Too Fast A Life

by Martin Shepherd

A lightly fictionalised account of the loves and losses of Britain's first World Motor Racing Champion.MIKE HAWTHORN, BRITAIN’S FIRST WORLD MOTOR RACING CHAMPION, was internationally famous by the time of his death. The dashing young Englishman had just won an epic battle for the title against Stirling Moss in a classic last race duel; similar to that between James Hunt and Nicki Lauda in 1976, and Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2014.However, back in the 1950s, Formula 1 was a quasi-amateur sport, in which prizes were modest, the risk of death unimaginably high and where there was scant reporting of the drivers’ off-track activities.Mike’s penchant for fast driving was matched by an appetite for pretty girls, beer, aeroplanes and practical jokes – all of which got him into a great many scrapes. What usually got him out was his charm.In this re-telling of Mike’s story, 'Too Fast A Life' endeavours to paint an unbiased picture of a troubled young man, focusing more on feelings than feeler-gauges, and uniquely questions whether his life could have ended differently.

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 12, 2015

About the author

Attained an MA in Creative Writing at the tender age of 54, having spent most of my adult life writing which commenced: Dear Sir/Madam or Mr/Ms.
I wrote Too Fast A Life very slowly, as my prior knowledge of the subject was practically zero, and I can only type with two fingers.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the research - the stories, to which I hope I have done justice, were and are terrific and tragic in almost equal measure.
What I wanted to do was to immerse the reader in one man's struggle to lift the World Motor Racing Champion's Trophy, whilst coming to terms with his massive personal difficulties and loss of close friends.
It also aims to show the difference between life and values of sixty years ago and today - and just how dangerous was motor racing back then.
It's essentially a non-fiction biography with a few liberties taken in terms of incidental occurrences and dialogue. The fact that it has been met with widespread approval from friends and contemporaries of Mike Hawthorn heartens me greatly. It's a biggish paperback, so the Kindle version might be deemed better value:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Too-Fast-Life...

Reviews

[Michael Prophet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Racing

A great book for classic racing enthusiasts . Brings back the real hardship of racing in the 50's with all the famous drivers