Booking it for the gap*

I pulled up the home screen on my Kindle app and realized that the four most recent books in my library are racing titles. With the Formula 1 season about start its second half and me being hours away from seeing the documentary SENNA about the legendary F1 driver of the same name, I thought I’d share those books.

1) Senna Versus Prost: The Story of the Most Deadly Rivalry in Formula One. If you like rivalries, if you think the Red Sox Yankees rivalry is epic, you don’t know Senna vs Prost. Senna, killed during a race in 1994, literally begged Prost to return to Formula 1 after spending years trying to destroy him on the track. Few rivals needed and defined each other as Senna and Prost did.

2) Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans.  The biggest ”F you” in automobile history is Fords development of the Ford GT. Simply put: Henry Ford II got screwed over by Ferrari and decided to put the entire efforts of Ford behind beating Ferrari at Le Mans. “This time, it’s personal” certainly applies here.

3) Burning Rubber: The Extraordinary Story of Formula One. While F1, as we know it today, started in 1950, it can trace it roots to the earliest motor races in France at the turn of the 20th century. Burning Rubber tells the story of racing in general and Formula One, including its storied teams, drivers and tracks. This is the best book I’ve read on the history of racing’s premier competition.

4) The Chariot Makers: Assembling the Perfect Formular 1 Car. Okay, the first two books here can be read by the general public even if they’ve never seen a F1 or Le Mans race. Burning Rubber is a little bit more focused. This book is really focused, but if you’re interested in what it takes to build the perfect race car, this is an easy and informative read.

*This is a play on a famous Senna quote, “By being a racing driver you are under risk all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, competing to win.”

Posted on August 26th, 2011 at 4:29 pm.