Guild members are being invited to secure media accreditation for the British Motor Show, which will return to the Farnborough International Exhibition Centre in Hampshire on 21st to 23rd August.

Now regarded as a major UK automotive event, the show focuses on innovation, performance and future mobility alongside live entertainment. Organisers promise exclusive vehicle debuts, live demonstrations, industry panels and interactive experiences, with the live action taking place alongside family-friendly activities.

Accredited media will be issued with complimentary press passes providing access to the full show and its features, priority access to press briefings and vehicle unveilings, including the UK premiere of new urban mobility brand Linktour, opportunities to interview key industry figures and brand representatives, entry to dedicated media zones and family activities and access to an exclusive WhatsApp group for the latest news and updates.

Members can register for media accreditation at the show here – any queries or specific requests can be directed here.  

Below: New urban mobility brand Linktour will make its UK debut at the show ahead of its cars going on sale later this year. 

One of the most surprising pieces of news to emerge in recent days was that Guild member Ray Massey has penned his last motoring column for the Daily Mail.

Ray has been at the Mail for 31 years, a record for the newspaper. He took over from Guild member Michael Kemp in 1995, joining an illustrious list of correspondents that in the 1930s included Land Speed Record holder Sir Malcolm Campbell.  

For 15 of those years, Ray also doubled as the Mail’s Transport Editor, covering aviation, marine and rail, including HS2, in addition to automotive.

Ray described the change as marking the end of one chapter and the start of an exciting new phase. “It has been a real privilege to have covered the motoring beat for the Daily Mail for 31 years – which is officially a record across the newspaper’s 130-year history” he said.

“With my strong background in news reporting, when I took over the motoring beat in 1995 my primary brief was to be a champion for the consumer and our wonderful readers.

“But there was also a very strong political and business element. I arrived on the scene just as German car giant BMW had bought its ‘English patient’ Rover – which nearly brought the company down.

“I always liked to say that my job was ‘more Jeremy Paxman than Jeremy Clarkson’ because there is much more to it than reviewing cars. Motoring in all its aspects is an amazingly strong news area for those prepared to dig. It’s a fabulous beat with amazing characters.”

Ray celebrated his departure in typical fashion, as a guest at the Duke of Richmond’s Goodwood Ball held on the Saturday evening of the Festival of Speed meeting. He’s not letting on just yet what he’s going to be up to in the future, but added; “I have never been the retiring type, and I do not intend to start now, with a number of exciting projects already in the pipeline.

“I may be changing lanes and changing gear, but I’ve still got my focus fixed firmly on the road ahead.”

Below: Ray won’t be stuck for things to do – he’s joined the Guild Committee. Photo: Jeff Bloxham

The sun certainly shone on the annual Guild day out to the Friday practice day at the British Grand Prix on Friday 3rd July – thanks to our friends at the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) 40 of our membership were able to join a record Friday attendance to the UK’s biggest motorsport event at a scorching Silverstone.

Members were provided with much more than a free ticket. The BRDC operates two facilities at Silverstone, both with their own private grandstands – the main clubhouse overlooks the Luffield complex and the second, The Farm, has a stand with a view directly down the start-finish straight. The passes also included a three-course lunch in a marquee adjacent to the clubhouse.  

The BRDC’s main clubhouse was recently refurbished and provided a relaxing, air-conditioned environment and a great base for the day – with free tea and coffee available all day long and a bar available. There is plenty to see in the clubhouse – the Guild’s own noticeboard with our annual award winners is still prominently displayed while there is also a remarkable collection of thousands of racing models – as members can imagine these were jealously studied by our News Briefs editor!

In terms of F1 action Friday normally comprises two free practice sessions but with this year’s Grand Prix including a Sprint race, late in the afternoon saw a nail-biting Sprint Qualifying session, in which Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position for the Saturday race to the delight of the massive crowd.

News Briefs editor Andrew Charman did a little Googling and discovered that Friday general admission tickets for the GP meeting had been priced at £70. “That’s £15 less than the cost of a Guild subscription – and without the in-circuit parking, use of two clubhouses with two grandstands, the lunch, the tea and coffee all day long…

“Just as important was being part of such an amazing event – being sat in a packed Farm Grandstand and experiencing the reaction at the moment Lewis took that pole position was something special…”     

The Toyota Global Media Centre, close to Gatwick Airport, hosted the Guild’s Annual General Meeting for a second successive year on 18th June, provided over by our President and mixing the formal business required by the Guild’s Articles of Association with some informative and entertaining additions. 

Several revisions to the Guild’s Rules and Articles of Association were approved by the meeting, these being that the Benevolent Fund is only accessible to Full members, Vice-Presidents are able to vote if they are also a serving Officer, that the General Secretary forms part of the Committee and is able to vote if also a Full member, that retired members are able to purchase a Year Book, on request, for a sum decided by the Committee, and the change of a reference to postal votes to electronic votes.

The officers were confirmed unchanged as President Nick Mason, Chair Simon Harris, Vice-Chair Richard Aucock, Hon Treasurer Matthew Carter and Hon Secretary Richard Netherwood.

The meeting saw existing committee members Chris Adamson, Richard Aucock, Tim Beavis, John Brooks, Andrew Charman, Trinity Francis, John Griffiths, Kevin Haggarthy, Simon Harris, Andrew Noakes and Mike Valente all re-elected, alongside returnees John Kendall and Jim McGill, and new addition to the committee Ray Massey.

