Does anyone know any Formula One books?

[Techy]

Hi

I'm bored on what to read, so I decided to read some racing books, specifically Formula Ones! I admire the intense & quick nature of these ample machines, and would like to learn more about them. The particular book can have lots of pictures, to breakdowns of the history, to the famous drivers, to the track days, and so on. Most importantly, it must be cheap. I can accept some that is priced at around 50 bucks though. The book may have some car-to-car specifications or some sort, but isn't really a 100% must. Sorry if I may sound a bit demanding, but it is obvious of a book covering cars will have such atmosphere packed in the pages

Appreciate any response 👍

Apologize if this is in the wrong section.

 

[Mac K]

I was going to suggest Senna Vs Prost, but it doesn't quite fit your criteria

 

[Peter.]

The Unofficial Complete Encyclopedia of Formula One by Mark Hughes.

I own one, it has hundreds of high quality action photographs, and takes you back all the way from the first motor car race, to the 2008 season, and all of the breakthroughs, rivalries, battles, and action both on and off the track that has molded Formula One into what it is today.

 

[Ardius]

Sounds like you're looking for an F1 encyclopedia, which there are plenty of. You can find one pretty much every year (at least here in the UK you can anyway) - I actually have two, one from 1996 and one from 2010. The 1996 one has a foreword from Damon Hill, a section briefly describing the championship years up to 96, a pretty comprehensive driver section with a paragraph on each, a track section, a famous drivers section and a brief section on the technology behind a current F1 car.
The 2010 one is pretty similar though its lacking in the history side as it tends to focus more on recent events - for example the driver section is less comprehensive and features more recent drivers than past drivers.

You'll find most F1 encyclopedias will follow roughly similar format.

I had a quick look on amazon.com and it seems there are plenty of specific F1 books on drivers/circuits or technical ones on the cars but very few general books covering the sport as a whole. Seems rather bizarre really, I would have expected the opposite for the US market (that the books would tend to be more general than technical due to the lower popularity).

But at least there are plenty of examples on the .co.uk version like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/144543962X/?tag=gtplanetuk-20

Problem is postage from the UK would cost a fortune due to the weight I imagine.

Once you've built up an appreciation of the general world of F1, the first books I'd recommend reading for more in-depth biographies are:
Flat Out, Flat Broke by Perry McCarthy
Williams by Maurice Hamilton
But this really depends on what era you are really interest in, certainly Perry's book is a great insight in how hard it really is make it anywhere in motorsport and he has a great writing style and humour. Not to mention it really puts things in perspective when people talk about backmarker teams!

 

[Techy]

Thanks for the responses, fellas. I'll plan these two "encyclopedias" as my next purchases 👍 I'll take the extra books/biographies as well. But I'll have to look into the UK encyclopedia. Not sure how shipping will go for that one.

 

[PeterJB]

Currently working my way through this:

 

[TyrrellRacing]

Currently reading The Lost Generation by David Tremayne. Fascinating insight into the tragic lives of Roger Williamson, Tony Brise and Tom Pryce. Highly recommended.

I bought this encyclopaedia for a fiver in the Works. It's okay in that it gives a good overview of the top drivers and teams and a season by season summary but it's not really very in depth.

 

[Dotini]

Motor racing books can be expensive, especially when bought new.

Look for remaindered titles, hang out at used book stores, and, most importantly, be on the lookout to purchase someone else's complete or partial library, perhaps with decades of patiently acquired volumes in it.

Good hunting,
Steve

 

[IceMan PJN]

I have this one:

 

[astrosdude91]

Here's one by Steve Matchett, titled The Mechanic's Tale, detailing what it's like to be in the pit crew of a Formula One Team. Pretty cool read.

 

[Scaff]

Here's one by Steve Matchett, titled The Mechanic's Tale, detailing what it's like to be in the pit crew of a Formula One Team. Pretty cool read.

His second book 'The Chariot Makers' is just as good. 👍

Scary thing is that I own every book mentioned so far.



Scaff

 

[Techy]

Thanks for the replies, guys I'll take a look at those as well, esp. the pit lane one (strange someone wrote a book on Paddock life ). But the biographies is a bit less prioritized for now.

 

[Ardius]

Here's one by Steve Matchett, titled The Mechanic's Tale, detailing what it's like to be in the pit crew of a Formula One Team. Pretty cool read.

People always mention this book but I found it pretty disappointing - while its interesting from a lifestyle point of view, he talks very little about his actual time behind the scenes at Benetton and completely avoids the various dirty subjects.
He even starts to mention the merger with TWR and how the staff at Benetton didn't really like what was going on but doesn't really go into any detail. I was actually expecting quite a bit more insight into the 1994 season especially or into what it was like being on the team when Schumacher arrived and left.
He even glosses over his final couple of seasons with the team - when David Richards gets involved and so on.

He seemed to prefer talking about his holidays and experiences away from F1. It almost seems as though he was either restricted or simply didn't wish to talk about the controversial subjects or pass comment on anyone at all in Benetton - even in a positive light.

For a book that claims to give a perspective from a mechanic in the pitlane, its missing a lot out - mostly the perspective.
It would be better if it was sub-titled "Life away from the pit-lanes of Formula One".

Perhaps I'm looking for too much drama and intrigue, but really, I don't consider a good book one that simply talks about an everyday man doing an interesting job but talking about everyday things.

It would have been great if he had at least gone into more of the details of his actual duties as a mechanic (i.e. the finer details), as he starts to do this a bit when he talks about his work on gearboxes. But perhaps he was worried it would go over the audience's heads.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I have the Haynes RB6 and RB7 Manual, everything you need to know about the champion winning cars.

Great books.