High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads

by Peter Grimsdale

‘A band of stubborn pioneers rose from the embers of Britain’s cities after World War Two and created the finest automobiles the world had ever seen ... High Performance tells the exhilarating tale of their journey down the fast lane.’ Ben Collins, bestselling author of The Man In The White Suit and How To Drive
‘A wonderful glimpse "backstage" at the flamboyant mavericks and crazies who populated the British motor industry in the 60s.’ Alexei Sayle
‘ High Performance is a cracking read and an adrenaline-packed tribute to the time when British mavericks “blew the bloody doors off” the competition.’ The Sunday Times

Chosen as one of The Mail on Sunday’s ‘100 Summer Books’

In January 1964 a team of tiny red and white Mini Coopers stunned the world by winning the legendary Monte Carlo Rally. It was a stellar year for British cars that culminated in Goldfinger breaking box office records and making James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 the world’s most famous sports car.

By the sixties, on road, track and silver screen the Brits were the ones to beat, winning championships and capturing hearts. Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Paddy Hopkirk were household names who drove the sexiest and most innovative cars. Designers like John Cooper, and Colin Chapman of Lotus, dismissed as mere ‘garagisti’ by Enzo Ferrari, blew the doors off Formula One and grabbed all the prizes, while Alex Issigonis won a knighthood for his revolutionary Mini. The E Type Jaguar was feted as the world’s sexiest car and Land Rover the most durable.

But before the Second World War only one British car had triumphed in a Grand Prix; Britain’s car builders were fiercely risk-averse. So what changed? To find out, Peter Grimsdale has gone in search of a generation of rebel creative spirits who emerged from railway arches and Nissen huts to tear up the rulebook with their revolutionary machines. Like the serial fugitives from the POW camps, they thrived on adversity, improvisation and sheer obstinate determination. Blazing the trail for them was William Lyons, whose heart-stoppingly glamorous and uncompromising Jaguars propelled a bruised and bankrupt nation out of the shadows of war, winning the fans in Hollywood and beating ‘those bloody red cars’ at Le Mans.

High Performance celebrates Britain’s automotive golden age and the mavericks who sketched them on the back of envelopes and garage floors, who fettled, bolted and welded them together and hammered the competition in the showroom, on the road and on the track – fuelled by contempt for convention.

Genres: Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published May 16, 2019

About the author

I grew up in Sheffeld, attended a variety of schools including Bedales in Hampshire and East Brunswick High in New Jersey. I went on to Sussex and Georgetown Universities where I read American Studies and started writing short stories. I joined the BBC in 1980 and worked on everything from Crimewatch UK to a history of the Falklands War. I also did a spell in Enva Hoxha's Albania on a secret filming assignment about an MI5/CIA mission there that went horribly wrong. In 1984 I was sent to Sri Lanka for the Real Lives series to report on the uprising against the Tamils and the diary I kept of that time became the basis for Perfect Night. I moved on to Channel 4 where I was head of History,Religion and Features and indulged my passion for cars in several programme commissions. I also found myself in charge of Big Brother 3, the one that gave the world Jade Goody. After a brief foray into the brave new world of Yahoo (source of the sacking scene in Perfect Night), I returned to TV as a freelancer but determined to write. Perfect Night was the result. My two biggest infuences were and still are my wife Stephanie Calman (see Badmothersclub.com)and my agent Mark Lucas who showed what thriller writing was all about.
Just Watch Me came about after a bad day at Gatwick Airport discovering that my then five year old daughter's passport had expired and instead of heading for Tobago I found myself in Durham where the only passport office in the land would give me a replacement over the counter. Set in Britain Tobago and Afghanistan, it tells the story of a man who loses his family and has to go on the run while he tries to find out why.
My last two books Battlefield 3 - The Russian (with Andy McNab)and Battlefield 4 - Countdown to War have been written in association with Electronic Arts, publishers of the Battlefield global game franchise. To EA's great credit they gave me the space to develop an autonomous story using some the games' characters and situations as launch pads for stand-alone narratives. You do not have to be a 'gamer' (I'm not - there, I've confessed)to enjoy them, in fact you don't need to know anthing at all about the games or how it relates to the books. But if you find them via the games they should add to your appreciation of the characters who pass through.

