The Perfect Car: The Biography of John Barnard


Nick Skeens - 2018
    Written with Barnard’s cooperation and with input from dozens of associates, drivers and rivals, this biography tells the entire story, both personal and professional, of a British design genius. Barnard’s technical achievements are explored in detail — and in accessible language — with special emphasis on his brilliant initiatives while at McLaren (the first carbon-fibre composite chassis) and Ferrari (the first semi-automatic gearbox). The Perfect Car is also a human-interest story, telling a tale of innovation under intense pressure while Barnard endeavoured to maintain a stable family life. This is a landmark book that will be relished by anyone interested in motorsport and design.

Lights Out, Full Throttle: Stories from the Pit Lane


Johnny Herbert - 2020
    Motorsport's answer to Ant and Dec, just a lot more comprehensible and, all in all, a wee bit taller. Between us we have about 100 years’ experience of driving cars quickly and have competed in 261 Grand Prix spawning 25 wins, 49 podiums, one World Championship and 458 championship points. We even have a win at Le Mans to our names, as well as two smashed ankles, a broken arm, a broken wrist, a broken leg, about sixty broken ribs, a pierced upper thigh that missed Johnny’s twig and berries by millimetres, and a bruised ego or three.Basically, we’re two middle-aged men who are both what you might call physically compromised. That said, contrary to popular belief, we still have a modicum of bladder control and can talk Formula 1 with the best of them. Which brings us to our book. Despite its immense popularity, when it comes to things like humour and absurdity, Formula 1 is not exactly a ride on the big dipper and in that respect it hasn’t buttered our parsnips for decades. Well, nil desperandum boys and girls because we, Damon Graham Devereux Hill, OBE, and John Paul Herbert, No BE, are here to put the F back into Formula 1 by ditching aerodynamics, clean air and tyre degradation in favour of honest, forthright opinions and apocryphal stories involving automotive derring-do. And, derring-don’t!

Watching the Wheels: My Autobiography


Damon Hill - 2016
    For the first time ever he tells the story of his journey through the last golden era of the sport when he took on the greats including Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher and emerged victorious as World Champion in 1996, stepping out of the shadow of his legendary father Graham Hill. Away from the grid, Watching the Wheels: The Autobiography is an astonishingly candid account of what it was like to grow up as the son of one of the country's most famous racing drivers. It also tells the unflinching story of dealing with the grief and chaos that followed his father's tragically early death in an aircraft accident in 1975, when Damon was 15 years old. Formula One drivers have always been aware of their mortality, and the rush that comes with the danger of racing was as intoxicating for Hill as it had been for his father's generation, until he came face-to-face with catastrophe when his team-mate, Ayrton Senna, was killed in 1994. The swirling emotions that Hill was faced with in light of the death of Senna was a defining moment for his generation of drivers and for the first time ever Hill talks candidly about the impact that Senna had on his life, even as he watched his own son step into motor racing.Courageously honest, and hugely rewarding, Watching the Wheels is a return to the last golden era of F1 racing, whose image still burns ferociously for those who love the sport for what it reveals about human skill in the face or near certain death.

Gilles Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver


Gerald Donaldson - 1989
    Gilles Villeneuve became a legend in his own time, a driver whose skill and daring personified the ideals of Grand Prix racing, the pinnacle of motor sport.With his flamboyantly aggressive, press-on-regardless style in his scarlet Ferrari, he captured the imagination of a vast international audience as no other driver has in recent times.

How To Be An F1 Driver: My Guide To Life In The Fast Lane


Jenson Button - 2019
    Sure, you need to be able to drive a car fast - and Jenson is on hand to pass on a few tricks of the trade here - but you also need to know the real rules for making it to the top. Like, how to tell a multiple F1 champion they need to check their blind-spot. What the difference is between a helmet and a hat, and indeed a 'helmet-hat'. How to practise your champagne spray ahead of the big day. Why it is never, ever, under any circumstances a good idea to buy a yacht. And how to face down your team when you've just stacked their multi-million-pound car into a wall during practice.But 'JB' (nicknames in F1 run the full range from initials to, well, just using first names) doesn't stop there. HTBAF1D (catchy) lifts the lid on the people, the places, the weird rituals, the motorhomes, the media, the cars, the perks and the disasters. Join Jenson as he reveals how not to race a stupid big truck, why driving Le Mans is like having five shots of tequila before lunch, and what to do when you finally hang up your helmet-hat.

Ayrton Senna: The Hard Edge of Genius


Christopher Hilton - 1990
    Yet many regard him as a shy and introverted personality.

Crashed And Byrned: The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw


Tommy Byrne - 2008
    Peppered with dark humour, this book tells Tommy's story from fending for himself as the runt of a big Catholic litter in the 1960s to driving for a deluded billionaire madman and then gun-toting Mexicans in the 1990s.

