Author & Team Profiles

Based in London, Keith Bluemel started writing about Ferrari in 1980, initially as a contributor to the Ferrari Owners’ Club magazine ‘Ferrari’, for which he still writes regularly, and then broadened out to work for many Ferrari-specific magazines around the world. He is a long-time contributing editor to the respected American Ferrari magazine ‘Cavallino’ and has been its competition editor since 2004. He also contributes to ‘Ferrari Magazine’ (the official magazine produced for the factory by Condé Nast), ‘Prancing Horse’ (the official magazine of the Ferrari Club Of America) and ‘Ferrari Club’ (the official magazine of Club Ferrari France). He is also a regular contributing editor/photographer to two Ferrari-themed websites: www.barchetta.cc and www.anamera.com.

Prior to his ‘Great Cars’ GTO book for Porter Press, Keith co-authored (with Jess G. Pourret) ‘Ferrari 250 GTO’ (Bay View, 1998) and was a contributing editor to ‘GTO Book’ (Fink Presse France, 2009). He has also written four titles about other models of Ferrari. ‘Original Ferrari V8’ (Bay View), ‘Ferrari: The Road Cars’ (Sutton), ‘Original Ferrari V12, 1965–73’ (Bay View) and ‘Ferrari: The Racing Cars’ (Sutton). He was the technical editor for ‘Jeremy Clarkson on Ferrari’ (Lancaster Publishing, 2000) and co-author of a book on the Ferrari 250 GT ‘Breadvan’ (Parker House Publishing, 2010).

Keith is a life member of the Ferrari Owners’ Club and a Ferrari Club of America concours judge. He has been a Ferrari class judge at Concorso Italiano, the Winter Park Concours, Concours on the Avenue (Carmel), Pebble Beach, Salon Privé and the Ferrari factory’s 60th Anniversary Concorso d’Eleganza in 2007.

 

 

Doug Nye is the author of more than 70 books on aspects of motor sporting history, including standard works on BRM, Lotus, Ferrari, Cooper, Tyrrell and McLaren cars and upon (and with) such great racing drivers as Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jack Brabham, Jim Clark and Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his early career, he worked for Motor Sport magazine with the publication’s revered Continental Correspondent, Denis Jenkinson. Doug is considered by many to be the world’s leading motor racing historian.

 

Mark Cole is a journalist and author who covered his 35th Le Mans 24 Hours in 2017. His career includes being club editor of Autosport magazine, press officer at Thruxton and Silverstone circuits, and the press attaché for the FIA World Sports Car Championship. He has, for 25 years, been a commentator on Eurosport TV. The subjects of his previous books are on Brands Hatch racing circuit and GT racing.

 

Chas Parker swapped a career in astronomy, where he was Press Officer for the Royal Greenwich Observatory, for one writing about motor sport. Along the way he edited a computer magazine for Hewlett-Packard business users and provided copywriting services to companies such as Air Miles, Elf Oil and South East Water. He also contributed to Patrick Moore’s ‘Yearbook of Astronomy’ and the ‘Philip’s Astronomy Encyclopedia’.

For a time he was motoring correspondent for ‘Sussex Life’ magazine and then worked for seven years as a sub-editor on ‘Motorsport News’, for which he still contributes race reports, particularly on the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meetings, along with occasional articles for publications such as ‘Autosport’ and ‘Motor Sport’. He is the author of five books, including comprehensive histories of Brands Hatch and Silverstone, both published by Haynes.

He lives in East Sussex with his partner Diane and has two sons, Jon and Will.

 

Ian Wagstaff began writing motor racing reports in the early 1970s, having started work in the production department of ‘Motor Sport’ magazine. He went on to become Press Officer at Silverstone circuit towards the end of that decade. He has been a freelance journalist since 1986, writing for The Economist Intelligence Unit and Financial Times Automotive Division as well as the motor racing press.

