Author Profile

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

Latest Posts:
Category: NZ Circuit, Opinion, Rally | Written by:

Nature abhors a vacuum

May 7, 2020
TalkMotorsport Long Read Length LONG READ

Sanctioning and organising bodies with New Zealand championships in their portfolios appear to be risking ‘outlaw’ series taking over their…
Category: F1, Opinion | Written by:

What on earth are the F1 teams up to?

May 1, 2020
TalkMotorsport Medium Read Length MEDIUM READ

Big props to the British-based F1 teams, they have been doing something outside their regular self-absorbed single-minded obsession with going…
Category: Opinion, V8 | Written by:

NZ V8s – it’s game on for summer 2021

March 30, 2020
TalkMotorsport Medium Read Length MEDIUM READ

Some of the potential owners/racers I spoke to after the category launch at last year’s CRC Speed Show were gasping…
Category: Rally | Written by:

First Blood to Ruiterman as 2020 JG Civil NZ Offroad Racing Championship Kicks Off

March 9, 2020
TalkMotorsport Medium Read Length MEDIUM READ

Pukekohe racer Carl Ruiterman has scored the first win of the 2020 JG Civil New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship –…
Category: NZ Circuit, Opinion, V8 | Written by:

Context and relevance for motorsport decisions

February 19, 2020 / 2 comments
TalkMotorsport Long Read Length LONG READ

The announcement’s timing might have been better managed – right before the first round of the 2020 V8SC championship, GM…
Category: Featured, NZ Circuit, Opinion | Written by:

Ways to go forward – Licensing

February 1, 2020
TalkMotorsport Long Read Length LONG READ

This week, Talkmotorsport continues to look into the Australian Auto Sport Alliance licensing option that has entered the NZ market……..
Category: Single Seater | Written by:

Young stars flock to Ferrari

January 21, 2020
TalkMotorsport Short Read Length SHORT READ

The prestigious Ferrari Driver Academy will run drivers at all levels of the FIA career ladder in 2020, expanding its…
Category: Opinion, Single Seater | Written by:

TRS Prospects and Banter

January 17, 2020
TalkMotorsport Long Read Length LONG READ

I love watching sports writers mangle the Queen’s English. A few years back it was ‘medalling’ – lazy speak for…
Category: Featured, Opinion, V8 | Written by:

Winners and Losers

January 15, 2020
TalkMotorsport Long Read Length LONG READ

The New Zealand motorsport landscape has undergone some sweeping and unexpected changes over the last few months. The TCR category…
Category: Featured, NZ Circuit, Opinion, Rally, Single Seater | Written by:

The best of times – 2019

January 3, 2020
TalkMotorsport Long Read Length LONG READ

Oh for me it’s always going to be the Aussie V8s – or should that be the Kiwi-dominated V8s? We…