[Books] Best f1 autobiography...

[cool man fan]

Hey dudes....
im planning to buy an f1 biography (my 1st) just thought which ones you suggest i should take....
Drivers im interested in reading about..are:

M Schumacher
Senna (prefered if there is a good biography out there)
Gilles Villenueve
Niki lauda...

There are so many books about Senna and Schumi i wouldnt know which ones are good and which ones are bad so....

and if there any other good driver biographies out there which are not in the list please mention...

[Jordi]

Gilles - The Life of The Legendary Racing Driver by Gerald Donaldson is one great book.

Do get Perry McCarthy's "Flat Out Flat Broke" and Alex Zanardi's "My Story", two great reads!

[Adam43]

cool man fan, there are so many great ones out, including quite a few autobiographies. Of those you mention above I can recommend Niki Lauda's two books on F1 cars which approximately cover his two stints in F1; The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving and The New Formula One: A Turbo Age. Although they aren't biographies, so I digress.

I'm going to move this thread to Armchair Enthusiast where it will be better served. While you are there do a search for book and those drivers you mention and see what it throws up. I have never really found a Senna book I liked and I tend not to buy books on people until they have retired! There is an official Michael one I saw which is mainly just dodgy photos of him (the search will bring up a thread that mentions it).

Villeneuve. A good start is the Driver Profile book written as part of a series by Roebuck. It is very good, but you'll have to find a second hand copy and be prepared to shell out for it.

[Joe Taylor]

if you want something other than driver biographies, look no further than Sid Watkins books - Life at the limit and Beyond the Limit

[Gerben24]

If you wanna buy a biography of Ayrton, just buy:"The Life Of Senna: The Biography Of Ayrton Senna" by Tom Rubython. It's a biography combined out of a lot of other biographys about Senna.

[Pete Fenelon]

Tony Rudd - "It Was Fun: My Fifty Years of High Performance". A book that points out just how important engineers are in racing.

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

If you wanna buy a biography of Ayrton, just buy:"The Life Of Senna: The Biography Of Ayrton Senna" by Tom Rubython. It's a biography combined out of a lot of other biographys about Senna.

Are you perchance implying that Mr Rubython didn't bother with too much original research?

I LOATHE the Rubython book. It's reverential where it should be critical, hagiographic where it should be balanced, sentimental where it should be analytical, crudely, arrogantly anti-Prost, and written in the most overblown journalistic style imaginable. It's barely-readable mawkish drivel, inflated to three times its natural length by lip-smacking drooling over the accident.

One of the worst motorsport books I've ever read. It's perhaps significant that it hasn't managed to get into paperback 18 months after being published.

I'm no fan of Chris Hilton, but his books on Senna were infinitely better than this farrago of rubbish.

[TimD]

Further to the Rubython comment and as to why it's not made it to paperback - I have seen the backroom of a well-known publishers' wholesaler in the north of England, and it is filled with boxes and boxes and boxes of unopened Senna biographies!

I think the publishers overestimated its selling power just a tiny bit...

[ensign14]

"All Arms And Elbows" by Innes Ireland as well as Donaldson on Villeneuve and the Perry & Zanardi books.

"The Unfair Advantage" by Mark Donohue is an excellent read, but does not really deal with F1.

There are no good books on Senna and Schumi. Get the Rubython for the former just to get the story in one place.

Best Lauda book to get a flavour of him (smoky bacon, probably) is "To Hell & Back".

If you want to include manufacturers, you won't get better than "Cooper Cars" by Doug Nye.

And you can't do wrong with "Racers Apart" by David Tremayne and "Grand Prix Requiem" by William Court to get the skinny on many lesser known figures. Court's writing style is almost pure literature. And neither are restricted to F1 pure and simple; Court's goes way back to Claude Loraine Barrow and the Race of Death.

[rbs]

Going back in time, try to obtain a copy of Duncan Hamilton's Touch Wood.
It is not all about F1 but is a great read.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Pete Fenelon

Are you perchance implying that Mr Rubython didn't bother with too much original research?

As a matter of fact, yes I am. There are a couple of facts in the book that don't add up and it's obvious that the writer has just pressed ctrl-c and ctrl-v. Still for a biography it covers most of Senna's life.

Originally Posted by Pete Fenelon

Bla bla bla It's reverential where it should be critical, hagiographic where it should be balanced, sentimental where it should be analytical, crudely, arrogantly anti-Prost, and written in the most overblown journalistic style imaginable. It's barely-readable mawkish drivel, inflated to three times its natural length by lip-smacking drooling over the accident. Bla bla bla.

Who do you think you are? Salman Rushdie? The book is not anti-Prost, it uses quotes from Prost himself as seen on one of the Senna-dvds. It makes Prost look arrogant, but that is exactly what he was.
The chapters about his death and the aftermath in court are very long and dry, but also very interesting, full of facts that make you question the real reason of the accident (and no, it wasn't low pressure of the tyres or a broken steering column).

