My Greatest Defeat: Stories of hardship and hope from motor racing’s finest heroes

by Will Buxton

My Greatest Defeat is a collection of honest and revealing insights into 20 of the greatest living racing drivers, legends of the worlds of Formula 1, Indycar, NASCAR, Le Mans and Rally. Interviews conducted specially for this book are with (in alphabetical order) Mario Andretti, Derek Bell, Emerson Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti, Jeff Gordon, Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill, Jimmie Johnson, Tom Kristensen, Niki Lauda, Sebastien Loeb, Felipe Massa, Rick Mears, Emanuele Pirro, Alain Prost, Carlos Sainz, Jackie Stewart, Bobby Unser, Ari Vatanen and Alex Zanardi. Here are five highlights… Striking portrait artworks come from a revered artist in modern comic book design, Giuseppe ‘Cammo’ Camuncoli, who is renowned for the dark, brooding style that has seen him become a staple in the Vertigo, DC and Marvel stables.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Racing, Cars

336 pages, Hardcover

Published July 30, 2019

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stories giving insight into the drivers. But the whole time I was reading it, I was wishing it were just a series of videos with Will and the driver talking to each other. The transcribed question/answer format didn't work well for me.

[Thomas Harrison-Lord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even as a diehard motorsport fan, I learnt a great deal reading this collection of interviews. Not just about racing, but life lessons too.

[Liiz_cita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keďže formulová sezóna skončila a na tú novú si musíme ešte chvíľu počkať, oveľa častejšie siaham po knihách s tematikou motoršportu. A kniha Moja najväčšia prehra bola presne tým, čo som potrebovala. Táto fascinujúca zbierka 20 rozhovorov s pretekármi nielen z Formuly 1, ale aj z ďalších prestížnych disciplín motoršportu, ponúka oveľa viac ako len pohľad na svet rýchlych áut – odhaľuje ľudskosť a zraniteľnosť týchto športových legiend.

Každý z dvadsiatich rozhovorov odkrýva človeka, ktorý stojí za známym menom a športovými úspechmi. Sú to príbehy o prekonávaní strát, vyrovnávaní sa s nehodami a vnútornými konfliktmi. Kniha ukazuje, ako sa títo pretekári museli vyrovnať nielen s fyzickými následkami svojich pádov, ale aj s psychickými jazvami, ktoré boli mnohokrát hlbšie. Zaujalo ma, že popri dramatických momentoch na trati sa autorovi podarilo zachytiť aj to, aký dopad má tento šport na rodiny a najbližších týchto jazdcov.

Príbehy, hoci rozličné, majú spoločné posolstvo – vytrvalosť, pokoru a nezlomné odhodlanie prekonať ťažké časy. Mnoho rozhovorov ma motivovalo a ukázalo mi, že aj najväčšie hviezdy motoršportu museli prejsť bolestivou cestou, aby dosiahli svoje úspechy. Oceňujem, že sa autorovi podarilo predstaviť aj jazdcov, ktorých som predtým nepoznala, a spravil to tak, aby ich príbehy boli zrozumiteľné aj pre laikov.

Kniha ma milo prekvapila svojou hĺbkou a úprimnosťou. Nie je to len zbierka faktov alebo suchých rozhovorov – je to pohlcujúce čítanie, ktoré osloví fanúšikov motoršportu aj tých, ktorí hľadajú inšpiratívne príbehy o sile ľudskej vôle. Ak hľadáte niečo, čím si spríjemniť čakanie na ďalšiu sezónu, toto je skvelá voľba.

[Jerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I really did. Everyone else seems to. 4.3 stars on Goodreads is a very high rating. I have recently become a Formula 1 racing fan, and admire Will Buxton as really the face of F1. I thought the book would be filled with stories of intrigue and death-defying odds.

And it was, kind of. But it was much more low-key than I anticipated. The entire book is simply written interviews with some of the greatest racers of all times, focusing specifically on some of the low points in their careers.

And some of it was interesting, to be sure. But mostly, it was boring. I'm not sure if it was the format, or the fact that so many of their stories were similar to each other, or maybe I'm just not enough of a fan yet. But it took me two months to read the book because I was never strongly motivated to continue reading.

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I noticed Amazon and Goodreads have a slightly different meanings to their 5-point scale. I thought it was odd to have a different rating for the same book on two different sites, so I came up with my own scale below. For the record, it is fairly close to Amazon's scale, but allows me to be consistent between the two sites.

