2.[3]

Bedard drove for Jaguar Cars in endurance racing, and later drove in the Indianapolis 500 in 1983 and 1984. He finished 30th both times, the second time retiring through a colossal accident where his car flipped several times. Bedard then retired from motor racing but continued to write for Car and Driver magazine, where he had been employed since March, 1968.

After nearly 42 consecutive years of employment with Car and Driver, Bedard announced he was leaving the magazine in his regular column after the August 2009 issue.

References[edit]

Allan Girdler (Cycle World)
Peter Egan (Road & Track)
Satch Carlson (AutoWeek and now at Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car)

Henry Catchpole, features editor EVO.

He just loves to drive....
Porsche Boxster S 2013 | evo REVIEW - YouTube

Undeniably one of the greatest of all time.

Clarkson...you mean that guy who hates everything Porsche with a passion?

+1 on Henry Catchpole or Richard Meaden. Both EVO

I like Clarkson with his Brit humor, moderated expletives, similes and fervent pitch.
He cracks me up.

This one was a classic.
Caparo T1 car review - Top Gear - BBC - YouTube

^ I need one of these...perhaps a kit car version ^

Also, Gordon Kirby, who took over for Pete Lyons at Autosport.

Gordon Kirby - Auto Racing - The Way It Is

TO

Peter Egan
Leon Mandel

All of this except the last line was before my time. I started reading C&D in the early 80's, but I always liked Patrick Bedard's commentary.

Clarkson is hilarious, we all know that. He is also a nice guy, after most Top gear shows he takes the entire audience to a local pub for drinks! :cheers:

I try not to judge a journalist on weather he likes porsche or not. May bought a 986 new though.

Peter Egan fan here. Loved his Cycle world column where he and a buddy took a 100+ mile ride to little Pikes Peak. Egan road a moped and his buddy, an avid cyclist rode a 10 speed bike. At the end of the trip, they calculated that the moped burned less fuel than the bike rider eating granola bars.

Any Satch Carlson fans out there? I mean besides high school girls.

Sorry, with all due respect to Top Gear, a thoroughly entertaining television show, I'm not sure that I would refer to Clarkson as a journalist. Much like the NBC dateline "journalists" who staged an explosion in a GM truck, Top Gear has likewise admitted to staging races.
Most notoriously with the Tesla roadster test where they staged that car running out of power and filmed a perfectly running car being towed away to suit a predetermined script.

Harris is great although he has an issue with roadsters however. He thinks they're not manly enough for him. He once filmed a segment where he drove around in an NA Miata with a paper bag over his head because it was so shameful apparently. While that was admittedly very, very funny, he tried to argue that it wasn't a sports car, or a car for sports car drivers. Which anyone who has ever visited just about any autox or track day anywhere from CA to FL to NY can tell you is a laughable statement. It's perhaps the single most common car at these events. But otherwise his reviews are pretty much excellent and he's a very skilled driver. I could do with less drifting but I guess you have to appeal to the millenials for clicks.

Correct, Clarkson han't been a car journalist for years. Plus, while he's always been a great writer, he wasn't a great car journalist. He's always put the story first.

I've gone off Chris Harris. He could be a modern day great, but he's become too keen to be inclusive these days. He's going for a big audience and has significantly toned down his purist tendencies, pity really.

Of the current UK crop, I rate Richard Meaden above the rest, probably Catchpole and Bovingdon next.

I had Satch on my list! Still one of my favorites in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.

I don't consider TV or internet personalities as journalists. If video is the primary medium, then the skill most often demonstrated is entertainment rather than journalism.

And yes, I feel the same about TV network news. :)

[QUOTE=thstone;386228If video is the primary medium, then the skill most often demonstrated is entertainment rather than journalism. [/QUOTE]


That's a pretty good point and ties in nicely with certain journalist(s)' nosediving quality with the transition to video.