Hi everyone! My name is Richard Melville. I am a former racing driver. I drove GT cars in Europe in early sixties, Formula Supervees and Atlantic in the States and Canada, and finally in New Zealand in the mid-seventies.
I have often tried to find a good novel about motor-racing from the driver's point of view, without much luck, so I decided to write one. The novel is about Formula 1 motor-racing driver in the deadly years of the 1970s. I was driving Supervees and Formula Atlantic at that time, and have a good understanding of racing cars and what makes them tick. Here is the link to my website where you may find out more about the book and me: MelvilleAuthor.com.
Alternatively you may read the excerpt of the book http://bit.ly/1w2H5n4
I'd love to hear your thoughts about the book. Thanks and look forward to conversing with you all.
You are a relevant thread but should request permission from GRM.
That said I decided to order you book
Isn't there a documentary of the exact same name?
It's the one where the talk about Jackie Stewart crashing at Spa and having to have a farmer come over and try and help him (he could not take the steering wheel off) and take him to a hospital. After that Stewart taped a wrench to his wheel.
There is a pretty good book called The Fast One about just that. It was written by a motor racing journalist so the racing and mechanical parts are nicely done. There is a part of the book where a driver is trying to fit into his Lotus by hammering the aluminum fuel tank/seat back into a different shape while the mechanics try to stop him. And driving with second degree burns from a poorly routed exhaust pipe.
So for me the bar is set pretty high and I was really disappointed that Burt Levy's books were not professionally edited to be all that they could have been. But that said I am always looking for this type of story so I will definitely look at yours.
This is the documentary with a similar name and focus:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix:_The_Killer_Years
In reply to aussiesmg: Like your name !! Hope you like it. Let me know how you make out
In reply to bearmtnmartin:There were a lot of crazy people out there then, I could tell you stuff that would make your hair curl. Don't forget to leave a review, good, bad, or indifferent
In reply to GameboyRMH: There is, but the novel doesn't focus on it. In my mind at the time I never thought about it. It was something that happened to other people.
In reply to aircooled: Yes it's a documentary on Formula One in the killer years. Mine is Grand Prix Formula One in the deadly years, although it doesn't focus on accidents. Have a look at one chapter http://bit.ly/1w2H5n4
I like that www.melvilleauthor.com has nothing to do with Moby Dick
What I would love to read (not sure this is it) is a book talking about all the then super secret technical aspects of F1, and maybe even more so CanAm.
I did read a blog of a guy who did some mechanic work in F1 back in the day (offy motors etc) and some of the stories are great. E.g. Do you know why Smokey Yunick put holes near top of the headers in his motors?
I read your excerpt and it was fifty per cent driving and fifty percent pornography. Not sure which way the rest of the book will lean so I am out. I know that sex sells books but I always think its kind of a cop out because it does not advance the story unless it is the basis for the story.
In reply to bearmtnmartin: James Hunt said that sex is the breakfast of champions, and did you know that Hunt was supposed to have knocked off 32 British Airways Stewardesses in Tokyo while he was waiting for the Japanese GP the year he won the Championship? That’s the way it was. That was reality.
