24 replies to this topic

[G8R_Sackmasters]

I was curious if any of you could steer me towards some good books related to F1? Id be interested in anything--historical, biographical, or technical. Thanks.

[Louis Mr. F1]

title: "race never ends"
author: David Trem..... (i think)
a 1993 season with the Jordan Hart Team, it demonstrates the struggles of a small team trying to survive in F1 and how hard they had tried to score points (only 1 point in 1992)
lots of inside stories, it's one of the best read in my collection. also, i would suggest to stay away from those Christopher Hilton books, they are just mostly repeats of race summaries.

[6Addict]

> Books I liked:

Technology of the F1 Car (Nigel McNight)
Informative and covers all the basics of F1. It's a little bit outdated since I think it came out in 98, but it still worth checking out.

The Mechanic's Tale (Steve Matchett)
Cool story of Matchett's career as an F1 mechanic. Insider's look type of book. Easy, pleasant read.


> Books I didn't like:

The Death of Ayrton Senna (Richard Williams)
Should be entitled "Life of Ayrton Senna", but I guess it's not as catchy...
A little too mythical in his assesment of Senna...and he bashes Prost every 5 pages or so, which is a little annoying in my opinion.

Have any of you read these books? If so, do you share my feelings?

[berge]

"Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One"
Prof. Sid Watkins

[CeCe]

I too can recommend "Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One" and I think he has a new one coming out soon.

"Racers" was a great read following Damon Hill's championship season. Great stuff about the "circus" and Shumacher and Villeneuve as well. Though I'm sorry I can't remember the author's name and the book is on loan to a friend right now.

[Zawed]

Racers, by Richard Williams

Steve Matchetts books are good reads.

[nordschleife]

How many books could you carry out in a fire? Two, three?
Here are the titles that you must have. MUST. They are worth every penny.

Grand Prix de Monaco (Rainer Schlegelmilch and Hartmut Lehbrink)

Autocourse 50 Years of Grand Prix Motor Racing (Alan Henry)

Jenks: A Passion For Motor Sport (Denis Jenkinson)

[doohanOK]

Definitely:
Grand Prix de Monaco by Schlegelmilch
Nigel Mansell's autobiography
Senna books by Christopher Hilton
biography on Sir Frank Williams
Life on the Limit by Sid Watkins
Life in the Fast Lane by Eddie Irvine
Jacques Villeneuve's first season in F1
Jacques Villeneuve biography by Timothy Collings
Any of Damon Hill's books

I didn't like
Michael Schumacher: Quest for Redemption by James Allen. Allen's great for TV, but I didn't enjoy this book.

regards,
doohanOK.

[Williams]

"Gilles Villeneuve - The life of the Legendary Race Car Driver" by Gerry Donaldson :up::up: Alltime favourite by far. If you don't have this book, get it !

"Racers" by Richard Williams: Second alltime favourite :up::up: The only thing missing is an index.

"Michael Schumacher: the Quest for Redemption" by James Allen. :up: (I really enjoyed this book)

"Formula One: the Busines of Winning" by Russell Hotten: If you are a serious F1 fan YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK.

"The Death of Ayrton Senna" by Richard Williams: :up: Definitive story of the death of Ayrton Senna and a good summary of his career as well. Like his other book on this list, no index.

"Jim Clark - The Legend Lives On" by Graham Gauld: :up: My opinion of this book is probably coloured by my fandom for Jim Clark, and I highly recommend it to any Clark fan. It's the only Jim Clark biography I was able to locate in my local autobook store, and a good account of the life, career and death of Jim Clark. If anyone knows of another please let me know (Ludvigsen probably has one).

"Formula One Uncovered" by Derick Allsop :up: GET THIS ONE if you would like a good view of the inside story of an F1 season. Covers 1998 season.

"Life on the Limit" by Sid Watkins :up: Some nice inside stuff on his friendship with Senna and some neat stuff about Gilles Vileneuve.

"James Hunt" by Gerry Donaldson: Great book, definitive Donaldson.

"Frank Williams" by Maurice Hamilton

"McLaren" by Alan Henry: a perfect summation of the history of McLaren, great reference.

"Remembering Aryton Senna" by Alan Henry: again a great reference, written shortly after May 1 1994. Nicely sums up the events and meaning of the career of Ayrton Senna.

"Chasing the Title" by Nigel Roebuck: Great anecdotes from 50 years of F1 in the inimitable Roebuck style. Includes the full text and impressions of the famous 1991 Senna rant about his 1989 Prost collision.

"Principles of Race Driving" by Ayrton Senna: Interesting read, I think it should be on the shelf of every F1 fan if only to understand the job of an F1 driver from the viewpoint of the best, though I assume it was ghost-written.

"The Mechanic's Tale" by Steve Matchett: Good read, though I wish he wasn't so focussed on his own writing career. Almost worth buying just for the great pic on the front cover. I have "Life in the Fast Lane" on order.

"My Autobiography" by Nigel Mansell: good read and quite revealing but his ego is very evident. The Nigel-praising quotes at the end of each chapter are quite annoying.

"Ayrton Senna as time goes by" by Christopher Hilton: don't care for his style but some good anecdotes. I hate the fact that the book doesn't ahve proper chapter titles, so you don't know where to look for anything but at least it has an index.