5 - Fantastic. Life-altering. Maybe only 30 in a lifetime.
4 - Very good.
3 - Worth your time.
2 - Not very good.
1 - Atrocious.

[jmilesc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carlos Sainz:
“…..whether you win or you lose the first thing is to analyze. Even if you win, ask yourself, what can you do better? Sure you’ve won, but if you want to keep winning you must find what you can do better.
I will practice. I will test. I will prepare physically. Always try to analyze all the race. Even if you win. And then, try to improve. Celebrate, of course. But only for one day. If you keep celebrating too long, the next race you pay.
If you have bad luck, the story is the same. Analyse, again, what happened. Then if you want to cry, cry. But for one day. No more. Immediately turn the page and start working on the next chapter.
I think the worst thing you can do is to either keep celebrating or to keep crying. Analyse. Turn the page. And immediately start putting your energy onto the next race.”

That is great life advice.
As a newbie to any kind of motor sports (Drive to Survive turned me into an unlikely and sudden F1 fan) this is not my normal genre. I have no reference point for much of the sport. I read some of the chapters, not all-it’s a book I’ll keep laying around and pick up now and then.

For a motor sports fan, I’d say it’s an excellent book. For me- it’s a good book that I’m glad I have.

[Frieda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took a long time to read but please note it's a great book to read. It's fascinating to read about the struggles my heroes have gone through, people I have heard of and a few I've never heard of before.

Reading this made me realise that the hardest part of struggling is mental. Reading it during the struggle that has been Covid-19 has probably made it a harder read. And yet, been the best time to read it.

Thanks for writing this and thanks to everyone who took part in sharing their stories.

[Lau Riva Palacio · Rating 5 out of 5]

No sé por qué nunca se me ocurrió que habría libros de racing 🏎 😂

Mil insights a los pensamientos de campeones que me llevaron a la conclusión de que los conductores no piensan como personas normales 😂 Tienen una obsesión por ganar y una capacidad enorme de enfocarse en su meta y pues wow. En la mayor parte de sus historias la perseverancia y las ganas de lograr su cometido fue lo que los llevó al éxito. Que cool tener esa determinación y una meta tan definida.

[Stephen Heverin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading about some of these racers toughest moments in their careers - in their lives, not just racing. However they started and however they came up through their careers it seems that same drive that made them want to race helped them to overcome some huge obstacles. A different perspective you don't hear about from a lot of sports legends.

[Dhananjay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real treat for all motorsport fans. It was amazing and humbling to read through the greatest defeats of legends of motorsport. I liked the fact that Will didn't limit himself to interviewing just Formula 1 drivers. My personal favorite was Sébastien Loeb's interview but this book introduced me to some motorsport greats I didn't know about.

[Robert Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t love the question and answer interview format for a longer book but the different stories per driver in each chapter breaks it up a bit. The premise here is great and some interviews are better than others, but overall this is a great ready for any racing fan.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very good. Regardless of if you are familiar with the individual drivers or not, their stories of facing difficulty and failure (on and off the track) are inspirational. Buxton uses a Q&A format, but as his questions make clear, he's done a ton of homework.

[Michael Breth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book. Reading how some of the greatest racing drivers overcame things that brought them to their lowest point is fascinating and inspiring.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating opportunity to hear directly from some of the best in racing not only what they considered their most challenging defeats, but what they learned from them.

[Dave Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very worthwhile read. Some of the stories are deeper than others, naturally, but it's a worthy effort. Kept me interested during the summer lockdown era

[Josh Lloyd-Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t finish this book. May come back to it. Big fan of Will Buxton and will buy his next book, but found this a bit too boring to read all in one go.

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never give up.

[Diana Andrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, amazing stories from Motorsport legends!

[Casey-Jo Winham · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a motorsport fan, you don't often think about the mental and emotional sides of the drivers but this book perfectly represents just how much it takes to be a motor racing hero.

[Gareth Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting concept and enjoyable to read. Personally liked the q and a interview style, although it may not be to everyone's taste

[David Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read how they survived to drive

A great read and an original idea. Well researched and carefully written, this him is fascinating and inspiring. Highly recommended.

[okay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked, I just didn’t love 🤷‍♀️ shout out Mika hakkinen tho

[Andrew Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing, these iconic superstars were just like us, maybe even worse off. Really helped shift my perspective on things.

[Vasco_moura · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's refreshing to see that the heroes I have always admired, have flaws and fears like all of us. And like Lauda teached us, it's from the defeats in life that we learn the most. Worth a read