Ollie Barstow

Ollie Barstow's picture

Ollie Barstow

Journalist

To say I am a veteran of Crash Media Group, would be something of an understatement. 

Indeed, I have spent almost half of my life with the company in variety of different capacities and roles, combining an exuberant passion for motorsport from a young age - sparked by receiving the 1995 BTCC Season Review VHS as a gift and obsessively watching it on repeat - with my enthusiasm for journalism, the written word and the buzz of breaking news first.

It took a chance meeting with an F3 driver’s press officer at the age of 17 to crack open the door at Crash.net, one that ultimately led to being offered work experience at the Silverstone round of the 2005 World Touring Car Championship.

Proceeding to dovetail my Journalism degree studies at university with helping out on the weekends, I began a full-time role with Crash.net in 2008 upon graduating covering the WorldSBK and BSB Championships. 

Since then I have amassed 15 years on the front-line representing CMG - both Crash.net and Visordown.com - as a journalist and editor across two-wheels and four-wheels covering motorsport series’ as diverse as F1, MotoGP, WorldSBK, BSB, Isle of Man TT, Le Mans, BTCC and more right in the heart of the paddock, as well established myself as a respected figure within the motorcycle industry specialising in breaking, sporting and industry news and features.

Unusually for this industry, my experience, expertise and reputation traverses both car and motorcycle racing disciplines at the highest level, which in turn has afforded me the opportunity interview and feature a diverse alumni of the sport’s highest-profile figures including Lewis Hamilton, Marc Marquez, Max Verstappen and Jonathan Rea.

From the nervous early days covering WorldSBK - a series I had never previously followed - in 2008, I’ve gone on to become renowned Superbike journalist, hold the hallowed F1 ‘red badge’ season pass, played a pivotal role in Crash.net and Visordown’s emergence as industry-revered, internationally reputed publications and had the pleasure of expressing my opinionated opinions about my passion to a wider audience.

It is also a pleasure to represent the LGBTQ+ community as an out and proud gay man in a motorsport industry that has always been an open and tolerant platform upon which to progress my career.

Fifteen years is a long time but no two working days have ever been the same…

Articles by Ollie Barstow
Where do the new Honda CB750 Hornet and Suzuki GSX-8S feature in our Top 10 best middleweight naked motorcycles of 2023 ranking?
First came the Aprilia RS 660, then the Yamaha R7, but now the middleweight sports revival is in full swing, and the class is thriving once again
Can new entries from the Suzuki V-Strom 800 DE and Honda XL750 Transalp top our Top 10 Mid-size Adventure Motorcycles of 2023 [up to 1000cc]?
Going naked is more fun, as these powerful, un-faired lunatics prove. But which is best? Let Visordown guide you
When did the choice of quality motorcycles in the 125 class become so good? From sports to nakeds to minis to even ADV bikes, there's a bike for everyone, but which is best? 
The ‘junior’ US V-twin Harley-Davidson Sportster cruiser dates back to 1957, was hugely popular from 1988-2020, and from 2021 has been totally redesigned for a new era.
Powerful, exhilarating, sophisticated... going naked has never been more excessive - but which is the very Best Hypernaked to go wild on?
Cheese, wine, Troy Bayliss... some things just get better over time - not least the value of these once ground-breaking, now classic motorcycles
The big sportbike game has come far over the decades, but which in our Top 10 BEST Sportbikes of 2023 heads straight to the top of the podium?
What we're going to do is take you back, right back... to the 1990s where the fashion was vivid, the music powerful and the motorcycles bangin'  
Singing the praises of the unsung, bigging up the underrated and giving top exposure to the underdogs... these are Visordown's ultimate Cult Motorcycles
The fast-growing EV scooter segment is booming... but which reigns supreme in our Top 10 BEST Electric Scooters of 2023 ranking?
Motorcycle history is riddled with as many flops as there are 'big ones' but what if they could have their time again in the modern era...?
We've all experienced moments of sheer madness... but then not all of us are high-profile racers competing in MotoGP and WorldSBK et al. 
You don't need to buy big to go big when it comes to Sports Tourers... as our Top 10 Best Mid-Size Sports Tourers of 2023 show
Variety may be the spice of life, as they say, but this doesn't always apply to motorcycling as these oft forgotten motorcycles testify to
Scooters may be small, but sometimes bigger is just better... but which of these biggest super-sized 'Maxi-Scooter' is best of all?
All publicity is good publicity someone once said... which is just as well with some of these curious celebrity motorcycle endorsements!
Chinese models may not have received the most welcoming reputation in Europe... but the times, they are a changing, as these 10 Chinese motorcycles prove
The future is bright, the future is... wacky, weird and wonderful, according to these Concept Motorcycles that deserved the future they envisioned.
The Triumph Daytona, Honda CBR600RR, KTM RC8... sportsbikes we have loved and lost over the years. But could we be about to see a revival of the formula?
What does it take for an advert to stand out and make us sit up and take notice? We've compiled these 10+1 Motorcycle Adverts that either made us laugh, groan or feel the feels.
These Chinese copycat motorcycle want so badly to be something they aren't... some are squintingly convincing, others just insulting.
Can the Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello and Energica Experia make an impression in Visordown's Top 10 BEST Big Sports Tourers & GTs of 2023 rundown?
If sportsbikes are going out of fashion, then the 'sporty nakeds' are very much in vogue right now... but which are the best sub-1000cc options right now?