The Motor Sports category has 41 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 255 ratings. The most-rated is How to Build a Car.
How to Build a Car
Summary
The world's foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain's greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir. How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian's unrivalled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he's been involved. A true engineering genius, even in adolescence Adrian's thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form - he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there have also been deep tragedies: most notably Ayrton Senna's death during his time at Williams in 1994. How to Build a Car encapsulates, through Adrian's remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula One so thrilling - its potential for the total synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style, efficiency and speed. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Adrian Newey (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
Racing to the Finish
Summary
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s only authorized audiobook revealing the inside track on his final year of racing and retirement from the driver’s seat. “Time was running out on my charade…. My secrets were about to be exposed to the world.” It was a seemingly minor crash at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016 that ended the day early for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. What he didn’t know was that it would also end his driving for the year. He’d dealt with concussions before, but concussions are like snowflakes: No two are the same. Recovery can be brutal and lengthy. When NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr., retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but his ability to live a full and happy life. Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend everything was fine, but the private notes about his escalating symptoms that he kept on his phone reveal a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to race again the following weekend. For the first time, he shares these notes and fully reveals the physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on his own terms. In this candid reflection, Earnhardt opens up about his frustration with the slow recovery, his admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all, and his determination to share his own experience so others don’t have to suffer in silence. Steering his way to the final checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race and most rewarding finish of his life.
©2018 DEJ Management, LLC (P)2018 Thomas Nelson
The Mechanic
Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Mechanic written and read by Marc 'Elvis' Priestley. In the high-octane atmosphere of the Formula One pit lane, the spotlight is most often on the superstar drivers. And yet, without the technical knowledge, competitive determination and outright obsession from his garage of mechanics, no driver could possibly hope to claim a spot on the podium. These are the guys who make every world champion, and any mistakes can have critical consequences. That's not to say the F1 crew is just a group of highly skilled technical engineers, tweaking machinery in wind tunnels and crunching data through high-spec computers. These boys can seriously let their hair down. Whether it be parties on luxury yachts in Monaco or elaborate photo opportunities in gravity-defying aeroplanes, this is a world which thrills on and off the track. Join McLaren's former number one mechanic, Marc 'Elvis' Priestley, as he tours the world, revealing some of Formula One's most outrageous secrets and the fiercest rivalries, all fuelled by the determination to win. This is Formula One as you've never seen it before.
©2017 Marc 'Elvis' Priestley (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
Total Competition
Summary
Total Competition is the most compelling, comprehensive and revealing insight into what it takes to get to the top in Formula One that has ever been published. Across four decades, Ross Brawn was one of the most innovative and successful technical directors and then team principals in Formula One. Leading Benetton, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn and Mercedes, he worked with drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to make them world champions. In 2017, he was appointed F1's managing director, motor sports, by the sport's new owners, Liberty Media. Now, in this fascinating book written with Adam Parr (who was CEO and then chairman of Williams for five years), he looks back over his career and methods to assess how he did it and where occasionally he got things wrong. Total Competition is a definitive portrait of modern motorsport. In the book, Brawn and Parr explore the unique pressures of Formula One, their battles with Bernie Ecclestone and the cut-throat world they inhabited, where coming second is never good enough. This book will appeal not only to the millions of Formula One fans who want to understand how Brawn operates; it will also provide many lessons in how to achieve your own business goals.
©2016 Ross Brawn, Adam Parr (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio UK
On the Edge
Summary
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Biography of the Year, 2008. Richard Hammond describes his childhood and adolescence and the emergence of the adrenalin junkie, the first ridiculous stunts on his tricycle, and an increasing and near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol. He finds an attractive girl, Mindy, who shares his interests and helps him organise his high-speed life. For such a lively and intelligent communicator, TV beckons and he becomes one of the daredevil trio, with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, who make such an enormous world-wide success of the revamped BBC-TV programme Top Gear. He describes the personalities, the camaraderie, and the stunts with which they entertain their weekly audiences until the day of his 300 mph crash that took Top Gear off the air and plunged a nation into mourning. The day of the crash, his rescue and the flight to hospital in a coma are described, and then Mindy recounts the anxious waiting until he finally emerges from his coma to immediately pull out all his life-support equipment. Richard then pieces together the stages of recovery as his shattered mind slowly reforms. We learn exactly what happened to him and the milestones in his slow recovery to full health. The final chapter recounts the return to Top Gear and the screening of the events of that fateful day.
