In the fast lane!
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Duncan Hamilton was one of the Greatest British racing drivers of all time. Although his name stands below the likes of his comtemporaries such as Moss and Hawthorn this has less to do with his driving ability and more to do with his chosen form of four wheel racing. His greatest achievment was his Le Mans win in the fabulous Jaguar C-type with co-driver Tony Holt. Indeed the name Hamilton and Jaguar will always be linked and will always evoke images of a bygone era of open cockpits, running starts, four wheel drifts, armfuls of opposite lock and cheerful bonhamie.As you read this book there begins a bonding process between reader and writer which is so real one finds oneself alsmost begining to believe that Hamilton is a friend; such is the imtimate relationship that he evokes with his writings. The true revelation of this book is not his considerable racing achievments nor the rare glimspe that he allows us into 50's and 60's motor racing; a time of much informality and jocularity. It is instead the manner in which he went racing that Hamilton binds us to the pages. The 'incidents' such as the night he fell, blind drunk, from the top of a lampost up which he had found himself onto a startled policeman, the almost casual acceptance of the risks of his trade and the descriptions of the accidents he suffered make this the best book of the period that this reviewer has read. A book from a bygone era, and from an author who lived life as he drove; flat out with a smile on his face. You will not be disappointed in this book. The only disappointments are not having known Hamilton and, the greatest, the turning of the last page.
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