Born in Surbiton, Surrey, Dron made his competitive debut in May 1968, racing a Titan Mk4 in Formula Ford — contesting 45 events in that first season and finishing eighth in the Les Leston series. He was quick enough to race wheel-to-wheel with James Hunt; the two became firm friends despite an incident at Oulton Park in which they tangled while fighting for the lead and Hunt ended up in the nearby lake. Dron finished third in the Les Leston Championship in 1969 but could not continue when money ran out.
During the enforced pause from racing he won the Guild of Motoring Writers' Sir William Lyons Scholarship as the most promising newcomer to motoring journalism under the age of 23. He joined Motor magazine's road test team in 1971, turning down the sports editor role because he believed sponsorship was in place to resume racing — the deal fell through, and Mike Doodson took the post instead. Two Ford dealers subsequently backed him in the Escort Mexico series, and strong results there led to the opportunity to drive the Triumph Dolomite Sprint for Ralph Broad at Broadspeed.
Dron's most celebrated domestic racing chapter came in the British Saloon Car Championship. Driving for Team Broadspeed Castrol in 1974, he finished third in Class B. That year he also shared a Triumph Dolomite Sprint with Andy Rouse at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, finishing fifth overall, and won the Guild of Motoring Writers' Rootes Gold Cup. Political manoeuvring within the Broadspeed squad cost him his seat for the following season.
In 1975 he competed for Penthouse Racing in an Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior. A 1976 Formula 3 campaign with Unipart — the British Leyland parts offshoot — promised much but delivered little; the Dolomite-derived engine was chronically underpowered and he rarely reached the top ten, while the programme also frustrated Nigel Mansell and Tiff Needell.
Back with Broadspeed and the factory British Leyland Triumph Dolomite Sprint in 1977, Dron had his outstanding season. He won seven of the twelve races outright, won the 2.3-litre class on ten occasions, and delivered a dominant victory in the British Grand Prix support race against a field of more powerful Capris. He lost the championship by one point to a car in a different class. The 1978 season brought Class C titles in consecutive years, with Dron finishing third overall as the Capris had found more pace. Across his BSCC appearances he accumulated six outright wins, nine pole positions in class, and twelve fastest laps in class.
From the late 1970s into the early 1980s, Dron's racing life was closely linked with Porsche. He sold Porsches for dealer Gordon Ramsay and won the 1978 Porsche 924 Challenge outright. He raced at Le Mans four times. In 1980, sharing a Porsche 924 GTR with Andy Rouse, he finished twelfth overall, fifth in class, and second in the Index of Energy Efficiency. A full 1981 season with Richard Cleare's team in the World Championship of Makes produced fifth overall and first in the IMSA GTO class at the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres, and thirteenth overall with a Group 4 class victory at Le Mans, shared with Cleare and Richard Jones. In 1982, again with Cleare in a Porsche 934, Dron took a class win at Le Mans and finished thirteenth overall. The Guild of Motoring Writers awarded him the Rootes Gold Cup a second time for the 1982 campaign; he would win it again in 1990. In 1983 he drove the Kremer CK5 Group C car at Brands Hatch. He also shared a Porsche 928S with Andy Rouse, Win Percy, and Phil Dowsett in the Willhire 24 Hours at Snetterton, the team winning outright.
In later years Dron competed extensively in historic events in a remarkable range of machinery. Mercedes-Benz entrusted him with demonstrating their pre-war W125 Grand Prix car at Donington Park. He drove the 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1 and the 1960 Ferrari 246S Dino, winning the Sussex Trophy at the Goodwood Revival in the Dino for three consecutive years. On the Nürburgring Nordschleife, a circuit he knew from multiple modern 24-hour outings, he won the 1996 Eifel Klassik in a 1963 Ferrari 330LMB — starting from pole position in a field of 180 cars. He retired from race driving in 2011.
Running in parallel with his driving, Dron worked for most of his adult life in the motoring press. He was road tester and later sports editor at Motor during his professional racing years. He edited Thoroughbred & Classic Cars for nine years during the 1980s and early 1990s, later writing a regular column for Octane magazine and contributing to the Daily Telegraph. His books include Porsche: Engineering for Excellence (2008), Alan Mann – A Life of Chance (2012, co-written with Alan Mann), and a co-authored volume on the complete development history of the Porsche 911 with Paul Frère (2013). He won the Rootes Gold Cup three times — in 1974, 1982, and 1990.
Dron died on 16 November 2021 in Cambridge, aged 75, after a prolonged pulmonary illness. He was survived by his partner Charis, his children Amy, Will, and Katy, and his brother Peter, also a motoring journalist. Derek Bell, five-time Le Mans winner, described him as "a superb journalist and a delightful human being." In 2022 his son Will received a tribute at the Silverstone Classic in his memory.