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Speedwheels 3000: The Race Against Crime
The high-speed, family-bonding road trip adventure of a lifetime, from bestselling and award-winning author Jenny Pearson.
Evie Clutterbuck is ready for the adventure of a lifetime! She's joining her dad on the Speedwheels 3000 - the most exciting, most famous, most bonkers car race in the whole world, driving through seven countries and competing in challenges in their trusty car, Toots.
There are just a few small problems:
*Evie's not supposed to have snuck into the car boot.
*She and her dad have been accused of stealing £4 million worth of gold.
*Their car is currently dangling off the edge of a cliff.
Can Evie solve the mystery of the gold robbery, get the race back on track and connect with her distant dad, so that together, they can become the Ultimate Speedwheels Racing Champions?
Evie Clutterbuck is ready for the adventure of a lifetime! She's joining her dad on the Speedwheels 3000 - the most exciting, most famous, most bonkers car race in the whole world, driving through seven countries and competing in challenges in their trusty car, Toots.
There are just a few small problems:
*Evie's not supposed to have snuck into the car boot.
*She and her dad have been accused of stealing £4 million worth of gold.
*Their car is currently dangling off the edge of a cliff.
Can Evie solve the mystery of the gold robbery, get the race back on track and connect with her distant dad, so that together, they can become the Ultimate Speedwheels Racing Champions?
352 pages, Paperback
First published February 13, 2025
About the author
Jenny Pearson
42 books101 followersJenny Pearson is a technical writer and an artist who loves to write and draw. She enjoys working with kids, whether it's engaging them with arts and crafts activities, helping them learn basic concepts, or just inspiring cute moments. With loads of patience, sunny smiles, and a healthy dose of kindness, almost any day can be a great day.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 17, 2025
Evie Clutterbuck wants to join her Dad on the Speedwheels 3000 race. He does it every year. It's held at the same time as her older brother Timmy, who she never met, died after getting sick. It seems to Evie it gives Dad the opportunity to avoid talking about it. Although Mum's not much better she is currently campaigning for slowworms in the local field!
Speedwheels 3000 is a race over 3000 miles, with challenges at checkpoints. Evie's dad Tony has never won. Evie tells us all about the other drivers and their skills.
Evie asks them both and the answer is no. She's too young, she's 11. It's too dangerous. He does it on his own with his car, Toots. But Evie has a plan, Mum isn't go to see him off so she can go to the start and his away in the boot until they get to France! It'll be too late when she's there.
Dad is not pleased when at a checkpoint Evie is found in the boot!
But she gets to stay - although he 's even more annoyed she threw his suitcase out in order to fit in! He has the pants and race suit he's wearing nothing else!
So their journey begins, the first challenge isn't bad.
But they are very late getting to the checkpoint in Zurich and the challenge is difficult, although they get there in the end but have a calamity with it! However, in Switzerland there is a gold robbery from a bank and the perpetrator is seen heading towards the hotel used by the Speedwheels hotel. From that day Toots is very sluggish...
There is a wildlife hold up on the main road to Prague! But the Prague challenge...oh no!
Evie continues collecting notes about who among the Speedwheels drivers could be responsible for the theft. But it's confusing. In the hotel,
The next challenge is to transport a massive statue in a trailer. Dad says Toots won't even be able to pull it! The Viking has only got flowers and Caroline has a dog.
But that day... they are followed by a blacked out 4x4. They go cross country and literally hide in a bush! Evie is so happy they can go wild camping now! When they go to get Dad's protein packs out of the boot....
Hilarity continues as they try to make it to Monaco. Can Dad win? Will they make it? Who is the gold thief?
The story is very Jenny Pearson! It has some serious moments concerning Evie and her parents feelings and the relationship between Evie and her Dad, amid the hilarity of a race across Europe. I loved it! The cover illustration by Katie Kear and the inside illustrations (super funny) by Nick East add to the fun in this book. I recently read The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates and this is easily as much fun.
Thanks to Jessica at Usborne for the advance ecopy.
