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: Featured, NZ Circuit, Opinion | Written by:

TCR NZ: So many questions

December 14, 2019
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The statement, when it came, raised far more questions than it answered. TCR, the biggest thing in tin-top circuit racing,…
Category: Featured, Opinion, Rally | Written by:

Lost in translation

November 23, 2019
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The language used and the way we communicate is so fraught, so prone to error and misinterpretation. Wandering around the…
Category: Single Seater | Written by:

Armstrong ready for Macau Grand Prix challenge this weekend

November 13, 2019
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New Zealand driver Marcus Armstrong is looking forward to one of the most challenging circuits he has raced. Fresh from…
Category: Featured, News, Opinion, Single Seater | Written by:

FIA Motorsport Games: the future is now

November 9, 2019
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It’s coming, and very soon: the arrival of hybrid drive systems in entry-level single-seaters. The FIA’s Motorsport Games – modelled…
Category: Rally | Written by:

Hall wins 2019 New Zealand Offroad Racing title

October 30, 2019
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Auckland offroad racer Nick Hall has won the 2019 New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship by the slenderest of margins: a…
Category: Rally | Written by:

Offroad Racing national champs thunder into Hawke’s Bay

October 25, 2019
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Spectacular unlimited-class offroad racing heads the programme at the final round of the national championship this weekend in the Hawke’s…
Category: Featured, Opinion, Single Seater | Written by:

Open wheeler championships go head to head in Asia-Pacific face-off

October 14, 2019 / 1 comment
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It seems the gloves are off in regional single-seater racing. The Castrol Toyota Racing Series has begun announcing its first…
Category: Featured, Single Seater | Written by:

Southland’s finest ready for the next step

September 19, 2019
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It’s an exciting time to be Brendon Leitch. There’s a bit of a sense that the stars are aligning for…
Category: Featured, Single Seater | Written by:

Female racers add cachet to Castrol TRS grid

August 26, 2019
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For me, the Toyota Racing Series through the years has been a rich vein of excellent back stories. The ones…
Category: Rally | Written by:

Chang father and son score historic Offroad Racing win

August 20, 2019
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Christchurch father-son pairing Bryan and Owen Chang (pictured) have dominated the unlimited classes and finished 1-2 overall at the 2019…