SUE BAKER - A TRIBUTE

On the 14th of November, the family of Sue Baker issued the following statement:

It is with great sadness, that we share the news of Sue's passing. A doting mother to Ian & Hannah, a loving grandmother to Tom & George, and a wonderful mother-in-law to Lucy. She passed at home this morning with family around her. She was a talented & prolific writer, a charismatic TV presenter, and a passionate animal lover. She had a life and career that many would envy, but did it all with such grace that she was admired and respected by all who knew her. We know she meant so much to so many. Thank you to everyone who has supported her over the last few years as she battled with MND.

It is indeed very difficult to encompass the impact of Sue Baker on automotive journalism, be it as the motoring editor of The Observer, as a distinguished contributor to Saga, establishing the Motor Racing News Service, and as the vice-president, and the former chair of The Guild of Motoring Writers.

Baker’s articles were learned, witty, balanced – and unmissable every week. This Observer report from the 19th of December 1982 memorably described the challenges in on obtaining a driving licence in Japan: “Like a children’s game in motion on a grey carpet, white cars gyrated through a series of hazards, manoeuvring with disciplined precision at crawling space”. Nearly eight years later, she wrote of the new Lotus Carlton:

I suspect what really inflamed the critics is the fact that this high-speed car is a Vauxhall. How many senior policemen or safety lobbyists protested when the 201 mph Ferrari made its debut, for example? Yet they did when the Lotus Carlton’s 176 mph was revealed.

By contrast, her 1991 review of the Yugo Sana used such words as “the gearbox felt like stirring lumps of granite” but “Most other cars with similar interior room and equipment are at least £1,000 dearer, and often quite a bit more”.

Sue Baker brought this same insight to over 100 editions of Top Gear. She joined the programme’s fourth series in 1980, departing in 1991. This 27th of September 1983 TG, in which Baker tested on the Ford Orion - Top Gear, 1983 (Series 11, Episode 4) - YouTube – is a vivid reminder of the days when motoring journalists presented car reports as opposed to a light entertainment show.

And from a 2022 perspective, it is hard to convey just how unusual it was to see and read a female motoring expert during the 1980s. To quote the Guild of Motoring Writers, “Sue was a pioneer for women in automotive journalism” – and an inspiration to so many young writers.