www.eoinyoung.com
Eoin Young's Collector's Column no. 11
My New Book.
My
new book on New Zealand drivers, cars and races "CLASSIC RACERS" is
now available as a signed numbered edition of only twenty copies,
specially hardbound in claret cloth (so that it doesn't show wine
stains - I may patent this feature) with gold titling to cover and
spine. The original 248-page edition was paperback. A
bookplate in the flyleaf has been signed by Sir Tom Clark, Chris
Amon, Ross Jensen, Howden Ganley and Ernie Sprague. This special
collector's edition is available at $NZ245 (approx. £82) from
Fazazz, P.O. Box 22-642, Christchurch, New Zealand. Fax: +64
(0)3 3666 244.
Bernie's
New Book
I never thought Id ever get to read it. Bernie Ecclestone
probably thought so, too. Bernie is a careful sort of cove when it comes
to other people knowing about the multi-billion dollar way he masterminds Grand
Prix racing and there have been several previous books on his life that have
never made it to the marketplace. 'Bernie's Game' is a biography by Terry
Lovell, a former national newspaper investigative reporter, who has probably
never been nearer than his TV to a formula 1 race! and never will, if he's
wise. It reads as though Lovell did a Fleet Street 'at home' interview
with Bernie and his wife Slavica, now the richest woman in Britain, got all
the quotes, used it as a final chapter! and then built a book on top
of it. I doubt that he would be welcome chez Ecclestone now. The
early stages of the book are fascinating as it traces Bernie's early days in
building his business empire from two wheels in a modest way to four wheels
and then on up into the financial stratosphere. I once heard that Bernie
said he made a warm friend- and an awful enemy. But that quote seems
to have escaped Lovell. It comes across that Lovell is more at home with
commercial intrigue so the racing side is thin at best. It reads more
like a company report than what could have been the first inside story on the
biggest little man in motorsport that ever made it between hard covers.
I
wonder how the arrival of this Bernie book will affect the 'authorised' biography
being written by Prof. Watkins' wife, an accomplished writer whose last book
was on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots? My mate Alan Henry is also well
on with a book on Bernie and Max ("The Power Brokers - The Inside Track on
the Controllers of Formula 1" due in September) which promises to be a better
read since he grew up with them in a motor racing way of looking at things,
is aware how they started and the way that success came upon them and how they
handled it. "My book doesn't quite get so bogged down in what-a-bastard-Bernie-is,'
says Henry. "It's more a gentle satire on the whole team-owners/Ecclestone/Mosley
situation."
Back
to Lovell's tome. I liked his mentions of Bernie and aeroplanes. In
his time as Jochen Rindt's manager, Bernie owned a B.125 twin-engined Beagle
Bulldog. When the Beagle company went under, Bernie bought one of the
planes at auction and sold it to Max Mosley for March Engineering. It
never passed its Certificate of Airworthiness. 'Ecclestone's comment
suggested that Mosley should have looked on the bright side: "At least
it didn't cost much to run"
Then
there was the flight from Melbourne to Adelaide in an executive jet owned by
Shell. A massive explosion at 2000 ft put one engine out and wrecked
the hydraulics and the pilot had to make an emergency landing. 'First
thoughts were of an attempt on Ecclestone's life. It was an incident
to which, Ecclestone claimed, he was indifferent. "He (the pilot) said
to me, 'I looked around and you were reading a magazine." Well, I said
I couldn't fix the engine, what could I do? They were paid to worry about
landing the plane, not me. That was their problem."
Reminds
me of riding with Murray Walker in a Ford-hired helicopter to a special stage
on the Rally of New Zealand last year. He told me that the first time
he ever went in a helicopter he was terrified, clutched to his seat! -and I
was sitting alongside reading a book!
Final
Bernie aviation story. One would have thought that Max might have been
wary about buying flying machines from Ecclestone having been that route once
already. Bernie and Max by now are at the top in the FIA corridors of
power. Lovell writes: "Ecclestone was said to be of the opinion
that Mosley didn't need to be paid, but that a private executive plane for
his use would make his job easier. It so happened that he had a Falcon
jet for sale, which was duly purchased for about $2.5-million. Mosley
used it for several years before it was sold, to be replaced by a Learjet 31
hired from Ecclestone, an arrangement that was superseded by the purchase in
2002 of a Learjet 60, again purchased from Ecclestone."
There
are fascinating insights into areas such as Nicola Foulston's extremely profitable
and brief ownership of the British Grand Prix, and the way the U.S. Grand Prix
was traded from coast to coast until it finally settled at Indianapolis.
It's
almost worth the cover price for the early photographs of Bernie as racer in
a Cooper 500 with his immaculate white overalls. Then there is the shot
of Bernie as car dealer with a Studebaker. B.C.E. is shown in a sharp
dark double-breasted suit, hand on hip, leaning against the big American car. A
submachine gun would not look out of place as a prop. Would you buy a
used car from this man? Read the book!
Eoin Young.
To read previous columns click on the links below:
1. SCRAPBOOKS and THE EDDIE HALL PHOTO ALBUM MYSTERY
2. GOODWOOD CIRCUIT REVIVAL 2001
3. SPRING RACING IN NEW ZEALAND
5. "CHASING THE TITLE"- A 'must-read' book...
8. NEW BOOKS, PRESCOTT AND GOODWOOD 2002
10. CLASSIC RACERS, FORZA AMON! and COLIN CHAPMAN
11. MY NEW BOOK... & BERNIE'S NEW BOOK
12. SELLING AT GOODWOOD AND BUYING AT BEAULIEU
13. TARGA NEW ZEALAND, BRABHAM ON SCHUMACHER, AMON ON CLARK
15. PUSHING BUTTONS; F1 DRIVER SHUFFLES
17. EXCITING COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN WARSAW
20. "FORZA AMON" COLLECTOR'S EDITION
21. DURANT RECORD BREAKING RUN
Eoin Young is a
New Zealander
who left a bank job to join Bruce McLaren and help set up his racing
team.
More or less. He arrived in the UK in 1961 as a freelance journalist,
covered
the Formula Junior season with Denny Hulme, joined McLaren in 1962.
Founder
director of team. Established Motormedia 1966. Started weekly "Autocar" diary
page in 1967 -- it ran until 1998. Covered CanAm, Indy and GP series.
In 1979 established as a dealer in rare motoring and motor racing books
and ephemera. Still trading with regular lists. Autobiography "It
Beats Working" published in 1996. with its sequel "It Still beats
Working"
in 2003. After more than three decades based in the UK he has now returned
to his native New Zealand.
The stock of
Motor racing
books and ephemera is constantly changing.
Click
here to view the current catalogue.
