The Pits: The Real World of Formula One

I was very much looking forward to this book, and as Ms Turner explains, the world of F1 is ruled by a few, but after reading the book, it didn't tell me anything I already didn't know about F1 and I felt that although Ms Turner approached certain subjects, she never really gets to the bottom of the issues, and tends to go over her own personal experiences which to be honest is anybody really that interested.

WELL WORTH READING (8/14 people found this helpful)

As an occasional television fan of F1 (I only bother when a British driver is successful) I had little inclination to read this book until it was recommended to me by an acquaintance.

Although the author infers that she doesn't understand the technology (and perhaps not all F1 fans actually do understand as much as they think!) that doesn't mean that she isn't perfectly well qualified to comment on the human behaviour, functioning, morality and purpose of such a successful business; especially following her experience on the 'inside'. I found the book well researched, informative, perceptive, entertaining and humorous. After reading the book I feel as though contrary to what I and others thought F1 is a facinating sport and I will definitely be taking more interest in the future. It is just that much of the real interest and action takes place off the track and often between Grand Prix.

This book is well worth reading and I can't really think of anything that the author could have written to have made it any better for a casual observer such as myself.

A great read. (14/18 people found this helpful)

The first chapter, where Beverley graphically explains what it feels like to be driven around a Racing Circuit at unbelievable speeds, really made Beverley and myself realise what amazing G forces F1 drivers cope with when racing. She admires them.
What she does not admire is the way the 'sport' is organised. The strangle hold of Bernie Ecclestone, Big Business, MONEY.
The book covers each venue in the 2003 season.
A good book to buy for a Christmas or Birthday present for a F1 fan. They will learn what it is like to see behind the scenes of this very secretive world.
The politics and how drivers are chosen is fascinating.

The Pits (indeed!) (8/18 people found this helpful)

The content of the book lacks any real information about formula one. The author presumes to know what and who an F1 fan is, but I certainly didn't recognise myself in the description. The author comes across as bitter following her three years working in the sport and lingers annoyingly on her wish to see women competing equally alongside men.

A very weak book; could have been an OK magazine article (35/44 people found this helpful)

This book is written from the point of view of an ITV presenter and uses the structure of the 2003 season to tell the story of modern Formula One. The author's main points are that (a) Formula One is't really a sport; it's a big business and that it is becoming dominated by cigarette money; (b) not all the people involved in it are super-nice; (c) in general there is not enough true passion in the enterprise to rank Formula One with real sports; (d) the jobs in F1 aren't all very interesting and require a lot of travel.

These points are actually not very interesting for a book published in 2004 as they've been made at length for years, and much more forcefully elsewhere than here. There is, perhaps, a magazine article's worth of arguments on these topics in the book, but not an especially ground-breaking article as the examples and anecdotes related to support the author's point just don't rise to the level of especially new or interesting.

Formula One is a business, and its participants are a little rough around the edges: we're supposed to be surprised?

There are two other interesting themes that the author starts to develop. First, that the sport is resistant to welcoming women drivers and that the men who run the sport have an old fashioned view of the role of women in F1. The second side theme is that as the sport creates new racing venues in the developing world to escape bans on cigarette advertising, it is destined to lose its touch with its European racing heritage. These seem to me to be more interesting points and the author starts to do a good job of making them - especially the point about women.

But again, there's about a magazine article's worth of material here, and I think these important points could have been done more justice. In the end, these themes are not enough to redeem the book. They are made, lightly outlined, and then dropped.

As a result, it's hard to figure out the audience for this book. The casual reader, I think, would be lost, as many personalities, racing venues and facts are presented with little context. If you're not a fairly well informed fan already, you would be lost reading this book. On the other hand, if you know enough about F1 to make it through all the inside references you probably would not see much new here.

Overall, I was just disappointed that the author did not pick up any of the serious topics addressed here to really dig in with fresh, original reporting.

Just one example: the ongoing public controversy regarding F1's displeasure with the British Grand Prix venue at Silverstone. One would think that the author -- a British TV presenter -- is ideally placed to give us the real "behind the scenese" story about what's going on among the BRDC, Sir Jackie Stewart, Max Moseley and Bernie Ecclestone, and whether the effort to move the GP to London is really serious, and whether the government truly believes it has a role in spending significant dollars to keep the race at Silverstone. She could also have spent real time exploring the facts -- comparing the public accommodations at Silverstone to other venues. She could have examined the costs it would take to upgrade Silverstone. At the very least, she could have had a single conversation with her former colleague Martin Brundle and told us more about Silverstone and the inner political workings of British motorsport than what makes the book. Instead, we got little more than the public back-and-forth that is already in the newspapers - pretty thin for a book (the quotes are not nearly as colorful as this year's threats by Bernie Ecclestone to strangle Sir Jackie with his kilt).

Likewise -- how about a single, serious interview with Bernie Eccelstone? How about a conversation with any of the big sponsors -- certainly there are enough big sponsors in Britain that the author could have had a penetrating conversation (not a quick sound bite) with one of them. Instead, we get tidbits from cocktail parties and photo shoots with Mark Webber. The author makes clear, over and over, in the book that she is not an F1 insider. But as an author and journalist the author owes us more work before taking our money.

What finally sank this book for me, though, (and merited its one star vs. a higher ranking) is the statement in the final chapter that she left ITV because she was the victim of dirty tricks by her colleagues. Wait a minute! Isn't that the story? We struggle through an entire book of grim anecdotes about boring cocktail parties and in the final few pages she asserts that her career was torpedoed by her colleagues? There are absolutely no facts presented here to support that assertion. Seems to me that either that allegation should be supported and the story told in full, or it should have been deleted entirely. It indicts all her colleagues (are we to suspect them all of ill-doing?) without really making her case. It's a careless way to put a book together, and emblematic of the problems of this book in general.

A final note: some reviewers seem to be forming their opinions of this book based on the book's statements about women. Just to clarify, I agree with the author's points about women. Formula One's record in regards to women seems dreadful, and the fact that it uses scantily clad women as "grid girls" each Sunday seems to advertise to the world that it is proud of its retrograde attitude toward women. The sport would benefit if (a) it bought some clothing for the grid girls and (b) put together a concerted effort to sponsor young women drivers in the lower ranks so that the sport overall would be stronger in future years. Yet: however much one agrees with the author's points about women, it's still not a very well formed book.

The Pits: The Real World of Formula One

Beverley Turner

Reader Reviews:

The Pitts (4/5 people found this helpful)

WELL WORTH READING (8/14 people found this helpful)

A great read. (14/18 people found this helpful)

The Pits (indeed!) (8/18 people found this helpful)

A very weak book; could have been an OK magazine article (35/44 people found this helpful)

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