A graduate of the Ulster University, Paul Robinson spent most of his working life in a variety of project management roles in different Northern Ireland Civil Service departments. He retired five years ago. Originally from Dunmurry, he lives in east Belfast with his wife Jacqui and a cat called Boots. They have two grown up children living in England.
His interests include classic cars, reading (fact and fiction), Northern Ireland motorsport history (mainly up to the end of 1950s) and going to the cinema. He has competed in motor hill climbs all over the UK in Triumph sports cars he restored himself and several times at the Hill Climb held in the grounds of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra. He has also competed in the Brighton National Speed Trials and once in a drag race organised by Drag Race Ireland.
He is a member of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain and the British Society of Sports History. He has published four books with support from the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust. The M.S.M.T. was founded in memory of the motoring historian and author Michael C. Sedgwick (1926-1983) to encourage the publication of new motoring research and the recording of Road Transport History .
Paul is currently working on several more books covering aspects of motoring history in Northern Ireland up until 1955.
My books are about motor sport in Northern Ireland in the first half of the 20th century.
It was a time of enormous wealth , especially around Belfast, and the emergence of the motor car as both a means of transport and for use in competition, for example reliability trials, hill climbs and road races.
In 1922 Northern Ireland became the only part of the United Kingdom where roads could be closed for motorsport. In 1925 the Ulster Automobile Club was formed to promote motorsport.
My books focus on events not previously published and include the Edwardian Cultra Hill Climbs, sand racing at Magilligan Strand and the road races at Donaghadee and Bangor.
My latest book - Craigantlet Hill Climb 1925 to 1947 - is now available.