James Foxall

I’ve been writing about cars and motoring for more than 25 years. My career started on a long-departed classic car weekly magazine called AutoClassic. I’ve since pitched up at Autosport, Auto Express, the Daily Telegraph, News of the World and CNN. I now run my own digital content company, Wordsmith Media.

I started Ask the Car Expert after a newspaper editor (who didn’t drive) told me no one was interested in consumer motoring stories. I thought: ‘You may not be, but an awful lot of people out there are…’

When I’m not writing about cars, I’m probably doing some kind of sport: I regularly go mountain biking, aggressive inline skating, hiking, practice pilates or play tennis. And if I’m not doing those I’ll probably be listening to a podcast while either driving or cleaning my ageing Mazda MX-5. I keep on meaning to trade it in for something different. And then I go for a drive and remember why I love the MX-5 so much.

I have a minor obsession with 1970s and 80s Formula One (Carlos Reutemann is my all-time favourite driver). And I follow Portsmouth FC and football in general, usually listening to matches on the radio while working my garden.

I live in deeply rural West Sussex with Mrs F, two cats, some chickens and occasionally my 20-something daughter.