HOW TO BE A MOTORING JOURNALIST

Want to drive and write about fast cars for a living? Andrew Frankel knows the score

- Andrew Frankel

It always used to be 'what's the best car you've driven?', but it's not any more. Today, the question I get asked more than any other is 'how do I become a motoring journalist?'.

It's understandable. Post-Covid, and especially for young people, the workplace ain't what it used to be. With inflation high, the prospect of home ownership more remote than ever and large periods of your working life spent at home alone, it's tempting to want to escape to a world populated by fast, beautiful cars in sun-soaked locations.

But before I answer the question, allow me to pose another: should you become a motoring journalist?

When I was a lad (and he hates it every time I mention it), motoring journalists like Steve Cropley were movie stars to me. I never thought of being one myself, because I knew I wasn't worthy. How it happened anyway is too long and boring a story to repeat here. And while I know every generation tells the next that 'things aren't what they used to be', in this case it really is true.