Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads, Paperback / softback Book

High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

In Stock - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

‘A band of stubborn pioneers rose from the embers of Britain’s cities after the war and created the finest automobiles the world had ever seen...

High Performance tells the exhilarating tale of their journey’ Ben Collins, bestselling author of How To Drive‘High Performance is a cracking read and an adrenaline-packed tribute to the time when British mavericks “blew the bloody doors off” the competition’ Sunday TimesIn 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 Formula One championships and capturing hearts.

Designers like John Cooper, and Colin Chapman of Lotus, dismissed as mere ‘garagisti’ by Enzo Ferrari, 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 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.

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.

Information

Other Formats

Save 9%

£9.99

£9.09

In Stock - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information