Stephen Corby started his career wanting to be a political journalist in Canberra. He ended up riding motorcycles to car launches, reading Jeremy Clarkson in London, editing Top Gear Magazine in Australia, and driving a Ferrari F80 that he says is the greatest car ever made. The motoring journalism thing happened by accident and he has never looked back.
His weekly column in the Weekend Australian Magazine is the kind of car writing that does not take itself too seriously — opinionated, funny, occasionally irreverent. He credits Clarkson with showing him how far you could push that style and says he went all the way with it once he understood what was possible.
The Formula 1 thread runs through the whole conversation. His stepfather lost his mind over Alan Jones in 1980. The first grand prix he ever covered was Adelaide 1994 — Schumacher and Damon Hill, international journalists running around the press room, a 25-year-old Corby filing his first Formula 1 race report and not entirely sure what he was doing. He has been a fan ever since.
There are good stories throughout. Taking an Audi R8 up Big Red, the world’s largest sand dune, and sending it back to Audi in pieces. Guenther Steiner walking through the paddock with Fernando Alonso and receiving louder cheers. Dyeing his hair blonde after betting on Jacques Villeneuve to win the 1997 world championship, then watching Villeneuve and Schumacher collide at Jerez to settle it, Clarkson on stage with a microphone as the room went wild.
He also mentions a book is coming, which will contain rather more stories than one podcast episode can hold.