Welcome to 2018 and may it be full of laughter and frivolity. I have been covering motorsport news for over 12 years for The Herald and its sister publications and now it's time for a change.
I still remember the day sports editor Chris Allen asked me to take over from Bob Pearce and cover motorsport.
Back then in the general media motorsport coverage was very thin on the ground and I made it a mission to get as many stories as possible covered. It helped hugely that there were a number of very talented youngsters about to make their mark on the motor racing landscape.
Now we even have Brendon Hartley as our first full time Formula One driver in 30-plus years, so I reckon motorsport news coverage is about to get even better. The Herald, and the rest of NZME's stable of news outlets, have always made space and time to cover motorsport and there are now a number of talented folk covering the sport.
Therefore, I'm now more than happy to leave the news side to others and move across to reflection and comment. I'm calling this new slot for me the 'Steering Column' in a random homage to the simple piece of a race car that is often overlooked, but is as vital in the scheme of things as is the engine.