Born in Shropshire soon after the end of the First World War, venerable motoring writer W de Forte has driven everything from his grandfather's first Daimler, to modern-day supercars ... ridden everything from vertiginous Victorian penny farthings, to high velocity twenty-first century superbikes ... travelled everywhere from the permafrost of the Arctic Circle to the baking sands of the Baja Peninsula ... and met everyone from Tazio Nuvolari to Valentino Rossi.

W de Forte enjoyed an eventful career as a top-level journalist, spanning 75 years, during which time he tested many...