A message from Top Gear’s editorial director Charlie Turner

As the world slowly begins to get back to work, we’ve taken time to restructure the Top Gear publishing team to ensure we emerge from lockdown stronger than when we entered.

I’m delighted to say that, from the September issue, Jack Rix will be promoted to editor of Top Gear magazine, while I will be looking to tackle new challenges across the brand as editorial director with an increased focus on commercial content creation.

Jack (BSME Deputy Editor of the year) is a supreme talent and I couldn’t think of anyone better to drive the magazine forward. While he will be focused on ensuring we continue to deliver the best car magazine in the world, Jack will continue to present his world-class walkaround videos and other video series as we look to expand our video offering.

Ollie Marriage will be stepping into the new role of head of car testing, leading all car reviews, test driving and evaluation across our platforms. This increased focus on our reviews content will see Top Gear continue to build on its delivery of the world’s best review content.  To complement Ollie Marriage’s new role, Ollie Kew (BSME digital writer of the year) will be tasked with managing the Top Gear Garage section and supporting Ollie Marriage in the road-test department.

Rowan Horncastle will continue to deliver stunning writing, imagery and unrivalled feature content, he will also be leading on the development and delivery of Top Gear Video Originals. Following the huge success of formats like walkarounds, drag races and motorshow runarounds, this autumn will see the launch of several new and original formats across our digital platforms.

Vijay Pattni will continue as editor of TopGear.com and will additionally turn his focus to keeping Top Gear at the sharp end of automotive news delivery. Vijay’s leadership of TopGear.com during lockdown has been world class and the numbers speak for themselves: in the period from March to July we delivered 40 per cent year on year traffic growth.

Esther Neve will continue to keep everyone in line and delivering on time, while ensuring we deliver the quality and accuracy our global audience expects, as she heads up production across all platforms in her role as brand managing editor. Stephen Dobie will be leading the commissioning of our hugely successful Retro section fuelling both his and our readers’ passion. Tom Harrison, of course, continues to be the lynchpin for car bookings and the deft management of paperwork that only he truly understands.

Finally, I’m delighted to say that our multiple award winning art team remains the same with Andy Franklin (PPA Art Director of the Year) continuing as creative director across all aspect of the content creation and delivery, and Elliott Webb (BSME Designer of the Year) continuing to deliver truly world-class design on every page.

So, big changes that will deliver big results for a brand at the top of its game.

I would like to personally take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support throughout my time as editor. It has been an absolute privilege to work with you all. Thank you again. I, and the whole Top Gear team, look forward to working with you all as we emerge from lockdown into what I sincerely believe will be an even brighter future for all of us.