Speedwheels 3000 is a race over 3000 miles, with challenges at checkpoints. Evie's dad Tony has never won. Evie tells us all about the other drivers and their skills.
Evie asks them both and the answer is no. She's too young, she's 11. It's too dangerous. He does it on his own with his car, Toots. But Evie has a plan, Mum isn't go to see him off so she can go to the start and his away in the boot until they get to France! It'll be too late when she's there.
Dad is not pleased when at a checkpoint Evie is found in the boot!
But she gets to stay - although he 's even more annoyed she threw his suitcase out in order to fit in! He has the pants and race suit he's wearing nothing else!
So their journey begins, the first challenge isn't bad.
But they are very late getting to the checkpoint in Zurich and the challenge is difficult, although they get there in the end but have a calamity with it! However, in Switzerland there is a gold robbery from a bank and the perpetrator is seen heading towards the hotel used by the Speedwheels hotel. From that day Toots is very sluggish...
There is a wildlife hold up on the main road to Prague! But the Prague challenge...oh no!
Evie continues collecting notes about who among the Speedwheels drivers could be responsible for the theft. But it's confusing. In the hotel,
The next challenge is to transport a massive statue in a trailer. Dad says Toots won't even be able to pull it! The Viking has only got flowers and Caroline has a dog.
But that day... they are followed by a blacked out 4x4. They go cross country and literally hide in a bush! Evie is so happy they can go wild camping now! When they go to get Dad's protein packs out of the boot....
Hilarity continues as they try to make it to Monaco. Can Dad win? Will they make it? Who is the gold thief?
The story is very Jenny Pearson! It has some serious moments concerning Evie and her parents feelings and the relationship between Evie and her Dad, amid the hilarity of a race across Europe. I loved it! The cover illustration by Katie Kear and the inside illustrations (super funny) by Nick East add to the fun in this book. I recently read The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates and this is easily as much fun.
Thanks to Jessica at Usborne for the advance ecopy.
March 15, 2025
Quite joyously, this starts with not just a cliffhanger, but the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers – a vehicle, perched on the edge of a cliff, with a load of stolen gold in the back and the engine the other end acting as counterbalance. Even more joyously, there is a dog – and even some birds, we learn – to factor in too. Flippin' annoyingly, we're reminded of this status every five pages of the mahoosive flashback that leads us to that point. There is repetitive, and there is repetitive – and there are these pages.
What the flashback concerns is the wacky motorcar race across Europe, where Evie stows away in the boot until her dad and the car are across the Channel and there's no turning back. Evie is a young lass determined to help her slightly hapless dad win the thing for once, despite – and of course because of – her parents' cushioning of her from all things slightly risky. You see, her older brother died at a young age, the race always coincides with the anniversary of his loss, and the dad is forever deflecting from that and geeing himself up for the race – while clearly proving to Evie that that is more important than her.
That is an aspect of the story that is done rather well – if, er, repetitively. The rest of the drama is more of a one-note pell-mell adventure, slightly wacky, slightly quirky, and full of the ins and outs of the race and its nefarious contestants. Dad and Evie encounter no end of dodgy tricks – with them often the target, despite the risk to the young lass. And we're forever never more than a page or two away from some foreshadowing about the next disaster, or the ultimate one with the cliff and the gold and the repetition.
And that might be fine, if it had been at all limited. I mean, this is a narrator who says "I don't know why people do that – focus on the bad things", before focusing on all the bad things for the entire book as she tries to solve the case of the gold – and remind us of where we are as if we have the attention span of a lobotomised leek. Her foreshadowing is off the charts, despite her also saying "Although I shouldn't get ahead of myself…".
Some of it you can't make up. The trivia factoids that launch most chapters you can't make up, but you can't ignore how intrusive they are, either. Oh, and why does she suddenly start using the word "Knickers" as a curse at a certain point, long, long after it became appropriate? No, this is inventive and fun, but very poorly produced and exceedingly rum, all told. Oh, and did I say it repeated itself?
