Ian Norris - Editor - The Car Connection

A while back, Ian felt a pang of sadness in September 1998 when he realized he was celebrating his fortieth anniversary in the car business. Back in 1958 he joined Austin as an apprentice, and at the end of his training went into the company's PR department. It was during the great days of the Mini, and London was swinging. It was fun, but in 1967 Norris moved to Dunlop, working on the company's motor sport PR program. Dunlop was Jackie Stewart's main sponsor in F1, provided Porsche's sports car tires and rallied with Ford and BMC - so that was kind of fun too. After a year and a half with Lucas in the early Seventies came a move into Europe with Champion Plugs, based in Brussels. Again there was a strong motorsport flavor, which strengthened when Norris went freelance in 1978. It was the start of five years in GP bike racing, with Kenny Roberts and later Eddie Lawson, doing PR and reporting for UPI and Cycle Weekly in the US. In 1984, Jaguar brought him back to England to look after their PR in Europe. Within a year, the company was back in racing, so he was drafted in to cover PR for the team before moving to New Jersey as part of Jaguar's PR team in the US. In 1990, Jaguar Inc decided to out-source PR, so Ian went back to freelancing and Britain. Today, Norris lives in Royal Leamington Spa, the acknowledged Hub of the Universe, is a Contributing Editor to Road & Track, Editor in Chief of Automobile Year, the world's leading automotive annual, and does scripts and voice-overs for automotive videos. He is available for freelance commissions, speaking engagements and bookstore openings.

Articles

2003 Geneva Show, Part I

TCC's Auto Show Index by TCC Team (2/23/2003)Our coverage of the world's major auto shows, year to year. 2003 Geneva Motor Show Index by TCC Team (3/3/2003)All the best from the Swiss car event of the year. Renault’s Mégane Takes Scenic Route When Renault launched the Scenic version of its...Read More»

03/04/2003 Ian Norris comment now!

2003 Geneva Show Preview

Related Articles:TCC's Auto Show Index by TCC Team (2/23/2003)Our coverage of the world's major auto shows, year to year.73rd International Geneva Motor Show With the cold and snow of Detroit behind them, the top brass of the world’s automobile industry are preparing for a trip to more pleasant...Read More»

02/23/2003 Ian Norris comment now!

2002 Birmingham: Microbrands Rule!

TCC's Auto Show Index by TCC Team (10/21/2002) By European standards, Britain is a big-league car producer. It’s on track to be the second-largest car market in the region, behind Germany, and in September British factories rolled out 144,498 units, 90,321 of them for export. Total production for...Read More»

10/27/2002 Ian Norris comment now!

2002 Paris Show Preview II

Related Articles:Index: 2002 Paris Auto Show (9/15/2002) With the opening of the Paris Auto Show just over a week away, more manufacturers are issuing details of cars that will make their debut at the most important international show of the second half of the year. Naturally, it’s a major...Read More»

09/15/2002 Ian Norris comment now!

2002 Geneva Show Preview, Part II

Index: 2002 Geneva Motor Show by TCC Team (3/5/2002) BMW CS1The very big news at the Geneva show will be on the BMW stand, where the company is showing its CS1 concept. A smooth little four-seat convertible, the CS1 is interesting because it’s said to be a direct pointer to the small...Read More»

03/04/2002 Ian Norris comment now!

2002 Geneva Show: Rinspeed Presto

Rinspeed, a Swiss company that enlivens the Geneva Auto Show each year with outlandish creations that have included a sports car with a driving seat that tilts like a motorcycle and some way-out modified Porsches, has done it again. The company’s latest, which will be unveiled when the show opens...Read More»

02/25/2002 Ian Norris comment now!

Nissan IDx Freeflow Concept - 2013 Tokyo Motor Show

2001 Frankfurt Show Preview II

2001 Frankfurt Auto Show Index As Europe’s biggest auto show, the biennial frenzy that is Frankfurt approaches, more manufacturers are lifting the veil on what they will be showing this year. Here’s our second preview of what’s going to be there. Porsche’s new Targa Porsche added a new word...Read More»

09/10/2001 Ian Norris comment now!

2001 Geneva Show, Part II

Sponsors of TCC's 2001Geneva Motor Show coverage SWISS SHOW. With no auto industry of its own and a very healthy market, Switzerland is an important target for manufacturers across the world. Even U.S. brands not known for their exporting activities sell to wealthy Swiss customers, who like variety...Read More»

02/28/2001 Ian Norris comment now!

2001 Geneva Show Preview

The first day of March sees the public opening of the Geneva Auto Show. It's the second big international show of the year, after Detroit, but because of its timing and its history, it's generally accepted as the way in which the world's auto industry welcomes the spring and the new selling season...Read More»

02/26/2001 Ian Norris comment now!

2016 Ferrari 488GTB Spider - 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show live photos

2001 Detroit Show: Euro Hangover

Sponsor of TCC's 2001 Detroit Show Coverage In 11 years the Detroit show has become one of the world’s leading auto shows, with a massive selection of new cars – more this year than ever before. But it has to be said that to those of us who visit shows as part of our job, Detroit can be a pain...Read More»

01/14/2001 Ian Norris comment now!