©2007 Richard Hammond (P)2007 Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Aussie Grit
Summary
Mark Webber was at the centre of one of the most captivating chapters in the history of Formula One. In 2010, while racing for Red Bull, he and his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, went head to head for the world championship. There could be only one winner. Since retiring from Formula One, Mark has concentrated on endurance racing, including the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race. He hit the front pages of newspapers around the world in December 2014 when he slammed into the barricades in the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in South America and was lucky to escape with his life. But the controversy of his relationship on and off the track with Vettel, who went on to win multiple world titles, has never been far beneath the surface. Here, for the first time, Webber tells the inside story of one of Formula One's most intriguing battles - it is a story that goes to the heart of why the sport is loved by millions of fans around the world. In his trademark straight-talking, no-nonsense style, Mark reveals his amazing life on and off the Formula One racetrack, from his first taste of karting to his F1 debut in 2002, from scoring Minardi's first points in three years at the Australian Grand Prix through to his first win with Red Bull at the 2009 German Grand Prix and the year he should have been crowned world champion. Mark Webber's journey to the top of Formula One was every bit as determined and committed as his racing. Aussie Grit is his searingly honest story. Includes a foreword by Formula One legend Sir Jackie Stewart.
©2016 Mark Webber (P)2016 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
The Man in the White Suit
Summary
The Stig gets his kit off and reveals how he came to be Top Gear's iconic racing driver and so much more - including what it's like to thrash an Aston Martin DBS, train for the Army and face the terror of Jeremy Clarkson's underwear…When the Black Stig disappeared off the end of an aircraft carrier in 2003, we were introduced to The White Stig. Faster. Stranger. Harder to keep clean. And ever since, millions have wondered – who is The Man in the White Suit? They're about to find out. Ben Collins caught the car the bug young, kicking his dad's boss in the balls for not giving him a company Jag. This was the attitude that eventually led him to spend seven years sharing a cabin with Jeremy Clarkson's underwear, James May's PhD thesis and Richard Hammond's hairspray. Because he is The Stig. Now he tells all about life inside the iconic white helmet. What it's like to guide a blind ex-RAF officer around the Top Gear track; pit a drug dealer's Mitsubishi Evo against a Trojan tank; set a Vauxhall Monara against Chloe the dancing Ninja; and race double-decker Route masters against bendy buses. Not to mention all the inside stuff on how the show's amazing driving sequences are made. He also reveals how he got to be there – setting a Dunsfold lap time faster than Michael Schumacher's. Breaking records with the best of the best at Daytona and Le Mans. It's an awesome story, told by an amazing man.
©2010 Ben Collins (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
To Dakar and Back
Summary
Recounting the three weeks of blood, sweat, and tearsthat make up a 7,000 mile journey from the glitzy streets of Paris to the hinterland of northwestern Africa, this incredible tale highlights the most arduous and notorious off-road motorsports event on the planet, the Paris-Dakar Rally. Since its inception in 1979, the rally has attracted more than 3,000 participants from all walks of life. Fully detailing what is considered by many to be one of the world's top five adventures, this book reveals amazing true tales of danger, from blinding sandstorms to endless vistas of towering dunes. Enduring these incredible hardships with perseverance, tenacity, ingenuity, and sometimes tragedy, the adventurers profiled here truly embody the triumphs of the human spirit.
©2008 Lawrence Hacking and Wil De Clercq (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
How to Drive
Summary
Former Top Gear Stig Ben Collins shares expert skills and wisdom refined over a 20-year career as one of the best drivers in the world - from Le Mans Series racing to NASCAR, piloting the Batmobile and dodging bullets with James Bond. Ben's philosophy of anticipation, smoothness and speed, honed over thousands of hours of elite-level performance, is really about economy of motion - which also gives you greater control, safety and fuel efficiency. How to Drive is about driving better, not faster. Whether you've been behind the wheel for the best part of 30 years or you bought your first L-plate 10 seconds ago, this is the stuff your instructor missed, your dad forgot and your mates pretend to know...but don't.
