GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: Willy on August 16, 2008, 09:38:23 PM
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Anyone read any good books lately about current or older F1 drivers they want to recommend?
I just finished David Coulthard's Autobiography "It Is What It Is".
Interesting read. A tad choppy the way he jumps around but all in all a good read.
It give insight into David's life and how he got to F1 from his early start racing karts at 11 years old.
I had no idea he disliked Juan Pablo Montoya so much. He won't even call him by his name and refers to him as "the chubby little guy.
Some funny stuff.
The foreword is written by Ron Dennis.
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I read Jackie Stewart's book Winning is not enough a few months ago and it is definitely worth a read. The book comes with a DVD. Some of the chapters of the DVD can be viewed at http://www.viewvibe.com/ . Viewvibe is an idea of his son Mark to use video in conjuction with books.
A couple of older books I enjoyed were Gerald Donaldson biography of Gilles Villeneuve which I have seen advertised on a few websites recently at £6 or £7 and 'To Hell and Back' by Niki Lauda.
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I plan on picking up Jackie's book and also want to read the book from Jim Clarke. I forget the name.
I should definately read Gerald Donaldson's book about Gille, as I worked as a flag marshall at a Formula Atlantic race he won before he moved into F1.
And being Canadian eh!.
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The Eddie Jordan autobiography is good if you can tolerate the odd proofreading howler, and the biography of him by Timothy Collings did fills in the gaps it leaves.
If you can find it, "Mon Ami Mate", the biography of Hawthorn and Collins, is excellent.
The recommendation for "Winning Is Not Enough" is seconded.
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Mon Ami Mate has been on my list of things to read since it first came out.
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I neglected to mention a great book, "All Arms And Elbows" by Innis Ireland. A very funny look at F1 before Jackie Stewart lobbied for all the great safety measure we all take for grated are part of motor racing today. Ireland relates some amazing stories of accidents and incidents that are not to be missed.
I will look for Eddies' autobiography, as well as Jackies'.
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I didn't know that Innes Ireland had written a book. He was to say the least a bit of a character and I can imagine his book will be entertaining.
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I found out about "All Arms and Elbows" from a UK F1 Site that rated it as probably the best autobiography by an ex racing driver ever written.
I had to find my copy from a rare book dealer in the UK and paid dearly for a lovingly used copy.
I highly recommend the read.
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Another one to add to the good F1 driver biography list - "Jim Clark" by Andrew Tulloch. I'm only halfway through it at the moment, but it's a pleasant enjoyable read with some nice pictures in it. Andrew, by the way, is curator at the Jim Clark museum.
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Graham Gauld who is a well known Scottish motoring journalist wrote a really good biography of Clark. I must dig it out and find out what it was called. Gauld knew Jimmy from the first time he sat in a race car so he has so much background info.
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Back in the 70's I read Faster by J Stewart,don't
know if it's stll out there.