Description
By: Paul Frere .
Paul Frere is the most highly respected and widely known motoring journalist in the world. He is also the only one to have excelled as a top racing driver, having finished second in the 1956 Belgian Grand Prix and won the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours, both with Ferrari. He also raced successfully for Jaguar, Gordini, Aston Martin and Porsche.
My Life Full of Cars is a personal story of his enormously varied experiences with cars - from his first drive aged 10, when he manoeuvred his uncle's Citroen 5CV carefully into its garage - through to the present day.
Frere, born in 1917, started freelance automobile and technical journalism in 1945. With experience of road-testing virtually every model of car since then, he can provide fascinating - often surprising - judgements on legendary machines such as the Jaguar E-type, Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari Daytona. Memories of his own cars, in particular his passion for rear-engined Porsches, are another theme of this book, and there are track evaluations of racing cars as varied as a Formula 1 Tyrrell and a Porsche 962.
Frere has undertaken daunting expeditions, such as driving an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire from Brussels to Bombay in 1953. He has been an engineering consultant for Maserati, and enjoyed development roles with Japanese manufacturers. In motor racing, he has been an influential member of the Technical Commission of the FIA. Having maintained meticulous records of all these experiences, he provides a uniquely detailed first-hand account of the changing face of motoring and motorsport over more than 80 years. It will fascinate anyone interested in cars, the motor industry and motorsport.
Paul Frere is European editor of the US magazine Road & Track. He has been a regular contributor for 33 years to the Japanese magazine Car Graphic, and is the author of many books, most notably Haynes's Porsche 911 Stogy, now in its sixth edition.