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The Caterham Academy, Britain's most successful route into motorsport for would-be track stars, is to have a new title sponsor in 2008 - The Daily Telegraph. The tie-in will see one of the newspaper's reporters, Erin Baker, contesting the series.

Like the other 56 competitors on the Academy grid, 29-year-old Erin is a complete motorsporting novice. She and her rivals will be guided through the racing licence 'ARDS test' and on to the track at the wheel of a road-legal 1.6-litre Caterham Roadsport for three speed events and five races.

Erin is looking forward to her racing baptism: "After nearly four years on the Motoring Desk at The Daily Telegraph, it's time I got my race licence and some circuit experience under my belt, all the better to understand how a car handles and what makes racing drivers tick. The Caterham Academy offers race novices like me a fantastic opportunity to actually get on and do it, rather than endlessly procrastinating. The academy really holds your hand through the process, which is impressive.

"My hopes for the season? To stay alive, avoid injury, to come something other than last at least at one event, and to avoid causing expensive damage to anyone else's car. Anything else will be a bonus. I just hope the big Telegraph T on my Alpinestars race suit and car doesn't make me the vast target on the track that I imagine it will."

She will be writing about her Academy exploits in the paper's Motoring section and online at http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/

Caterham's Director of Motorsport, Magnus Laird, believes Erin will find The Daily Telegraph Caterham Academy a steep learning curve but a rewarding experience: "Every year we turn 56 raw recruits into proper racing drivers, and many go on to enjoy long and successful careers in the sport. I'm sure Erin will enjoy herself and give her rivals, all but one of whom are men, a good run for their money."

Since it was launched - also with Daily Telegraph support - in 1995, the Academy has introduced in excess of 600 competitors to the sport, and this year's grid was fully booked nearly five months ahead of round one. Places on the 2009 grid are filling fast.

This season's competitors come from backgrounds as diverse as it is possible to find. Among those on the grid will be an airline pilot, a musician, a silicon chip sales manager, an NHS trust chief executive, an advertising agency director and an accountant.