What the flashback concerns is the wacky motorcar race across Europe, where Evie stows away in the boot until her dad and the car are across the Channel and there's no turning back. Evie is a young lass determined to help her slightly hapless dad win the thing for once, despite – and of course because of – her parents' cushioning of her from all things slightly risky. You see, her older brother died at a young age, the race always coincides with the anniversary of his loss, and the dad is forever deflecting from that and geeing himself up for the race – while clearly proving to Evie that that is more important than her.
That is an aspect of the story that is done rather well – if, er, repetitively. The rest of the drama is more of a one-note pell-mell adventure, slightly wacky, slightly quirky, and full of the ins and outs of the race and its nefarious contestants. Dad and Evie encounter no end of dodgy tricks – with them often the target, despite the risk to the young lass. And we're forever never more than a page or two away from some foreshadowing about the next disaster, or the ultimate one with the cliff and the gold and the repetition.
And that might be fine, if it had been at all limited. I mean, this is a narrator who says "I don't know why people do that – focus on the bad things", before focusing on all the bad things for the entire book as she tries to solve the case of the gold – and remind us of where we are as if we have the attention span of a lobotomised leek. Her foreshadowing is off the charts, despite her also saying "Although I shouldn't get ahead of myself…".
Some of it you can't make up. The trivia factoids that launch most chapters you can't make up, but you can't ignore how intrusive they are, either. Oh, and why does she suddenly start using the word "Knickers" as a curse at a certain point, long, long after it became appropriate? No, this is inventive and fun, but very poorly produced and exceedingly rum, all told. Oh, and did I say it repeated itself?
February 20, 2025
Brilliantly entertaining and heartfelt racecar mystery and family story.
Fast becoming a new favourite of mine, this new Pearson title had everything - family drama, racing cars, robberies, dogs, chases, a heroine talking to us from a dangling clifftop point in her narrative.
Yep, Evie Clutterbuck spends the majority of the book relating how she and her dad got to this rather precarious position - Evie admits she stowed away in his racing car's boot when he set off for another attempt at the Speedwheels 3000 European competition, hoping to get some of his attention (missing since the sad death of her big brother before she was born). Now his navigator and companion, they realise someone is out to get them (emptied fuel tank, cancelled alarm calls) - but then it gets worse as Evie tells us there's also a robbery's worth of gold in their car as well.
This sped along at the speed of... well, a racing car. Tony is a relatable parent (certainly as one of those myself) who is pushing all his emotions and time into his passion to stop himself breaking down with grief. Evie sees it and loves him and is trying to get through to him as his daughter.
Their relationship is sweetly portrayed, and Evie's sunny determination to win her dad's attention - and his race - will see readers cheering them on.
It's exciting, moving, and the mystery of 'who' and 'why' among the selection of fantastic competitors (elderly French cod liver oil-sponsored lady? Viking Helmeted driver?) keeps the pages turning.
With maps, racing data, facts and Evie's constant future self giving hints along the way, this zooms before the eyes. Loved it. Lump in throat a couple of times too.
For ages 8-14.
With thanks to the publisher for providing a sample reading copy.
Fast becoming a new favourite of mine, this new Pearson title had everything - family drama, racing cars, robberies, dogs, chases, a heroine talking to us from a dangling clifftop point in her narrative.
Yep, Evie Clutterbuck spends the majority of the book relating how she and her dad got to this rather precarious position - Evie admits she stowed away in his racing car's boot when he set off for another attempt at the Speedwheels 3000 European competition, hoping to get some of his attention (missing since the sad death of her big brother before she was born). Now his navigator and companion, they realise someone is out to get them (emptied fuel tank, cancelled alarm calls) - but then it gets worse as Evie tells us there's also a robbery's worth of gold in their car as well.
This sped along at the speed of... well, a racing car. Tony is a relatable parent (certainly as one of those myself) who is pushing all his emotions and time into his passion to stop himself breaking down with grief. Evie sees it and loves him and is trying to get through to him as his daughter.