Ian has twice won the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Montagu of Beaulieu Trophy as well as its Pierre Dreyfus award, and he has also received the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association’s ‘Book of the Year’ award. He is particularly intrigued by both endurance and Indy car racing and has written books about the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indianapolis 500. As an antidote to motor racing, he is an amateur French horn player.

 

Journalist and author specialising in classic and contemporary performance cars. A former staff member of Classic & Sports Car and Motor Sport, for whom he remains a regular contributor, he has also written extensively for Octane, Classic Cars and Auto Italia in addition to newspapers such as The Guardian. He has written several books on subjects as diverse as the British specialist sports car industry and coachbuilt Ferraris. He has also owned, driven and pushed countless Italian classic cars over the past 25 years.

 

 Ray Hutton started as a motoring journalist with Motor Racing magazine. The first event he covered was the 1968 BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch, won by Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman in Ford GT40 P/1075.

In 1970, Ray joined Autocar, and reported on races and rallies all over the world as Sports Editor, before progressing to become Editor-in-Chief. Since going freelance in the1980s, he has written about cars and the motor industry for newspapers, magazines, and websites worldwide, and is best known for his work at The Sunday Times and Car and Driver magazine in the USA.

The author of several books, his published works include the Centenary History of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA); Jewels in the Crown: How Tata of India transformed Britain’s Jaguar and Land Rover; and Porsche 917, an inter-active i-book.

Ray is honorary president of the international Car of the Year Jury, vice-president of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and an associate member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club. His work has twice won the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Montagu Trophy and the Bentley International Award.

 

Born in Somerset, J. Mac Hulbert is an academic who spent most of his career at Columbia University in Manhattan, where he was the R.C. Kopf Professor of International Marketing. His passion for historic cars has led him to own and compete with a huge variety of machinery, including ERA R4D in the period 2001–15. He has written many books about business, but this long-awaited and thoroughly researched work is his first about cars.

A qualified mechanical engineer, Gordon Bruce was the Road Test Editor of Motor magazine and then a Ford PR manager before founding the eponymous marketing consultancy he still operates 35 years later. His first book concerned the Ford GT40, for which he was awarded a prize by the Guild of Motoring Writers. His associations with the AC/Shelby Cobra date from 1983, when he won the Intermarque Championship in a 405bhp example.

 

Rinsey Mills bought his first AC while at art school in the 1960s. It came and went, but was never forgotten, and several years later he reacquired it after it had fallen into disrepair. Later still, through a chance conversation while visiting the AC factory at Thames Ditton, he learned that this worn-out, tatty sports car had nearly won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1935.

Since then he has owned, raced and worked on many ACs, and become a well-known marque expert. Through this passion, he came to know Carroll Shelby in latter years and became his official biographer. His major work, Carroll Shelby: The Authorised Biography (Haynes, 2012), was published mere weeks before Shelby’s death.

Rinsey is the author of other books about AC subjects, including Original AC Ace & Cobra (Bay View, 1990), Essential AC Cobra (Bay View, 1997), Great Cars: AC Cobra (Haynes, 2003) and AC Sports Cars in Detail: Six-Cylinder Models 1933–63 (Herridge & Sons, 2007).

 

Mick Walsh’s passion for Alfa Romeo 8Cs was sparked aged 10, when the Hon. Patrick Lindsay, driving ‘221130’, blasted past his father’s car en route to VSCC Silverstone in 1967. As a long-serving Editor-in-Chief, now International Editor of Classic & Sports Car, Mick has driven and written about many great 8Cs, including co-driving a Touring Spider on the Monte Carlo Rallye Historique and testing a Monza in the Alps after the Klausen hillclimb. As organiser of the Louis Vuitton Concours and the Cartier Style et Luxe, he has created two 8C tributes where ‘221130’ was among the winners.

Stephen Archer was almost literally born into the world of Aston Martins, as a 1933 Aston Martin was his transport to and from hospital for his birth!