All AGM photos by Jeff Bloxham unless stated

Putting the case for the Guild’s role

Welcoming members to the AGM, Chair Simon Harris wasted no time in emphasising that the Guild continues to face challenges. “Our industry – media and publishing – is under pressure. The automotive industry itself is in the middle of its most significant transition in a century. As an organisation, we feel both of those forces simultaneously.”

While looking forward to the following financial report with more optimism than he had felt for some years, Simon added that stabilisation is not the same as strength. “We need to be honest with ourselves about what comes next. 

The membership remains the foundation of everything the Guild does financially, but attracting new members and retaining existing ones has become harder. Part of the reason is beyond our control, such as the loss of complimentary breakdown cover from first the AA and then from Start Rescue. “Every year, a number of members lapse, and they still cite that specific loss as their reason – I find that intensely frustrating, and I want to address it directly,” Simon said.

“The Guild is not a breakdown cover provider. It never was. And those members who were here primarily for a free recovery service – and I say this with respect, but with absolute clarity – perhaps should not have been here at all. 

“We cannot build a sustainable, purposeful organisation around benefits that substitute for belief in what the Guild actually stands for. Benefits should reward membership. They should not define it.”

It has often been said that the Guild is worth what members get out of it, but also what they put into it, but Simon pitched for something more specific than a general willingness to be involved. Expressing his thanks to those who step up to fill committee positions, he emphasised that the committee is not the only way to contribute.

“There is plenty you can do right now. Mentoring a younger member costs nothing but time. The return on that investment, both for them and for the Guild’s reputation as a professional body, is considerable. If you have expertise, share it. If you have contacts, use them on the Guild’s behalf occasionally. And if you have opinions about what the Guild should be doing differently, bring them to us – rather than saving them for discussion with colleagues afterwards.”

One initiative that will make a welcome return this year is the Guild Survey. Members, alongside a number of senior journalists outside the Guild, will be asked to give their honest assessment of how automotive PR teams are performing, focusing on such aspects as responsiveness, access, quality of information and relationship management.

“The automotive landscape has changed considerably since this survey was last run,” Simon said. “There are more brands competing for coverage right now than at any point in my career, many of them relying heavily on PR agencies to support smaller, overstretched in-house teams.

“In that environment, the ability to measure performance, benchmark against peers and identify where improvements are needed has genuine commercial value. We believe there will be a strong appetite among PR teams to access that insight. This survey represents a meaningful service to the industry, and a potential revenue stream for the Guild.

“It is also a vital reminder of what the Guild is uniquely placed to do. Nobody else can aggregate the honest, informed opinions of the people who work with these teams every day. That is something only we can offer.”

Simon also mused on what the Guild is actually for, arguing that it is not a trade union but can and should be, a voice for automotive media. “At a time when the value of skilled, experienced automotive journalism is being questioned – when editorial is being produced faster and cheaper by people and platforms with no investment in getting it right – our voice matters more than it has for decades,” adding that against the backdrop of the reality of artificial intelligence and its threat to skilled journalists as publishers seek to cut costs, what the Guild does becomes even more vital.

Mentorship to younger and less experienced writers and photographers trying to find their way in an industry that offers fewer clear pathways than it once did, training and learning that gives members a genuine competitive edge are benefits with real, lasting value that cannot be easily replicated by the AI landscape.

Simon added that the Guild should also be making the case, visibly and consistently, that there is a premium for well-crafted work. “For features conceived, researched and written by human beings who understand their subject, their audience and their craft. That case is urgent. It is more urgent now than at any point in my career, and the Guild is one of the few organisations positioned to make that case credibly.”

He concluded; “The Guild has lasted as long as it has because successive generations of members decided it was worth fighting for. I believe it still is, I hope you do too.”

• Members can expect to receive invitations to partake in the Guild Survey in the late Autumn of this year.

Earlier this year I set about planning a road trip to Mallorca (writes Vice-President Peter Burgess), the final objective being a classic car tour for several days around the island. 

The plan was to avoid the autoroutes as much as possible by allowing four days to drive down eastern France to our ferry from Toulon. Via Michelin proved a great help, highlighting scenic routes with a green band alongside the most interesting roads. 

Our first night was spent just south of Laon in northern France, in the Hotel du Golf de l’Ailette. On arrival we realised we’d been there before, back in 2002 when it was the Hotel Mercure Laon-Chamouille. That was on the third or fourth Guild Classic, ably organised by Guild member Clive Jacobs alongside his mentor Steve Brown from European Routes for Leisure.

That had been a major event for the Guild – 37 cars plus a back-up crew in case of breakdowns, big-time sponsorship from BMW and P&O Ferries, a bevy of historic cars from Ford and Vauxhall and even a couple of Ferraris from the press office!

Great memories were recalled, especially as I was now in the same Porsche that Lynne and I had driven 24 years ago. But the bigger surprise came the next morning when I was packing the Porsche before breakfast. I spotted the number plate S4 ERL, which surely could only be Steve Brown? It was! The coincidence was magnified as we chatted over breakfast. Like me, this was the first time he had revisited the hotel in 24 years! What are the odds?

Steve was nominated a Friend of the Guild for all the work he very generously put in over the years staging Guild Classic events. He’s still doing it – his overnight stay was yet another recce for a group of classic car owners. 

Me? Well, we covered 1,500 miles in total, broke through the somewhat dreaded 100,000-mile barrier and used hardly any oil. The Porsche is currently locked up in a glass cube in Motorworld in Palma while I work out when I can get over to drive it home…

The photo shows Steve Brown from ERL with Peter and Lynne Burgess – Peter adds that they only parked in the disabled spot for five minutes!