The Blue Executions


George P. Norris - 2014
    An incident in a Queens housing project hurls highly decorated detective Tommy Galvin not only onto the front pages of the newspapers but also into the crosshairs of the sociopath. The hunter becomes the hunted! Galvin’s actions on a warm spring evening ignite a powder keg of racial tension and civil unrest, capturing national attention which must be dealt with and brought under control by the NYPD. When the two men finally come face to face, Galvin’s life has changed forever, in a way he could have never imagined. The Blue Executions will take you from the eyes of the killer to the investigation charged with taking him down; from the inner workings of a major New York City newspaper that the killer has entrusted, to the behind the scenes politics of the NYPD at the highest levels. All of the while, Galvin’s life is on the line.

The Mechanic's Tale. Life in the pit-lanes of Formula One


Steve Matchett - 1999
    He also talks of key Benetton personalities, and explains how the team was transformed into a strong, competitive organisation, winning three World Championships. His determination and frustration in trying - and eventually succeeding - to break into the high-pressure world of Formula One leaps off the page.

A Different Kind of Life


Virginia Williams - 1991
    For his wife, Ginny, the accident meant taking on new and unwanted roles as head of the household and family decision-maker, while also struggling to overcome the anger and grief she felt after the accident.In A Different Kind of Life, Ginny tells her story with honesty and humor, set against the glamorous backdrop of Formula One racing. She documents life before and after the devastating accident - from falling in love with Frank at first sight to learning how to cope with his needs after he became severely disabled but remained fiercely independent.A testament to the power of compassion and perseverance, A Different Kind of Life is a moving and inspiration story.

How Not to Be a Professional Racing Driver


Jason Plato - 2019
    But he's also a rule breaker who has had more than his fair share of near-death experiences, drunken escapades and more. And yet he's still racing. There is nothing sensible, predictable or considered about Jason, but this is how he became a racing legend.

To Hell and Back: An Autobiography


Niki Lauda - 2020
    Even people who know nothing of Formula One have heard of his crash at Nurburgring in 1976, when we was dragged from the inferno of his Ferrari so badly injured he was given the last rites. Within 33 days, he was racing again at Monza. His wounds bled, he had no eyelids. He was terrified. A year later, he reclaimed his World Championship title.In To Hell and Back he reveals how he battled fear to stage a comeback that seemed beyond human endurance. Then it’s Lauda vs Hunt, an epic rivalry later dramatized in 2013’s Hollywood blockbuster Rush, and he looks back on the strict childhood and parental disapproval that he believes gave him an ‘addiction to excellence’. There’ll never be another like him.

How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer


Adrian Newey - 2017
    He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An immensely likeable man.' Damon HillThe world’s foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain’s greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir.How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian’s unrivalled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he’s been involved.A true engineering genius, even in adolescence Adrian’s thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form – he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there have also been deep tragedies; most notably Ayrton Senna’s death during his time at Williams in 1994.Beautifully illustrated with never-before-seen drawings, How to Build a Car encapsulates, through Adrian’s remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula One so thrilling – its potential for the total synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style, efficiency and speed.

Every Family Has One (All Things D #2)


Joanna Warrington - 2015
    The attacker, unimaginably, is her trusted parish priest. Terrified, Kathleen never tells her pious Catholic mother, and when she discovers she is pregnant, she pays a terrible price for her silence. Her mother believes Kathleen to be a fallen child and sends her to have her ill-begotten baby in Ireland. Kathleen toils in a notorious Magdalene Laundry, where heartless nuns dole out merciless penance on shamed girls. Kathleen never recovers from her trauma, and years later she’s become the overprotective, paranoid mother of a second child. Meanwhile, Faye, a widowed mother of three worries about her teenage son, Tim. He’s increasingly withdrawn, but when several parcels are mysteriously delivered the shocking truth about what is going on in his life is slowly revealed. She turns to an old flame believing he is at the root of Tim’s problems and as the couple rekindles their love, Tim’s troubles deepen. Faye pours out her sorrows in letters to a friend, and slowly, shocking family secrets and interwoven relationships reveal themselves. As it turns out, Kathleen isn’t the only fallen one in this story of love, forgiveness, and powerful family ties. Every Family Has One is the anticipated sequel to The Catholic Woman’s Dying Wish. It can be read as a stand-alone sequel.

Sharing Amelia: A Historical Western Menage Romance (Timber Creek Brides)


Samantha Madisen - 2017
    But instead of just one man, there are two waiting for her both intent on marrying her. After the initial shock wears off, Amelia realises she has little choice but to do as the men ask and become a wife to both of them. When the two finally get her alone, she begins to understand what it will mean to be a Timber Creek Bride. Colt and Bear have been saving for a mail-order bride for longer than they can remember. With the paltry sum they pay, the last thing they expect is the beautiful and innocent young woman that shows up. They set about introducing her to what it means being married to not one, but two cowboys. But trouble looms in the form of the spiteful Angus Sneed who doesn't think much of the men's strange lifestyle. Will they be able to find happiness or will Sneed's scheming win out? Steamy standalone novella with no cliffhanger and HEA.