Short description
Charles Jennings tells the fast and dangerous story of motor sport's premier competition, from its beginnings in the suicidal Paris-to-Madrid races of the early 20th century to the brave new era of Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button in the 2000s.
Long description
Formula One has been endangering the lives of its drivers, thrilling its fans since its inaugural season of 1950. Charles Jennings tells the fast and dangerous story of motor sport's premier competition. He explores the lost world of the 1950s racetrack, the irresistible rise of British constructors in the 1960s, the impact of technological changes from the late 1970s, the advent of the high-profile team boss in the 1980s and the revolution wrought on the sport by computers in the 1990s. Throughout, he offers memorable profiles of the drivers who have risked life and limb on circuits from Monte Carlo to Monza: the ebullient Stirling Moss, the champagne-gargling James Hunt, the cerebral Prost and the mercurial Senna (whose combined brilliance was exceeded only by their mutual loathing), the adenoidal Nigel Mansell, the metronomic Michael Schumacher, the precocious Lewis Hamilton and the reborn Jenson Button. Burning Rubber offers a white-knuckle drive through the bends, straights, chicanes and pit stops of Formula One's chequered history.
Review
'The excellent history of grand prix racing expertly guides readers through the chicanes and chicanery of the following century or so; Charles Jennings is at home talking about cars or the characters who drive them' Independent on Sunday. 'A refreshingly readable book for those seeking an introduction to the famous drivers, teams and history without the well-worn cliches' Motorsports. '... fascinating and (surprisingly) informative look-back at the history of the sport ... an honestly felt and well-written history of Formula One, right up to the modern day' Irish Examiner.
Table of contents
- The Age of Men 1894-1958: Pre-history
- The New Formula
- Fangio I - The Return of the Germans
- Fangio II - 1956 and the Nightmare of the Prancing Horse
- Fangio III - The Last Win. The Age of Brits 1959-76: Hawthorn, Moss and the British Revenge
- They Went Back to Front
- 1962, Moss, Hill, Brabham - So Very Anglo-Saxon
- Jim Clark, Colin Chapman and Selling Your Soul
- The Tracks
- The Spanish Grand Prix, Jarama, 12 May 1968
- That Little Scotsman - Stewart and the Problem of Death
- Hair, Hotpants and the First Brazilian
- All the World Races Formula One - but the Cars Are Made in Surrey (or Thereabouts)
- James Hunt - Last True Brit. The Age of Brains 1977-93: Turbos, Side-skirts and Active Suspension - Technology Triumphant
- Whatever Happened to the Americans?
- Jones, Piquet and Prost - Two Gorillas and a Professor
- Frank Williams - the Team Boss as Ruthless CEO?
- May, 1982 - Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari, Another End
- The Boredom, Paranoia and Outright Madness That Is McLaren, Prost and Senna
- What Strange Names Are These (Part 1)?
- Mansell - You Always Hurt the Ones Who Support You Most. The Modern Age 1994-2009: The End of the Affair - Senna's Death
- The Curse of the Son
- The Global Sport
- Schumacher, Senna and the Art of Taking No Prisoners
- Ecclestone, Mosley and the Rise of the Technocrats
- What Strange Names Are These (Part 2)?
- The Beat Goes On
- And On. Appendix I: Grand Prix Championships. Appendix II: Top Twenty-six Grand Prix Drivers by Races Won. Bibliography. Index.