| Front Cover |
Book Details |
|
| Genre |
Biography; Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Automobile racing - Biography |
| Publication Date |
1970 |
| Format |
Hardcover (8.7
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Coward-McCann |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
|
| Personal Details |
| Store |
Alibris |
| Purchase Price |
$19.92 |
| Acquire Date |
12/26/2017 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
|
|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
GV1032.H48 .A3 1970 |
| Dewey |
796.7/2/0924 |
| Cover Price |
$5.95 |
| No. of Pages |
255 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
Very Good in J Very Good jacket 8vo-over 7 3/4"-9 3/4" In pictorial jacket over black cloth, 8vo, 255pp. (light shelfwear and rubbing to jacket extremities).
---------------------------------------------------------
Hill wrote this book while laid up in the hospital after breaking both is legs near the end of the 1969 F1 season. It's written in a very conversational style; it's almost as if he's telling me the story rather than I'm reading it. For me, the best bits were the early chapters, particularly the first. Once he gets fully into his F1 career it's primarily a description of what happened in his races, and a bit impersonal.
The time period covered is from the late fifties to the end of 1969. This was a time of great carnage in the sport. Something like two dozen drivers were killed driving their cars - some in practice, some in the F1 races, some in support races. Oddly, this entire subject is avoided almost entirely. One driver's death gets a couple of sentences while Jim Clark warrants a few paragraphs. Is this just Hill's way of dealing with the subject, or does it reflect a personality issue? As a point of comparison, Jackie Stewart in his memoirs spends quite a bit of time on the sport's safety, or lack thereof.
After the first few chapters, Hill spends very little time on anything but racing. There's very little about family, even less about friends, and almost nothing about any other interests. As such, he comes across as a bit one-dimensional.
Recommended for fans of this era of Formula 1. |
|