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A Race with Love and Death: The Story of Richard Seaman
'A tragic age and a tragic character, both seemingly compelled to destroy themselves...a chilling reminder of how little control we have over our fates' Damon Hill
'One of the greatest motor racing stories' Nick Mason
'Timely, vivid and enthralling … it’s unputdownable’ Miranda Seymour, author of The Bugatti Queen
Dick Seaman was the archetypal dashing motorsport hero of the 1930s, the first Englishman to win a race for Mercedes-Benz and the last Grand Prix driver to die at the wheel before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Award-winning author Richard Williams reveals the remarkable but now forgotten story of a driver whose battles against the leading figures of motor racing's golden age inspired the post-war generation of British champions. The son of wealthy parents, educated at Rugby and Cambridge, Seaman grew up in a privileged world of house parties, jazz and fast cars. But motor racing was no mere hobby: it became such an obsession that he dropped out of university to pursue his ambitions, squeezing money out of his parents to buy better cars. When he was offered a contract with the world-beating, state-sponsored Mercedes team in 1937, he signed up despite the growing political tensions between Britain and Germany. A year later, he celebrated victory in the German Grand Prix with the beautiful 18-year-old daughter of the founder of BMW. Their wedding that summer would force a split with his family, a costly rift that had not been closed six months later when he crashed in the rain while leading at Spa, dying with his divided loyalties seemingly unresolved. He was just 26 years old.
A Race with Love and Death is a gripping tale of speed, romance and tragedy. Set in an era of rising tensions, where the urge to live each moment to the full never seemed more important, it is a richly evocative story that grips from first to last.
'One of the greatest motor racing stories' Nick Mason
'Timely, vivid and enthralling … it’s unputdownable’ Miranda Seymour, author of The Bugatti Queen
Dick Seaman was the archetypal dashing motorsport hero of the 1930s, the first Englishman to win a race for Mercedes-Benz and the last Grand Prix driver to die at the wheel before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Award-winning author Richard Williams reveals the remarkable but now forgotten story of a driver whose battles against the leading figures of motor racing's golden age inspired the post-war generation of British champions. The son of wealthy parents, educated at Rugby and Cambridge, Seaman grew up in a privileged world of house parties, jazz and fast cars. But motor racing was no mere hobby: it became such an obsession that he dropped out of university to pursue his ambitions, squeezing money out of his parents to buy better cars. When he was offered a contract with the world-beating, state-sponsored Mercedes team in 1937, he signed up despite the growing political tensions between Britain and Germany. A year later, he celebrated victory in the German Grand Prix with the beautiful 18-year-old daughter of the founder of BMW. Their wedding that summer would force a split with his family, a costly rift that had not been closed six months later when he crashed in the rain while leading at Spa, dying with his divided loyalties seemingly unresolved. He was just 26 years old.
A Race with Love and Death is a gripping tale of speed, romance and tragedy. Set in an era of rising tensions, where the urge to live each moment to the full never seemed more important, it is a richly evocative story that grips from first to last.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2020
19 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Richard Williams
26 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Richard Williams is the chief sports writer for the Guardian and the bestselling author of The Death of Ayrton Senna and Enzo Ferrari: A Life. He is a lifelong fan of Nottingham Forest.
Richard Williams is the chief sports writer for the Guardian and the bestselling author of The Death of Ayrton Senna and Enzo Ferrari: A Life. He is a lifelong fan of Nottingham Forest.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 21, 2022
Google Richard Seaman and you’ll find a photo of him after winning the 1938 German Grand Prix, looking surprisingly unhappy, draped in a swastika and giving a half-hearted Nazi salute.
Richard Williams brilliantly tells the story behind that photo: of the first Englishman to race and win for the Mercedes Grand Prix team, at a time when the silver arrows dominated the race track, when racing and Nazi politics were intertwined, and the world was edging closer to war.
Richard Williams brilliantly tells the story behind that photo: of the first Englishman to race and win for the Mercedes Grand Prix team, at a time when the silver arrows dominated the race track, when racing and Nazi politics were intertwined, and the world was edging closer to war.
May 25, 2020
An often forgotten great racing driver, this book is a window into the life of a grand prix driver of the 1930s, and further to this a fly-on-the-wall insight into one of the two symbolic teams of Nazi Germany, offering a humanising account of how they went racing.
