Motoring books

[anonymous-user]

Alright chaps, holiday time next week and I'm after a really great car related book to get stuck into. Can anyone recommend anything they've read? I'm not really interested in fiction, something factual please, or a biography/autobiography, or a road trip diary (i.e. long way round/down) etc.

Only one rule, no Clarkson

ETA: And no Haynes manuals either

Edited by MSTRBKR on Wednesday 28th July 14:36

[theaxe]

'The Driver' by Alexander Roy
'On The Road' by Peter Schindler

[CraigyMc]

An unfair Advantage, Mark Donohue et al.

[10JH]

Enzo Ferrari:A Life is pretty good.

[CraigyMc]

10JH said:

Enzo Ferrari:A Life is pretty good.

Is that like Enzo Ferrari : La Dolce Vita? (Should probably be La bella Vitesse)

[laam999]

I enjoyed The Long Way Down but people I know didn't

[williamp]

Aston Martin V8 by William Presland

I'll even sign a copy if you buy one!

[anonymous-user]

Thanks guys.

The Driver looks like an interesting read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Driver-True-Adventures-Und...

Looking into the others...

ETA: Anyone read this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Toolbox-Michael-Oliv...

Edited by MSTRBKR on Wednesday 28th July 15:26

[anonymous-user]

williamp said:

Aston Martin V8 by William Presland

I'll even sign a copy if you buy one!

Shameless plug

It has good reviews on Amazon, well done. Not sure I'm that interested in it though and £19!

[Truckosaurus]

theaxe said:

'The Driver' by Alexander Roy

I found this very lightweight and I think Roy talks up a little too much the skills/talents needed for Gumball type events.

Brock Yates' history of the original Cannonball events is much better.

CraigyMc said:

An unfair Advantage, Mark Donohue et al.

A Very Good Book.

[Chris71]

laam999 said:

I enjoyed The Long Way Down but people I know didn't

Haven't read that one yet, but I thought The Long Way Round was good. Much like the series, the naration is nothing special, but the journey itself is pretty epic. Got the DVD too.

[RobM77]

"The Last Road Race" by Richard Williams is about the Pescara Grand Prix of 1957, which was one of the last great GPs held on dusty public roads. It gives the story of the race and of the drivers who competed in it. A very interesting read, although quite a short book.

"Flat out Flat Broke" by Perry Mcarthy is the hilarious and engaging biography of the first "Stig" from Top Gear, who was a hard working racing driver struggling to make it up throught he formulae to get his first break into Formula One. A great read.

"Winning is not Enough" by Jackie Stewart is a more serious read, but is the fascinating life story of Jackie Stewart, who seems to have fitted enough into his life to fill about four people's lifes. Very inspirational and interesting too

[sv]

"Jenks - A Passion for Motorsport"

"Colin Chapman - Wayward Genius"

"Drive On! A Social History of the Motor Car" by LJK Setright

"The Last Road Race" (as previously mentioned)

[anonymous-user]

I actually have 'Flat out flat broke' buried in my cupboard, never read it. I'll read a bit now and see if it's worth continuing.

[Deerfoot]

RobM77 said:

"Flat out Flat Broke" by Perry Mcarthy

+1

I was going to say `The Best of Russell Bulgin` but I just looked on Amazon and a new one is £200! Even the used one they have is £125.

I must dig mine out of the attic.

[Ephraim]

The Porsche high performance driving handbook by Vic Elford. The techniques in it are applicable to loads of other makes of car too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Porsche-High-performance-D...

[Tango13]

"The Amazing Summer of '55" by Eoin Young.

[rallycross]

Even though its old, I enjoyed Innes Irelands book All Arms and Elbows lots of funny tales of F1 drivers having a laugh in between races. Along the way he gets arrested, chased, chastised etc, all very amusing in a way you wont ever see again.


Imagine that from todays corporate drivers?

[dome]

Deerfoot said:

I was going to say `The Best of Russell Bulgin` but I just looked on Amazon and a new one is £200! Even the used one they have is £125.

I must dig mine out of the attic.

Yep, i've still got my copy too. Won't be selling that in a while. Funnily enough, it mentions Donohue's book in it, in a fantastic article about Playstations. Bulgin was a legend

Edited by dome on Wednesday 28th July 21:59

[Mr Dave]

Truckosaurus said:

theaxe said:

'The Driver' by Alexander Roy

I found this very lightweight and I think Roy talks up a little too much the skills/talents needed for Gumball type events.

Brock Yates' history of the original Cannonball events is much better.

I agree Alex roy talks some balls in that book, bigging himself so much yet its still a good read, I very much enjoyed it.

And Yates' "Canonball" book goes with it very well, its good to contrast the then and now in the two books.

Would recommend both.