Bob McMurray has just about seen all you can in motor sport. Right from the halcyon days when Bruce McLaren was setting up his fledgling Formula One team through to witnessing the first Kiwi to win one of the most prestigious motor-racing trophies, the Borg-Warner at the Indianapolis 500. McMurray's book is more like a conversation you'd have in the bar about 30-odd years in Formula One rather than who set the fastest time at Monaco on lap 32 in 1987 in what car, on what tyres, wearing what-coloured overalls and with what sort of logo on his helmet.
Numbers can be found on the Internet; this book is about the interesting stuff. There are stories about battles both on and off the track. Political and personal egos were clashing with such ferocity that - to steal a quote from British politician Enoch Powell from around the same time - the streets (of pit lane) could easily have run with rivers of blood. McMurray was there to witness the birthing pains of the modern Formula One circus. As the world of motor sport morphed into the financial behemoth we recognize now, the paddock became littered with destroyed, or severely crushed, egos and careers. All of which were fun and games to watch from inside the tent, rather than from outside as most of the world did. He saw paddock revolution, driver tantrums, spying, industrial espionage, intrigue and more scandal than an American soap could ever hope to come up with. He also saw more friendships, more fun, more camaraderie and the closest bonding between team members than is possible to explain in mere words.
Author Biography
Eric Thompson has been a professional sportsman (racing motorcycles), motorcycle road tester, photographer, journalist, designer, creative director and company owner. He is currently the motor-racing correspondent for the New Zealand Herald, the Weekend Herald and occasionally the Herald on Sunday. He also contributes to Superwheels, the Wednesday motoring insert in the Herald, and has edited various supplements on motoring for APN (owner of the Herald). He also has a number of regular motor-sport slots on Radio Live, Radio Sport, NewsTalk ZB Wellington and AutoTrack FM in Australia.
