After studying at Cambridge, de Forte trained as a lawyer but through his obsessive interest in motorcycles and motor cars he competed in hillclimbs and was increasingly drawn to journalism. By the outbreak of the Second World War he had established himself as a successful freelance motoring writer, working for a number of specialist automotive periodicals.

During the Second World War, de Forte served with distinction throughout Europe in the Army Transport Corps and he remained in uniform until mid 1946, achieving the rank of Major. He was also involved in military vehicle procurement and continued to write whenever hostilities allowed.

Subsequently de Forte travelled the world as a motoring journalist and he road and track tested cars for British motoring journals. Upon the death of his father in 1960, de Forte took over the management of the family farm in Bales but he continued to write profusely and travel extensively for another 30 years.

In the 1990s, after testing many thousands of cars and reporting on countless automotive events around the world, de Forte found himself drifting into retirement (as he said at the time: "The curious thing about being freelance, is you don't know you've retired until about a year after it happens!"). For a while he seemed resigned to his fate but he was persuaded to contribute to cult magazine Jalopy by its editor Rod Ker, an admirer and kindred spirit. The magazine closed in 1996 but de Forte's career had been kickstarted once more. Ker's contacts led to regular commissions from a number of motoring and motorcycling publications and his renewed outpourings have continued unabated to this day.

Despite his advancing years, there is no sign W de Forte is even beginning to take life more easily. A lifelong motorcyclist, de Forte still rides and tests two-wheelers whenever given the opportunity. His beloved Bentley, Beattie, can be seen scorching around the Shropshire lanes every summer with its owner at the wheel, and he travels extensively in his ancient Saab and Jaguar 'daily drivers' in pursuit of stories. He remains close to the peak of his powers and his famous byline appears as regularly as ever. Like his much missed near contemporary W F Deedes, he intends to work until he drops.

The great man has taken an active interest in Summer Wine Classics through his friendship with founders Richard and Loretta Skelton. He has known Ash House since childhood, when it was owned by family friends and still fulfilled its original function as a mill owner's residence. Now, by happy coincidence, W de Forte is once more a regular visitor to the house he stayed in as a boy and he has the use of the company's classic cars. Invariably accompanied by his small mongrel dog, Hector, W de Forte is often to be seen driving multifarious classic vehicles around the summer wine region when he is not at home in Bales, where he still lives. The farm is now run by his son, Warwick, also a motoring journalist, and his grandson, William.