©2015 Ben Collins (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
Road Racer
Summary
Michael Dunlop is quite simply the greatest road racer on the planet. Brother of William, also an accomplished rider, son of the late Robert and nephew of the late great Joey Dunlop, Michael can fairly claim that racing is in his blood. Now for the first time he talks in depth about his family story, how he got involved in the family business and how he manages to keep getting back on his bike despite all he knows of the deadly risks he encounters every time he crosses the start line. The death of his uncle during a competition in Estonia in 2000 was followed just eight years later by the death of his father at the North West 200. But despite these tragic losses, Michael was undeterred, and, two days after his father's death, he returned to the North West - and won. The next year Michael won his first TT, joining both his father and uncle in the record books. Now with 13 TT wins to his name, Michael is a phenomenal competitor, and in this sensational autobiography he reveals the highs and lows of racing, what it was like growing up part of a motorcycle dynasty and how that made him the incredible racing driver he is today.
©2017 Michael Dunlop (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
Guy Martin
Summary
The Phenomenal Sunday Times Number-One Best Seller. "It was the start of the third lap of the 2010 Senior TT, the last race of the fortnight. The last chance to get a TT win for another year, and I was pushing hard. Ballagarey. The kind of corner that makes me continue road racing. A proper man’s corner. You go through the right-hander at something like 170 miles per hour, leant right over, eyes fixed as far down the road as I can see. But this time something happened. This time the front end tucked...." Guy Martin, international road-racing legend, maverick star of the Isle of Man TT, truck mechanic, and TV presenter lives on the edge, addicted to speed, thoroughly exhilarated by danger. In this book we’ll get inside his head as he stares death in the face and risks his life in search of the next high. We’ll discover what it feels like to survive a 170 mile per hour fireball at the TT in 2010 and come back to do it all again. He’ll sweep us up in a gritty sort of glory as he slogs it out for a place on the podium, but we’ll also see him struggle with the flipside of fame. We’ll meet his friends and foes, his family, his teammates and bosses, and we’ll discover what motivates him and where his strengths and weaknesses lie. For the first time, here is the full story in Guy’s own words, from the boy who learned to prep bikes with his dad to the spirited team mechanic paying his way by collecting beer glasses in pubs to the young racer at the start of his first race and the buzz he’s been chasing ever since. This thrilling autobiography is an intense and dramatic ride.
©2014 Guy Martin (P)2010 Random House Audiobooks
The Winning Formula
Summary
How does a pit crew change four wheels in 1.9 seconds? And what does that mean for a company like Blackberry? What is Ron Dennis' secret to good time management? And how can that help TV producers? Why is F1 the perfect example for leadership, motivation and strategy? And what can we learn from it? In The Winning Formula, driver, commentator and entrepreneur David Coulthard opens the doors to the secretive world of F1 and reveals in simple, entertaining and utterly compelling terms how he has been able to master this mind-boggling variety of disciplines by applying the skills honed from his years at the top of the world's most demanding motorsport. By recounting his own stories and combining them with firsthand experience of stellar individuals such as Lewis Hamilton, Ron Dennis, Sir Frank Williams, Christian Horner and Sebastian Vettel, Coulthard provides a fascinating fly-on-the-wall insight into F1 but at the same time offers an invaluable guide to the business of sport and the sport of business.
©2018 David Coulthard (P)2018 Bonnier Publishing
How Not to Be a Professional Racing Driver
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Two-time championship-winning and record-breaking racing driver Jason Plato is a living, breathing example of what you shouldn't do if you want to become a professional racing driver:
Do not:
Almost kill Bernie Ecclestone
Give Prince Charles the finger on the M42
Choose fags and booze over the gym
Steal a JCB in Monaco and end up in prison there - twice
Make enemies with a 6' 6" rival who is a black belt in everything.
Since joining the Williams Touring Car team in 1997 it's no coincidence that he has had more race wins than Lewis Hamilton and Stirling Moss, competed in more races than Jenson Button and set the largest number of fastest laps ever. But it's also no coincidence that he once spent several days in prison in Monaco for stealing a JCB. He's a rule breaker who has had more than his fair share of near-death experiences, drunken escapades and more. Yet he's still racing.
There is nothing sensible, predictable or considered about Jason, but this is how he became a racing legend.
