F1 Books You've Read/Reading...

[Salamura]

Haynes (yes, the same Haynes) do some really good books devoted to F1, which go into quite a lot of detail of the technical aspects of a given car (as you would expect), but also the history, the drivers, and the sport as a whole at the particular season(s) when the car was competing. The book on Williams FW14B was very good, but the one on the Ferrari 312T was by far the best of the series. Very well written, a lot of stories from the 1975-1980 seasons, and a detailed account of what was going on at Ferrari during the Lauda years.

[rallycross]

Eric Mc said:

On the subject of Innes Ireland, his book (which also covers multiple categories) "All Arms and Elbows" is a great read.

Already got that one in on page one, a great book.

rallycross said:

If you like the older history I recommend Innes Ireland book All Arms and Elbows - its got some hilarious tales of what they used to get up to!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Arms-Elbows-Innes-Ire...

[Europa1]

Another interesting read is Autodrome: The Lost Race Circuits of Europe.

[anonymous-user]

I've got so many Motorsport related books its silly, i should catalogue them really.

The best people related book i own is by John Wyer, called "The Certain Sound", it covers John's very interesting and successful career in Motorsport (think Aston DBR1, Gulf GT40, Gulf 917 etc). Not an easy book to find without paying a fortune, but its well worth it for anyone into Motorsport.

I have just bought the book by Howden Ganley "the road to Monaco" which looks interesting, Howden is a super bloke so it should be a great read.

[paua]

jsf said:

I've got so many Motorsport related books its silly, i should catalogue them really.

The best people related book i own is by John Wyer, called "The Certain Sound", it covers John's very interesting and successful career in Motorsport (think Aston DBR1, Gulf GT40, Gulf 917 etc). Not an easy book to find without paying a fortune, but its well worth it for anyone into Motorsport.

I have just bought the book by Howden Ganley "the road to Monaco" which looks interesting, Howden is a super bloke so it should be a great read.

Where did HG finish in "that" race, where the finishing order was all confused?

[anonymous-user]

paua said:

Where did HG finish in "that" race, where the finishing order was all confused?

You'll have to be a bit less cryptic i'm afraid.

[paua]

Can't remember which race, was early '70's. There was some sort of Feck up with timing & lots of position changes ( there was overtaking in the "good ol' days). Seems to have been uncertainty about who finished where. Howden was in the mix. Bound to be something in the book.
Cheers.

[paua]

Found this: www.thestar.com/autos/2017/09/23/howden-ganley-tel...

Bloody good read - Cheers, David

[anonymous-user]

paua said:

Found this: www.thestar.com/autos/2017/09/23/howden-ganley-tel...

Bloody good read - Cheers, David

Yep, that's Howden all right, he is a great character. I've met him a couple of times when working on the race cars, lovely bloke.

[coppice]

paua said:

Can't remember which race, was early '70's. There was some sort of Feck up with timing & lots of position changes ( there was overtaking in the "good ol' days). Seems to have been uncertainty about who finished where. Howden was in the mix. Bound to be something in the book.
Cheers.

Canadian Grand Prix 1973; won by Peter Revson . Still debate about who won as lap charts blew up because of changing conditions and pit stops (which were very unusual in '73) , Ganley's Iso Marlboro, officially, was sixth.

I interviewed HG this last summer for a book I am writing -he is a delightful man and a great interviewee .

[Elderly]

The Art of War - Five Years in Formula One.

A Graphic Novel by Adam Parr.

[DanielSan]

Just finished reading Jenson's autobiography. As good a read as you'd expect and nice to see he hasn't held back when it's come to opinons on certain things.

Very loosely F1 based, in that he drove in F1 a couple of times but I'd highly recommend Tiff Needell's autobiography also.

[MartG]

One which hasn't been mentioned so far - Flying on the ground by Emerson Fittipaldi - covers his career prior to his departure to Indycars

[Mr Tidy]

Fascinating thread - it looks like I've got some reading to do!

30 or so years ago I borrowed "Mon Ami Mate" by Chris Nixon about Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins and it was great! (But it isn't cheap if you want to buy it).

I've only read one by Sid Watkins and one by Nigel Mansell since - the former was a much better read IMO!

[Halmyre]

coppice said:

paua said:

Can't remember which race, was early '70's. There was some sort of Feck up with timing & lots of position changes ( there was overtaking in the "good ol' days). Seems to have been uncertainty about who finished where. Howden was in the mix. Bound to be something in the book.
Cheers.

Canadian Grand Prix 1973; won by Peter Revson . Still debate about who won as lap charts blew up because of changing conditions and pit stops (which were very unusual in '73) , Ganley's Iso Marlboro, officially, was sixth.

I interviewed HG this last summer for a book I am writing -he is a delightful man and a great interviewee .

There was also a problem with the safety car (that Grand Prix was the first time it was used) - it wasn't deployed correctly and picked up Ganley's car instead of the leader (which was possibly Fittipaldi at that point).

[Eric Mc]

My favourite and one I bought when it first came out in 1983 - lovely paintings and thoughtful comments -

[Dr Z]

Eric Mc said:

My favourite and one I bought when it first came out in 1983 - lovely paintings and thoughtful comments -

I have this:



Lovely portraits.

[steggie]

77racing said:

I thought Max Mosley book was excellent, just reading Formula One by Bob Judd so far so good

I'll second this about Max Mosley's autobiography; got it as a birthday present, rather randomly as I don't read a huge number of biographies, nor had I shown any interest in his but really enjoying it so far, good insight into what was happening behind the scenes in creating what we now know as F1. May have to have a look at a a few more from this thread (probably won't go down well, the wife already says I have too many books!)

[coppice]

It was an interesting read even if it did not endear him to me. A man who is easier to admire (for some things he achieved )than to like. If his name hadn't been so toxic as to preclude the career in politics he craved I wonder how much Ecclestone's iron grip would have been slackened without Max at his side?

Silver tongued Max still owed Chris Amon 50k for the 1970 season to the day Amon died .

[williamp]

If you expand to general motor racing, then Stand on It: A Novel by Stroker Ace is worth a look. Yes there are a few made up strories, but also some true ones from moonshine running and the early days of nascar. Ignore the Burt reynolds film though.

I like the Ross Brawn book, which details strategy in F1.
Sid Watkins' book is good.
Racing and all that, with the young lad Moss and Mike "the Bike" Hailwood is good fun

If you can find it (seriously: check local libraries) Full Throttle by Tim Birkin.