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing and highly readable account of the British Motor industry in its design heyday and the legacy that has developed from The Second World War through to today's position as a world centre of motor racing development.

This at a time when our large scale production of everyday cars has almost disappeared save for foreign owned BMW Minis, Toyota's factory, Nissan at Sunderland and, of course Vauxhall.

There remains, however, a vigorous range of smaller companies making utterly brilliant cars from the Morgan three-wheeler's historic quirkiness through high performance cars to kit cars, bonkers small sports cars and a whole thriving business of high quality conversions, electric cars and vans and many more.

The star cars and their designers all appear with their back stories! The Mini and the E-Type Jaguar, the Aston Martin DB5, Lotus delights, the burble of MG exhausts, the Land Rovers and Range Rovers and even the Morris Minor. Plus all those classics so beautifully displayed at the British Motor Museum, credited by the author in the Acknowledgements section at the end.

The journey through this cracking history accelerates off from the start and barrels through the years covering the ups and downs, the spills and thrills of motor racing and the personalities who both drove and braked the development along the way to the present day. Fascinating stuff!!!

Brilliant! Loved it!!.......

[Kieran Atter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well written and fascinating history of the British automotive industry. From the lows to the highs and back again, with many side stories. I personally really like the flow of the book from chapter to chapter, and that both the everyday and motorsport sides are well covered.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent. Peter Grimsdale has done an excellent job. There was plenty that was new to me and the parts that weren't were done well enough to keep me glued to the page. Highly recommended to anyone interested in cars and motorsport.

[Diogo Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a really good retrospective on the British motoring industry and how a few very iconic cars came to be, and the people behind them

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, the best account by far of Britain’s post-war car and racing industries. Well written, entertaining, funny and a real tribute to some fantastic individuals, it feels like the passion project by the author it clearly was meant to be. Great stuff.

[David Bennion · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a post WW2 baby boomer I grew up in that immediate post war era described so well in this book without ever really knowing the why's and where fore's of car production at that time. I knew that as a country we needed to export to earn dollars to pay for the war but nothing of the steel quota system so this book was a real eyeopener for me and the stories of John Cooper, Colin Chapman, Sir William Lyons et al are all brilliantly told. I enjoyed this book for educating me and also for its insight into our social and economic history of the period.

For all that I was grateful, I was also disappointed in what I consider to be a somewhat glaring omission. Motor racing at Aintree receives no mention that I can recall but the circuit hosted the Formula One British Grand Prix five times, in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962. In 1957 Moss and Brooks became the first British drivers to win both the British Grand Prix and a round of the Formula One World Championship whilst driving a British car, a Vanwall in front of 150,000 spectators at Aintree. The last race on the F1 circuit at Aintree was in 1964 and won by Jack Brabham in a Cooper.

For the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix Moss drove a privately entered Rob Walker Lotus 18 to victory with three Ferrari 156's in pursuit. Moss didn't even have the latest Lotus engine modifications enjoyed by the works team.

[richard simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

picked this up from a remaindered pile in smiths and didn’t read it for a while, the title being somehow uninspiring?, when I did read it what a book, one of the most exciting if not the most exciting book on cars I’ve ever read and I’ve read many, it would have been easier to write a dull but comprehensive book on the subject but this is written like an edge of the seat thriller ,what a story and highly recommended!.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting. Just one thing I picked up on in the audiobook version...

"By lap seventeen with the rain worsening, he had lapped the entire field and was five minutes ahead of *Australian champion Bruce McLaren in a Cooper."

Correction. "was five minutes ahead of New Zealand champion Bruce McLaren"

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rollicking, paced like its racing car subject, Peter Grimsdale’s “High Performance” is a quick look at Britain’s history in the automotive world. It’s a fast read, never diving too deep, whetting the appetite of the reader to learn more. Crisply written, it’s a fun read.

[Steve How · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empire of the Road

This is empire of the skies for cars .
Recommend reading for anyone interested in the Great in Britain. And well cars....

[Xinyu]

Entertaining with facts and anecdotes! Interesting stories.

[Bernard Mcmahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful history of Britain’s role in motoring and motor sport. Highly recommended.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm by no means a petrol-head, but as a piece of social history alone this merits attention.