©2019 Jason Plato (P)2019 Penguin Audio
From Para to Dakar
Summary
"I’ve realised that when things are really tough and there seems no hope for the future, it’s sometimes just Chapter One of a really cool story, and the ending is entirely up to you." Joey Evans has always loved bikes, from his first second-hand Raleigh Strika at the age of six to the powerful off-road machines that became his passion later on in his life. His dream was one day to ride the most gruelling off-road race in the world, the 9000km Dakar Rally. In 2007 his dream was shattered when he broke his back in a racing accident. His spinal cord was crushed, leaving him paralysed from just below his chest. Doctors gave him a 10 per cent chance of ever walking again. Many would have given up and become resigned to life in a wheelchair, but not Joey Evans. Not only would he get back on his feet and walk, but he would also keep his Dakar dream alive. It was a long and painful road to recovery, involving years of intensive rehabilitation and training, but he had the love and support of both family and friends and an incredible amount of determination. Joey shares the many challenges he and his family faced, relating the setbacks, as well as successes, along the way to the Dakar start line. But the start line was only the first goa. His sights were set on reaching the finish line, which he did in 2017, the only South African to do so. From Para to Dakar is so much more than the story of one man reaching the Dakar finish line. It is a story of friendship and respect, compassion and kindness. It is about defying the odds to reach a dream, it is about grit, endurance and raw courage, and it is inspiring in its true heroism.
©2017 Joey Evans (P)2019 Joey Evans
Life in the Fast Lane
Summary
Over the past two decades, Life in the Fast Lane has grown to become a true staple of Formula 1 literature. In essence a monthly diary of a Benetton grand prix mechanic, this essential book gives a behind-the-scenes account of daily life in the trenches of F1 during the tragic and turbulent 1994 season.
The author's unique point-of-view makes this book indispensable listening for any serious motor racing enthusiast. But Life in the Fast Lane is much more than an intelligently written, informative diary of this highly exclusive multimillion-dollar world. Its remarkable insider setting, its exceptional subject matter, its unfolding tension, its ease of narration - all of these thrilling ingredients - have been wonderfully blended, mixed together to be truly captivating. From January through to December, the enthralled listener is simply compelled to follow the author's stunning racing year from start to finish.
Written and narrated by popular author and Formula 1 television personality, Steve Matchett, Life in the Fast Lane is Matchett's first book (three more soon followed), and its immediate success proved the catalyst to take him from a life in the pit lanes of F1 to a new life in America. For the past 20 years, he has been a broadcaster with FOX and NBC television, and now is an eloquent narrator of his own audiobooks. However, he was unknown outside of his highly clandestine industry. He was a Formula 1 race mechanic, a member of the Benetton grand prix team working alongside celebrities like Flavio Briatore, Michael Schumacher, and Ross Brawn. His fast-paced story of the frantic, unending backstage activity to become the fastest and best in the world gives a fascinating, unparalleled insight into Formula 1 during some of its darkest and most difficult days.
©1995 Steve Matchett (P)2018 Steve Matchett
Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken
Summary
The voice of motor racing - and the man responsible for introducing millions of viewers to the previously inaccessible world of Formula 1 - tells the story of his incident-packed life. Murray Walker is an institution. When the man who made famous the catchphrase 'Unless I'm very much mistaken... I AM very much mistaken!!!' announced that he was retiring as ITV's Grand Prix commentator at the end of the 2001 season, the media reacted as if the sport itself was losing one of its biggest stars. His reputation for mistakes was the making of Walker. He was the fan who happened to be given the keys to the commentary box - and never wanted to give them back. His high-octane delivery kept viewers on the edge of their seats, while his passion for talking about the sport he loved was matched by an all-encompassing knowledge gained through hours of painstaking research before every race. In fact he's a throwback to another age who managed to survive and indeed prosper from the revolutions in motor racing. Murray writes about his childhood and the influence that his father, British motorcycle champion Graham Walker, had on his career. Failing to match his father's achievements on the track, he made a successful career for himself in advertising which catapulted him to the top of his profession. An offer from the BBC to take over the commentary seat for their F1 broadcasts was manna from heaven for Walker, and it wasn't long before the infamous 'Murrayisms' enlivened a sport which until then had been shrouded in a cloak of unfathomable technical jargon and mind-numbing statistics. He also talks about the biggest changes in the sport over the last 50 years, in particular the safety issues which came to the fore after the tragic death of Ayrton Senna. His partnership with James Hunt behind the microphone is the subject of some hilarious anecdotes, while his views on drivers make for fascinating listening.