Since the earliest age possible, he worked on the family Aston Martins and helped to restore Alan Archer’s DB6 Mk2 Volante in 1975. In 1976, with Alan and brother Jeff, he restored a DB5 to concours winning standard and, between 1988 and 1993, he rebuilt the ex-Lord Brabazon DB2. In 2010–14, he helped build a DP214 replica. Stephen has also owned a MK3; a DB4 series one and two, a 1971 DBSV8, an AM V8 and a 2010 GT4. He won the St John Horsfall Trophy in 2014 in the Ulster LM15 and will race his 2010 GT4 in 2017.

Stephen has written extensively about the marque, with his books including Aston Martin Zagato in 1998, Aston Martin Ulster and All the Ulsters in 2011 and, in 2016, the large tome The Aston Martin DB4GT (all Palawan). He is a regular contributor to Vantage magazine.

Stephen grew up in Essex and graduated in Business from Coventry University. He lives with his wife Ruth in Buckinghamshire and has three grown-up sons. All appreciate and enjoy the charm of Aston Martins.

 

Julius Kruta

Julius Kruta caught the Bugatti bug at Prescott in England in the early 1980s and in 1994 he started a company specialising in hand-built Bugatti models. After graduating in 2000 with a thesis on Bugatti, he embarked on a career in marketing with Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S and in 2003 became ‘Head of Tradition’, a position he held until summer 2018. Julius now works as a freelance historian and automotive adviser. He has written several books on the Bugatti marque and has been a regular Concours d’Elegance judge in Europe and America. He lives with his wife and two children in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Mark Morris

Bugatti researcher and consultant Mark Morris is Honorary Registrar of the Bugatti Owners’ Club. His Bugatti enthusiasm was kindled early in life by a family friend, who competed pre-war with Grand Prix examples of the marque, Types 37 and 35C, and his knowledge of motoring literature was nurtured by the late Peter Richley, who amassed an unrivalled motoring library. Mark lives with his wife and two children in the Midlands, UK

 

Other Porter Press Team Profiles

 

During an amazing racing career, Derek Bell won two new World Sportscar Championships, was three times winner of the 24hrs of Daytona and chalked-up an amazing five Le Mans victories.  He was particularly well known for his pairing with Jacky Ickx in the Porsche 936 and Porsche 956/Porsche 962 models, although he also raced in Formula One for the Ferrari, McLaren, Surtees and Tecno teams.

 

Martin’s Formula 1 career was complete with podiums and battles against the likes of Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

Brundle went straight from racing to commentating with Murray Walker in 1997. His ability and enthusiasm were evident.  Murray hailed Brundle as his favourite commentator.

In his 16 seasons commentating, Martin has attained a Walker-esque status in the world of F1 broadcasting.

 

The world's leading authority on The Italian Job, Matthew Field is the author of Porter Press book The Self Preservation Society. In 2009 he co-produced and directed a feature-length documentary about the film for Paramount Pictures. Matthew has written numerous books on cinema, including the autobiography of Oscar-winning film producer, Michael Deeley. He has worked on feature films around the world producing behind-the-scenes marketing materials, and in 2019 completed work on Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again for Universal Pictures.

 

Glen has had a passion for all things motoring and, in particular, for Porsche since a tender age.  He honed his talents writing for motoring magazines both in the UK and in his native South Africa, and currently writes regular columns for several monthly motoring magazines.  Glen’s previous books include, Porsche – The Carrera Dynasty; and Jaguar E-type – Portrait of a Design Icon for which he received the Laurin and Klement ‘ Design Writer of the Year’ award.  In his free time, Glen plays squash and golf.  He currently lives in South Wales with his wife Elke, and their children Margaux and Robert.

 

 

Growing up in South Africa, Gordon Murray CBE designed, built and raced his own sports car (the IGM Ford) in the National Class in 1967 and 1968. The following year, he moved to the UK and joined the Brabham Formula One Team as Technical Director, winning two world championships (1981 and 1983) in his 17 years with the team.