I am not saying this is a brilliant book, because there just aren't any good biographies about Senna, just as ensign14 mentions. But it is not as bad as you want to make us believe. It is the most complete book about his life.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by ensign14

"All Arms And Elbows" by Innes Ireland as well as Donaldson on Villeneuve and the Perry & Zanardi books.

Agreed, good starters all. Although there is not much F1 in it, I very much enjoyed, Derek Bell - My Racing life, published in 1988 by PSL. Derek Bell's anecdotes with Alan Henry's writing - can't go far wrong there!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

Who do you think you are?

He's a man with a forthright opinion, just like you!

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by rbs

Going back in time, try to obtain a copy of Duncan Hamilton's Touch Wood.
It is not all about F1 but is a great read.

Oh yes. And the 2 volumes of Mike Hawthorn autobiog, "Challenge Me The Race" and "Champion Year", although both were ghosted, as well as the biog "Mon Ami Mate" by the late Chris Nixon. A big advantage of the former 2 is that they were re-issued about 15 years ago, so reading copies should be readily available second-hand.

"My Cars, My Career" by Stirling Moss is not a conventional autobiography - more of an auto-biography, if you see what I mean - but very worthwhile. If only to marvel at the variety of cars driven by Stirling; the Vanwall and Mercedes everyone knows about, but the Leonard-MG and JBW sports car? (If I were to quibble, it does not mention the Audi touring car...)

[Jordi]

I have a Senna biography written by Portuguese journalist Francisco Santos... and I wish it was translated to English for all you to see because I would say that's the best one on Ayrton. Its only faults might be too much passion at times, as Santos was a friend of Senna's and the book was written shortly after Imola, but it provides good insight into Ayrton without much BS...

I only have a Christopher Hilton book on Schumacher, written in 1994 riding on Schumi's WDC success, and well, it's alright. I would like to read a good book on Schumacher, but it seems the bigger the star is, the tougher to get a good book on him.

Oh, and Eddie Irvine's Life in the Fast Lane, a funny read!

[Dixie Flatline]

I have the Rubython biography on Senna and found it enjoyable to read. I haven't read the Christopher Hilton biography, so I can't compare on that score.

I have several books written about JV's first season and a bit in Formula One, which are quite interesting to read, especially now in hindsight, considering how his career progressed since the heady days of 96 and 97.

Murray Walker's autobiography is extremely interesting and enjoyable to read. Fortunately, I was able to have the great man sign it when he visited Australia two years ago.

I'd also advocate Tim Collings' "The Piranha Club", which could be regarded as a biography of Formula One itself.

[John Turner]

I've just bought an almost mint copy of the Rubython book about Senna from a charity shop for £2.49, so I'm about to find out how good or bad it is. Not promising that the previous owner disposed of it so rapidly, though!

[Knowlesy]

Well I'll tell you.

It is the worst book I have ever had the privilege to read in my entire life. Absolute miserable, appalling, fire-fodder.

It does burn well, with a nice flame.

[John Turner]

If it's that bad, perhaps I had better not read any further! On second thoughts, although I do tend usually to agree with you, Knowlesy, I'd better find out for myself.

[Pete Fenelon]

2.49 is about 2.50 more than it's worth. It's the most appalling piece of bloated, hagiographic, lip-smacking drivel I've ever read.

[John Turner]

Well, I'm certainly already fed up with reading 3 different versions of the same event, as the writer recaps in each new chapter, and it sure is long. Apparently, it started out as a 400 page book but expanded to 700 odd pages. I'm beginning to see why.

[We Love Osella]

I read Graham Hill's book and I was in tears at the end

[John Turner]

Well, I've finally finished the Rubython book and I have to agree that it is not the greatest piece of writing. Written by committee, it makes Prost out to be a second rate driver until the tone softens after the reconciliation in late 93. Far too much detail about Imola 94 and particularly who was the first to know of Senna's death, what, when and where - all unnecessary and irrelevant. Still I did learn a few extra bits, assuming that they are 'facts'. However, if I was to start a thread about the worse 20 books, this would probably be on it!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by We Love Osella

I read Graham Hill's book and I was in tears at the end

Which one? The only truly autobiographical book was 'Life at the Limit' but that was written in 1969. There was a later book with Neil Ewart ('Graham')published in 1976 after Hill's death and also Bette Hill's 'The Other Side of the Hill' published in 1978 and I'm guessing that it was one of these two that you read. More recently of course, there has been 'Graham Hill - Master of Motor Sport' by John Tipler, published in 2002. Tony Rudkin also wrote 'Mr Monaco' but that is one, I haven't yet read.

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Tony Rudkin also wrote 'Mr Monaco' but that is one, I haven't yet read.

Hatchet job that's poorly written. Dunno however whether there is any truth in it.