Formula One Fanatic

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Koen Vergeer

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Pages: 320 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0747568421

Pub: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Pub date: 2004-02-02

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 45335

Editorial Review:

Koen Vergeer's turbulent, passionate relationship with motorsport is chronicled in Formula One Fanatic. Witnessing a horrific, fatal crash is a strange starting point for a sporting obsession, but for this Dutch motorsport journalist, being in the race-day crowd when driver Roger Williamson was burnt to death in 1973, was an experience that plunged him into a love affair with the thrilling and dangerous world of Formula One.
From collecting toy replicas of the leading cars, and reconstructing whole seasons of racing on his bedroom floor--commentating to himself all the while--to covering the sport as a professional journalist, Vergeer has developed a romantic yet analytical view of F1, and weaves a series of compelling, intelligent stories out of 30 years of motorsport. Heroes and villains abound, seen through a fan's frustration and joy--and even in translation from the original Dutch, the language can be colourful and vibrant.
Vergeer's approach--part reminiscence, part philosophical analysis of the meaning and purpose of the sport--balances readability with substance, and while his viewpoint can be bizarre (could anyone else characterise Nigel "interesting" Mansell as "The Lion"?), he writes about what can sometimes seem a colourless business with a vigour and enthusiasm that is infectious.

The aficionados will revel in a fellow fan's personal reflections; newcomers will wonder why it's taken them so long to wise up to the sport's enduring qualities; and for the completely uninitiated, there's a comprehensive glossary of F1-speak, which, allied to Vergeer's passionate prose, makes this the ideal gift for the could-be F1 fan in your life. Even in today's troubled era of processional races and colourless stars, this book makes the prospect of the new F1 season something to relish. --Alex Hankin

Reader Reviews:

Wonderful writing (0/0 people found this helpful)

A marvellous book, and let's not forget the wonderful translation too. Mr Vergeer articulates why I've been a F1 fan for over 20 years too. Excellent, thrilling writing; He describes races with the excitement I felt watching them on TV.

And the chapter on Imola '94 is beautiful and yet horrible, I went cold reading his description of Ayrton Senna's fatal accident as it brought it all back, watching the car slide remorselesly into the wall.

A wonderful book. No F1 fan should be without it.

What makes the F1 fan tick (0/0 people found this helpful)

This is a very interesting book in which the author gives personal accounts of the track battles he's seen over the years,and is a personal attempt to convey the passion and feeling that Formula 1 creates in people.Worth owning.

Amateurish and irritating (2/4 people found this helpful)

This is essentially a couple of hundred page essay on "why I am an F1 fan".

As such, it's not going to tell the dedicated F1 fan anything they don't know already, and as history it's too subjective, too fragmentary and too personal to be at all interesting.

I don't know whether the book was written in English as a second language, or whether it's been translated, but it reads oddly and the proofreading and fact-checking are both very shaky.

File with 'Fever Pitch' as something to read on the train as an alternative to falling asleep.

A timely reminder of why some people like Formula 1 (6/6 people found this helpful)

Formula 1 is lucky to have Koen Vergeer as a fan. As described in this book, his formative experience was the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix - the scene of one of the most horrendous accidents in motor racing history. Roger Williamson asphyxiated in an overturned burning car while another driver, David Purley, engaged in a lone, desperate bid to save him. A lot of people left F1 in disgust, but not Koen Vergeer.

Vergeer evocatively describes his life as a teenage F1 fan in the mid-1970s - getting the stickers and model cars; writing up his own race reports in a scrapbook; listening to his peers asking him why he likes 'watching someone burn to death in his car' (something still told to F1 fans today, or at least before the soporific 2002 season). He ticks off the list of fatalities in the sport during this period - Cevert, Revson, Donahue, Koinigg, Pryce. But none stop him watching, until he sees Ronnie Peterson dragged, legs smashed, from his burning Lotus in the 1978 Italian GP. Only then does he seek 'real life' thrills.

It may come as a surprise to British viewers, but Nigel Mansell was regarded as 'exciting' on the continent. His hard-charging performances for Lotus, Williams and Ferrari earned him the nickname 'Il Leone' (The Lion) from Italian fans. Vergeer was drawn back to F1 in the 80s by Mansell's combination of breathtaking racing and comical blunders. The story picks up from there, detailing the depressing politics and feuds in 1980s F1, which continue to plague it today.

Along with the history, the book is peppered with charming anecdotes from Vergeer's life - his sole attempt at karting; staying up all night to watch Damon Hill 'robbed' of the 1994 championship but having to be deadly quiet since it's 3am; the experience of watching the much-loved but underacheiving Jos Verstappen trying to break the Zandvoort lap record in a 2001 Arrows (!). F1 Fans will nod as they see themselves in the author's life. But most of all, this should be read by those who have an F1 fan in their life, but don't understand the attraction to the sport.

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