Their relationship is sweetly portrayed, and Evie's sunny determination to win her dad's attention - and his race - will see readers cheering them on.
It's exciting, moving, and the mystery of 'who' and 'why' among the selection of fantastic competitors (elderly French cod liver oil-sponsored lady? Viking Helmeted driver?) keeps the pages turning.
With maps, racing data, facts and Evie's constant future self giving hints along the way, this zooms before the eyes. Loved it. Lump in throat a couple of times too.
For ages 8-14.
With thanks to the publisher for providing a sample reading copy.
January 28, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Usborne Publishing for this eCopy to review
"Speedwheels 3000: The Race Against Crime" by Jenny Pearson, is an absolute thrill from start to finish. The novel follows the high-speed, family-bonding adventure of Evie Clutterbuck and her dad as they participate in the Speedwheels 3000, the most exciting and bonkers car race in the world.
Evie, who sneaks into the car boot to join her dad, finds herself in the midst of a wild ride through seven countries. The stakes are high as they are accused of stealing £4 million worth of gold, and their car, Toots, is precariously dangling off the edge of a cliff. The plot is packed with action, mystery, and heart warming moments that kept me hooked throughout.
What I loved most about this book was the dynamic between Evie and her dad. Their relationship is beautifully portrayed, full of love and humour. Evie's determination to solve the mystery of the gold robbery and clear their names adds an exciting layer to the story. The challenges and adventures they face during the race are imaginative and fun, keeping me on my toes.
It's a fantastic read for anyone who loves adventure, mystery, and heart warming family stories. If you're looking for a book that will keep you entertained and leave you with a smile, this one is definitely worth picking up.
"Speedwheels 3000: The Race Against Crime" by Jenny Pearson, is an absolute thrill from start to finish. The novel follows the high-speed, family-bonding adventure of Evie Clutterbuck and her dad as they participate in the Speedwheels 3000, the most exciting and bonkers car race in the world.
Evie, who sneaks into the car boot to join her dad, finds herself in the midst of a wild ride through seven countries. The stakes are high as they are accused of stealing £4 million worth of gold, and their car, Toots, is precariously dangling off the edge of a cliff. The plot is packed with action, mystery, and heart warming moments that kept me hooked throughout.
What I loved most about this book was the dynamic between Evie and her dad. Their relationship is beautifully portrayed, full of love and humour. Evie's determination to solve the mystery of the gold robbery and clear their names adds an exciting layer to the story. The challenges and adventures they face during the race are imaginative and fun, keeping me on my toes.
It's a fantastic read for anyone who loves adventure, mystery, and heart warming family stories. If you're looking for a book that will keep you entertained and leave you with a smile, this one is definitely worth picking up.
November 3, 2024
What an adventure! Evie and her dad enter the Speedwheels 3000 and anything that could happen, does! There's racing with paddling pools of water on the roof, car chases, mishaps with statues and so much more! I laughed out loud in places and also had a tear in my eye. The best bit of the story was seeing the realtionship between Evie and her dad grow. There have been some challenges in the past and they eventually talk about them and build their relationship. This is a fabulous story and I'm definitely buying it for school when it's out.
January 27, 2025
This was a throughly enjoyable read about a young girl called Evie. Evie wants to go with her dad on his race around Europe, but she’s not allowed. She sneaks into the boot of the car and she’s off on a fun filled adventure. This story will be great for the adventure seeking kids, it’s funny and full of lovely illustrations. Evie is a likeable character and she will relate to many children. I liked the outcome of the story and family spending time together. A daring adventurous 5 star read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.
December 25, 2024
This was a proper rip-roaring adventure around Europe. Car racing, a mystery to be solved and a gorgeous father-daughter relationship. This actually made me laugh out loud a NUMBER of times. Jenny Pearson is just brilliant!
July 27, 2025
Soo good
July 30, 2026
It's pretty slow paced but it was such a twist when Caroline was actually saving her daughter Bella
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2025
3.75 stars. Another of Jenny's fun adventures. Moving and heartwarming ending.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews