It is that time of the year. The F1 season has come to an end and attention has now turned to Christmas presents, but what should you get your motorsport-mad friend/family member?
I have read some really interesting books over the last year, but there were a couple that I feel the need to recommend and think would make great gifts this Christmas.
As you may have guessed, these books are all related to the motorsport and motoring world. I have really enjoyed reading them and I thought it might be helpful to pass on my thoughts, although you can be the judge of that.
Nigel Mansell: Staying On Track
This isn’t the first book to document Nigel Mansell’s hugely successful, rollercoaster F1 career but it is the first that I have actually read. So, having only seen clips and highlights of races from the era that Mansell raced in, I didn’t actually know that much about him in the first places, other than the basic statistics and his main achievements.
Staying On Track is a fantastic insight into Mansell’s life, from his introduction to karting all the way through to his ventures after F1. There are many bumps along the road, and many broken bones too, but it is all told in a brilliant detail, I don’t know how someone can remember so much from decades ago. I can barely remember last week.
The book's pace slowed up a bit at times, but Mansell always seemed to turn things around with a particularly fascinating story. His time in F1 was a huge mix of highs and lows and despite the slightly braggy tone, it was great to learn more about his hugely eventful time in motorsport.
Max Mosley: The Autobiography
I started watching F1 religiously in 2004 but that didn’t necessarily mean I followed all the latest news away from the race tracks. It wasn’t until around 2010 that I started to keep an eye on fresh developments. I, of course, knew who Max Mosley was but I, for example, was unaware of the scandal he was caught up in back in 2008.
This is actually something that has come up several times during the first year and a half of my Journalism degree at the University of Westminster and I was really interested to read his new autobiography, to learn more about it and understand his side of the story.
I was also looking forward to learning about his time in F1. He was FIA president when I was getting into F1 and that is what I knew him for, but I had very little knowledge about his previous involvement in the sport. The book is another brilliant documentation of a wide-ranging, dramatic career in motorsport and also Mosley’s life before and after it. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes nature of F1.
Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey
This is undoubtedly my favourite book of the year. Mark Webber has always been a popular member of the F1 community and it was a shame to see him retire at the end of 2013. However, he has forged a great career for himself in the FIA WEC and won the title this year.
It was a shame the book was released when it was. Had he held off for a few more months, it could have also shared the journey to the championship in the endurance racing series. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it was a brilliant read, a fantastic and detailed timeline of his rise to F1 and beyond, and also some wonderfully personal moments and stories from his life away from the track.
Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey is written with the wit and humour Webber has become known for in his media interviews. Of course, he goes through the entire Multi 21 saga from his point of view, an honest insight into what really happened – you can only learn so much from articles in the press and short quotes from drivers and team bosses.
I read the book over the summer, while I was on holiday with my family. It was the perfect pool-side read and I found myself struggling to put it down at times, it is that good. But, it will equally be a great option for curling up by the fire on a winter’s night, learning all about a driver who came so close to becoming world champion but, ironically after the book was published, has now became one.
And on That Bombshell
Top Gear as we know it ended in a disastrous fashion. We all know what happened and the consequences that one incident had. It was a big shame, as the show had become one of the most watched in the entire world and remained at an incredibly high standard.
Richard Porter was the script editor for Top Gear for 13 years, from the very first pilot episode in 2002, in the format we became so familiar, to this year’s very last show. Despite it becoming such a huge success, you had to buy the various annual books and DVDs to really discover what it was like behind the scenes at Top Gear.
That is exactly what And on That Bombshell does. It recounts a huge number of hilarious and interesting stories from Porter’s time at Top Gear, explains just how the shows were created and just what Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond were like to work with.
From Hammond’s horrifying dragster crash to creating a VT all about how Peugeot's rubbish cars, it provides a fantastic in-depth look at just what happened in the Top Gear office and studio and how it all became – to those who worked on it – such a surprising smash hit.
Written in the brilliant style that Porter’s website SniffPetrol has become so famous for, it is honestly one of the funniest books I have ever read and had some truly laugh out loud moments. Fan of Top Gear? Even if you have only seen the show a couple of times, I can’t recommend the book enough.
As you may have guessed, these books are all related to the motorsport and motoring world. I have really enjoyed reading them and I thought it might be helpful to pass on my thoughts, although you can be the judge of that.
Nigel Mansell: Staying On Track
This isn’t the first book to document Nigel Mansell’s hugely successful, rollercoaster F1 career but it is the first that I have actually read. So, having only seen clips and highlights of races from the era that Mansell raced in, I didn’t actually know that much about him in the first places, other than the basic statistics and his main achievements.
Staying On Track is a fantastic insight into Mansell’s life, from his introduction to karting all the way through to his ventures after F1. There are many bumps along the road, and many broken bones too, but it is all told in a brilliant detail, I don’t know how someone can remember so much from decades ago. I can barely remember last week.
The book's pace slowed up a bit at times, but Mansell always seemed to turn things around with a particularly fascinating story. His time in F1 was a huge mix of highs and lows and despite the slightly braggy tone, it was great to learn more about his hugely eventful time in motorsport.
Max Mosley: The Autobiography
I started watching F1 religiously in 2004 but that didn’t necessarily mean I followed all the latest news away from the race tracks. It wasn’t until around 2010 that I started to keep an eye on fresh developments. I, of course, knew who Max Mosley was but I, for example, was unaware of the scandal he was caught up in back in 2008.
This is actually something that has come up several times during the first year and a half of my Journalism degree at the University of Westminster and I was really interested to read his new autobiography, to learn more about it and understand his side of the story.
I was also looking forward to learning about his time in F1. He was FIA president when I was getting into F1 and that is what I knew him for, but I had very little knowledge about his previous involvement in the sport. The book is another brilliant documentation of a wide-ranging, dramatic career in motorsport and also Mosley’s life before and after it. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes nature of F1.
Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey
This is undoubtedly my favourite book of the year. Mark Webber has always been a popular member of the F1 community and it was a shame to see him retire at the end of 2013. However, he has forged a great career for himself in the FIA WEC and won the title this year.
It was a shame the book was released when it was. Had he held off for a few more months, it could have also shared the journey to the championship in the endurance racing series. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it was a brilliant read, a fantastic and detailed timeline of his rise to F1 and beyond, and also some wonderfully personal moments and stories from his life away from the track.
Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey is written with the wit and humour Webber has become known for in his media interviews. Of course, he goes through the entire Multi 21 saga from his point of view, an honest insight into what really happened – you can only learn so much from articles in the press and short quotes from drivers and team bosses.
I read the book over the summer, while I was on holiday with my family. It was the perfect pool-side read and I found myself struggling to put it down at times, it is that good. But, it will equally be a great option for curling up by the fire on a winter’s night, learning all about a driver who came so close to becoming world champion but, ironically after the book was published, has now became one.
And on That Bombshell
Top Gear as we know it ended in a disastrous fashion. We all know what happened and the consequences that one incident had. It was a big shame, as the show had become one of the most watched in the entire world and remained at an incredibly high standard.
Richard Porter was the script editor for Top Gear for 13 years, from the very first pilot episode in 2002, in the format we became so familiar, to this year’s very last show. Despite it becoming such a huge success, you had to buy the various annual books and DVDs to really discover what it was like behind the scenes at Top Gear.
That is exactly what And on That Bombshell does. It recounts a huge number of hilarious and interesting stories from Porter’s time at Top Gear, explains just how the shows were created and just what Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond were like to work with.
From Hammond’s horrifying dragster crash to creating a VT all about how Peugeot's rubbish cars, it provides a fantastic in-depth look at just what happened in the Top Gear office and studio and how it all became – to those who worked on it – such a surprising smash hit.
Written in the brilliant style that Porter’s website SniffPetrol has become so famous for, it is honestly one of the funniest books I have ever read and had some truly laugh out loud moments. Fan of Top Gear? Even if you have only seen the show a couple of times, I can’t recommend the book enough.
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