December 15, 2020
Took me back to an era of history which fascinated and intrigued me. Despite being celebrated by the nazis and driving a car which was developed by their funding, Richard Seaman and his German wife were rather opposed to the regime. Recommend to anyone with an interest in historic motor racing.
April 29, 2020
Very well researched and an excellent read.
Whilst the author sourced some of his information from the 1941 book "Dick Seaman" by HRH Prince Chula Chakrabongse of Thailand, a contemporary and rival (he funded Bira's racing), his research was more in depth, correcting at least one error that I detected in that (still worth hunting down). I was impressed by the accuracy of this publication.
Whilst the author sourced some of his information from the 1941 book "Dick Seaman" by HRH Prince Chula Chakrabongse of Thailand, a contemporary and rival (he funded Bira's racing), his research was more in depth, correcting at least one error that I detected in that (still worth hunting down). I was impressed by the accuracy of this publication.
May 2, 2020
My spouse follows auto racing history. I follow history, so I decided to read this book that follows Richard Seaman, Britain's first great Grand Prix Driver from his youth to his death in 1939. He was handsome, charming, and very photogenic. For race car fans, there is more than enough detail on drivers, automobiles, notable races, and the politics of the sport. For those interested in the history of the 1930s, it is also interesting. Seaman worked with all the major auto manufacturers of the period, traveling the world. He is most associated with the German Mercedes company which unfortunately led him to close friendships with Nazis as England and Germany moved into conflict. Personal problems related to financial issues with his wealthy mother and a German wife also dominate the story in the late 1930s. His contributions to auto and air travel are worth learning about.
July 14, 2020
Feels weird to review a biography, I don't want my rating to be interpreted as a rating of how interesting I found Richard Seaman's life to be. I think everyone should judge for themselves how interested they're likely to be in the life story of an upper-middle class British grand-prix driver who ends up driving for the premier German team in the time leading up to the second world war.
The writing, which I feel I can comment on, was good; functional rather than floral, as you would expect for a biography I suppose. One complaint would be that apart from the main handful of... characters (for lack of a better word), it was often hard to keep track of who's who and the author often went into consideral detail introducing a new person by enumerating their personal achievements and any notable relations. Which was fine, except that kind of description doesn't equate to a person and, perhaps it's just me, it's very hard to form a thought about someone described like that. So when they're mentioned again later, there's no handle by which to retrieve the memory of that person. By the end it was just a lot of familiar names attached to faceless entities.
Anyway, that was a lot more than I inteded to write about that, as it's only really a minor issue. The main... characters... are the important thing and I think the author does a fine job of conveying their impressions.
The writing, which I feel I can comment on, was good; functional rather than floral, as you would expect for a biography I suppose. One complaint would be that apart from the main handful of... characters (for lack of a better word), it was often hard to keep track of who's who and the author often went into consideral detail introducing a new person by enumerating their personal achievements and any notable relations. Which was fine, except that kind of description doesn't equate to a person and, perhaps it's just me, it's very hard to form a thought about someone described like that. So when they're mentioned again later, there's no handle by which to retrieve the memory of that person. By the end it was just a lot of familiar names attached to faceless entities.
Anyway, that was a lot more than I inteded to write about that, as it's only really a minor issue. The main... characters... are the important thing and I think the author does a fine job of conveying their impressions.
November 1, 2021
A true man of his period Richard Seaman made his mark on the early moter racing scene. Like nearly all drivers from this period (1930s) he was from an extremely wealthy family and looked to his mother to fund his racing career. A celebrated driver for the Mercedes Benz Silver Arrows team he died much to young whilst Grand Prix racing in Spa Belgium. He was definitely one of the great British Racing Drivers
October 22, 2020
Great book about an amazing story - well informed, researched & written.
Only criticism is that a kindle is not the format for this book - photographs at the end which should really bring the story to life are poorly replicated & grainy, and some are too small to see any detail.
Only criticism is that a kindle is not the format for this book - photographs at the end which should really bring the story to life are poorly replicated & grainy, and some are too small to see any detail.
June 16, 2021
Outstanding selection of a subject too long obscured by time. An informative, insightful view of the man and his family.
July 31, 2024
Excellent biography of one of Britain's early motor racing heroes. Why anybody would have wanted to drive one of those deathtraps in the 1930s, God only knows.
August 10, 2024
Only reason I picked this up was because the guys name was Dick Seaman. Surprisingly interesting how it tied into world war 2
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews