1 It's hard...

If you want to test drive cars, write about the latest models and drive exotic sports cars around fantastic roads while being paid, this message is for you: it's very, very difficult to get to that stage. 

How many people in the world do that for a living? I reckon it's less than play for international football teams. So it's harder to become a motoring hack than an international football star.

It's probably harder than becoming a travelwriter. I should know. I'm one of the few who have done both. I was an experienced successful journalist who had also managed a garage and driven a taxi and I was still lucky to get into it.

You see, for travel writing  you only need to set up a blog and waffle on about your last holiday. For motoring you need to get hold of cars to test - and that's only going to happen if you've got a reputable outlet for your words.

So if you REALLY want to be a motoring writer - and not just a famous person on the TV who tools around and gets paid a lot - you have to make it a career choice not just a hobby. 

And be realistic. Even if you make it into journalism edging your way into motoring is hard - it's very popular. Even then there's a lot of routine motoring journalism jobs - for every roadtester there are at least two sub-editors and designers checking facts and figures and laying out pages.