©2002 Murray Walker (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers
The Carroll Shelby Story
Summary
Carroll Shelby wasn’t born to run. He was born to race - some of the fastest cars ever to tear up a speedway. The exciting new feature film Ford v Ferrari - starring Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as fellow racer Ken Miles - immortalizes the small-town Texas boy who won the notorious Le Mans 24-hour endurance challenge and changed the face of auto racing with the legendary Shelby Cobra. But there’s much more to his high-velocity, history-making story. A wizard behind the wheel, he was also a visionary designer of speed machines that ruled the racetrack and the road. While his GT40s racked up victories in the world’s most prestigious professional racing showdowns, his masterpiece, the Ford Cobra, gave Europe’s formidable Ferrari an American-style run for its money. If you’ve got a need for speed, strap in next to the man who put his foot down on the pedal, kept his eyes on the prize, and never looked back.
©1965, 1967 Carroll Shelby and Lyle Kenyon Engel (P)2019 Graymalkin Media LLC
Dream. Believe. Achieve
Summary
"If I had to lose my record to anyone, I couldn’t be happier that it was Jonathan. Family connections aside, there is nobody more talented, more determined or more deserving." (Carl Fogarty) Within the staggeringly dangerous and high-pressure sport of professional motorcycling, Jonathan Rea’s achievements are unprecedented. A legendary World Superbike Champion with more race wins than any rider in history, Rea’s trailblazing success shows no sign of slowing down. Now, for the first time, this remarkable sportsman tracks his life and career. Seemingly destined for the racing world, Jonathan grew up in the paddocks - his grandfather was the first sponsor of five-time World Champion Joey Dunlop, and his dad was a former Isle of Man TT winner. He owned his first bike before his hands were big enough to reach the brakes. But while racing may be in his blood, it is through sheer determination and relentless perseverance that Rea has gained huge victories in this ultracompetitive world. Topping several of the most prestigious motorcycling championships, he rules the sport - so much so that regulations are being introduced to curb his dominance. The fact that Rea has endured several potentially career-ending scrapes - including smashing his femur at the age of 17 and being told that he would never race again - makes his achievements even more incredible. 'Dream. Believe. Achieve' is Rea’s mantra, and in this gripping autobiography, we go behind the visor and into the mind of a man who has risen to the top of one of the most skilled and dangerous sports in the world.
©2018 Jonathan Rea (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Land Rover
Summary
As quintessentially British as a plate of fish and chips or a British bulldog, the boxy, utilitarian Land Rover Defender has become an iconic part of what it is to be British. It is said that for more than half the world's population, the first car they ever saw was a Land Rover Defender. It mirrors many of our national traits - stiff upper-lipped and slightly eccentric. The car has remained relatively unchanged for nearly seven decades and has spawned an industry that includes dozens of publications, car shows, clubs, associations and even model car collectors who dedicate their lives to the Land Rover. To understand this national love affair, Ben has travelled the length of the British Isles in an old series one Land Rover, spending time with Defender enthusiast Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the Royal Marines and the Dartmoor search-and-rescue teams. His journey continues via the Bristol dockyard from where thousands of Defenders are dispatched around the world and onto the Western Isles of Scotland and Islay, the island used as a testing ground by Spencer Wilks in 1947 to put several of the early series Land Rover prototypes through their paces. After 67 years and 2 million vehicles, the Land Rover Defender has ceased production, and this book is a fitting tribute to this most British institution, which has stood as a beacon of durability and Britishness across the world. Every Land Rover has its own unique story to tell. This is the story of the world's favourite car.
©2016 Ben Fogle (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
50 Wild Motorcycle Tales
Summary
This audiobook is based on user submissions received by Walter F. Kern during his stint at the Motorcycles Guide at About.com, and also during his current assignment as editor of Motorcycle Views, which he founded. This book is an anthology of motorcycle stories. These 50 motorcycle tales were submitted to the author over a 13-year period by a wide range of motorcyclists from all walks of life. These authors tell their own personal stories of what happened to them as they rode their motorcycles. Some tales are very short, and some are very long. You may find the stories of some authors grouped together. Each tale was intensively edited to provide a good listening experience. You'll find humor, risk-taking, adventures, poetry, rhyming verse, two-up excursions, world travelers, stupid tricks on bikes, lessons learned, winter riding perils, hazards while riding, and stories told by returning riders. Walter wrote five of these stories. Two of his stories relate his experiences on his motorcycle trips. Two stories are fictional children's stories that involve fantasy and motorcycles. The last story is a short fictional tale that describes an alternate world of motorcycles.
©2014 Walter F. Kern (P)2015 Walter F. Kern