In 1988, Gordon became Technical Director of McLaren Racing and three consecutive championship wins (1988, 1989 and 1990) followed. After an impressive 50 Grand Prix wins, in 1990 he moved away from Formula One to establish McLaren Cars Limited. The company’s first project, the F1 Road Car is still regarded as the world’s best-engineered car. A racing version won two world sports car championships and the Le Mans 24-hour race on its first attempt in 1995. 

Leaving McLaren in 2005, he established a new company, Gordon Murray Design, and developed the innovative and disruptive automotive manufacturing technology, iStream®. Now, the process is fully industrialised and represents the first major step change in automotive manufacturing in 100 plus years.

Working with charity the Global Vehicle Trust, Gordon launched the world’s first ‘flat-pack’ truck, the OX, in 2016, and it looks set to transform transport in the developing world. In 2019, he was awarded a CBE in recognition for his services to motoring in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2019.

The accolade is in recognition for his ‘services to motoring’ after a career devising and delivering creative and ground-breaking road and racing cars.

Murray said: ‘It is extremely humbling to receive a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours. I’ve spent more than 50 years doing what I love, working with a wealth of highly talented and creative people around the world, but primarily in the UK. From competing during the heyday of Formula One, to designing the world’s fastest supercar, I’ve loved every minute. I’d like to dedicate this honour to all those I’ve worked with over the years and I look forward to an exciting new future for the Gordan Murray Group.’

 

Stirling is arguably the greatest all-round racing driver the world has ever known. In a career that spanned 14 years (1948 – 1962), he won an outstanding 194 of the 497 races he entered, including the British Grand Prix and the arduous Mille Miglia.  

 

Barry Cryer is a national treasure.  He has been making people laugh for over 50 years and continues to be at the top of his game.  In his time he has worked with, and become great friends with, an absolute Who’s Who of the comedy world – such icons as Tommy Cooper, Morecambe and Wise, John Cleese, Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker, Michael Palin, Alan Bennett, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Frankie Howerd, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, Les Dawson … the list is endless.

Murray Walker is a legend. In the fast-paced, action-packed and often ruthless world of motorsport he was a constant. More famous than many of the drivers on whom he commentated, his knowledge, and evident enthusiasm, was a beacon for millions of fans.

 

Alan Fearnley is one of the World’s foremost motoring artists.  His paintings have won praise from critics and enthusiasts alike, who appreciate his ability to create detailed and technically accurate scenes, infused with a tangible sense of atmosphere and emotion.

Chris Rooke loved E-types but knew nothing about restoring them.  E-type Jaguar DIY Restoration & Maintenance – A Kind of Loving is a unique approach to restoring your own E-type Jaguar.  Chris Rooke has created a brilliantly useful and very readable book that really will help you if you want to work on your E-type or to know more about the workings.

 

Sir John Egan has enjoyed a long and highly distinguished business career. After studying petroleum engineering at Imperial College, he was employed by Shell in the Middle East. Following time at London Business School, he joined AC Delco, a General Motors company. He then moved to British Leyland where he helped to set up and ran Unipart, a uniquely successful operation within BL. Four years with Massey-Ferguson in Canada followed before Sir Michael Edwardes encouraged him back to Coventry to try and save Jaguar. Ten years later, he reluctantly sold the company to Ford but achieved a price of £1.6bn ($2.5bn). He was Chief Executive of British Airports Authority from 1990 until 1999 and headed up the construction industry task force, producing the Egan Report, Rethinking Construction, in 1998 and Accelerating Change in 2002. He served as President of the CBI from that date until 2004 when he became Chairman of Severn Trent. Among many other roles, he was Chairman of Inchcape plc, Chairman, and later President, of the London Tourist Board, President of the Institute of Management and is Chancellor of Coventry University.  He was knighted in 1986.