"Life in the Fast Lane" by Eddie Irvine: a good read, though a bit self-serving.

"Jacques Villeneuve's first season in F1" Just a big picture book, too politically correct, not very revealing.

"Teamwork" by Gerald Donaldson (McLaren team): reads like a marketing pamplet for McLaren. I love Donaldson's work and actually had him sign this one, but I didn't enjoy the read at all.

[G8R_Sackmasters]

Thanks. Those should keep me busy for a while.

[Rene]

Anything by Donaldson

[Darren Galpin]

For a more in depth look at the cars try A History of the Grand Prix Car 1966-1991 by Doug Nye, published by Autocourse. It details the cars in depth with interesting anecdotes along the way.

[clickhappy]

Ayrton Senna : The Hard Edge of Genius

[Peeko]

"Gilles Villeneuve - The life of the Legendary Race Car Driver" by Gerry Donaldson Alltime favourite by far. If you don't have this book, get it !

Yep, I'll second that. I've read that book about 7-8 times.

[911]

1) Hard edge of Genius
2) Meine Story (Lauda)
3) Gilles Villenueve - Donaldson
4) Flying on the Ground - Fittipaldi

[Williams]

There's a book by Nikki Lauda called "To Hell and Back" in Britain, published under a different name in North America. If anyone knows the N.A. name I'd appreciate it.

[Mat]

And a new title, which came out early this year:

The Great Encyclopedia of Formula One- 1950- 2000
Fantastic compilation on everything. VERY very pricey, but well worth it. Two volumes, lovely bound, but with shitty slip.

It contains, info on all drivers, all circuits ever used, included all the modifications over the years. Looks at every team in detail, with colour plates of every car from every year, as well as chassis details for every race.

qual times, race results, lap charts. retirement details, injury details and heaps more on EVERY race from 1950 until the end of 2000.

[tifoso]

This thread reminded me of my F1 book buying experience. I normally buy my books from Amazon.com. The parcel delivery truck stops by our house at least 2 times a week, delivering my book orders. Surprisingly enough, Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk have different inventories. But while the inventories are different, all my account information was still available on the UK site -- making ordering so easy. So I buy my F1 books through Amazon.co.uk. When the boxes marked Amazon.co.uk started coming, the delivery man asked me if I bought out Amazon.com. My husband was thrilled.

[911]

Originally posted by Williams
There's a book by Nikki Lauda called "To Hell and Back" in Britain, published under a different name in North America. If anyone knows the N.A. name I'd appreciate it.

Williams,

I've always heard about "To hell and back" but I've never seen it here in the States. Could that possibly be "Meine Story?"

911

[ffiloseta]

I recommend you read a short sci fi story about F1 called "The ultimate racer" by Gary Wright (1964). The resemblance is uncanny ! He described the Ferrari as having an 815 bhp V-10, and capable to reach 350 Kmh !!! In 1964 !!!

[CeCe]

I'm loving this thread! I thought Russell Hotten's "Winning: The Business of Formula One" was super-repetitive (just needed an editor to slash the thing up a bit), but wow, really, really, interesting.

For coffee table books, "Ferrari 1947-1997: The Official Book" is mighty luxe, and "Grand Prix: Fascination Formula One" by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch is very cool. Page after page of amazing photos in series of drivers, cars, teams, bits of cars, tires, etc. from 1969–1993.

For the kids, "The Formula One Pack" by Ron van der Meer and Adam Cooper would be a lot of fun. It's a pop-up book and has a cd of engine sounds (it's from 1999).

The one sorta freaky fan thing that I have done: I once sent a driver (who shall remain nameless) a photo book I designed (it's my job) on the subject of hot rods (hey, I thought he might like it) and I got a letter back from his manager's WIFE!

[Williams]

Originally posted by clickhappy
Ayrton Senna : The Hard Edge of Genius

Clickhappy I haven't read that book, but it's author Christopher Hilton refers to that book a lot in his later Senna book "As Time Goes By". He publishes pages of the original draft of "Hard Edge" which were marked up with hand-written comments by Senna himself, which revealed a lot of Senna's viewpoint on quite a few matters. I found it very surprising, as was Hilton, I'm sure, that a busy man like Senna would read every page of the draft and was willing to spend the time to give his thoughts on it.

[clickhappy]

get yourself a copy, if you can. It reveals alot about the man. Remember, in the late-80's, at the height of his dominance, he was not a fan favorite. He was the evil empire. The section about his experience in qualifying at Monaco, where he kept going faster and faster, is worth the price of admission.

Originally posted by Williams


Clickhappy I haven't read that book, but it's author Christopher Hilton refers to that book a lot in his later Senna book "As Time Goes By". He publishes pages of the original draft of "Hard Edge" which were marked up with hand-written comments by Senna himself, which revealed a lot of Senna's viewpoint on quite a few matters. I found it very surprising, as was Hilton, I'm sure, that a busy man like Senna would read every page of the draft and was willing to spend the time to give his thoughts on it.

[911]

clickhappy,

Also, when that book came out (Hard Edge of Genius) there wasn't a lot published on Senna. If I'm not mistaken, that's one of the first books written on Senna. There was so much mystique about him back in 1989, that I found the book fascinating.

911

[clickhappy]

I think it was the first 'real' book about him. It went a long way to explaining a very complex individual. The amount of training he did, the mental preparation, basically his dedication.