(Part 3) Top products from r/formula1

FIA stands for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Its basically an international association of automobile clubs, this includes organisations that organise and hold motorsport events.

Back in the 90s the EU ruled that the FIA could not hold the governing and commercial rights, so they sold the commercial rights to FOM. This is the set up that remains to this day. the FIA are responsible for holding the rule book and governance of those rules. FOM deal with the commercial side - they sell coverage to TV companies, give journalists access to the paddock etc. FOM also sign deals with promoters who wish to hold grand prix. FOM also have agreements with every team in F1 (called the Concorde agreement). The Concorde agreement covers the teams obligations (must compete in every race, must run 2 cars and so on) and the money that they receive from FOM for participating.

The Concorde agreement is secret - there is an awful lot of speculation about who gets what money, but few people actually know and are bound to secrecy. We do know that some teams receive extra money "just because". We also know the payment structure is based on the previous year's WCC standings and it is somewhat unbalanced - so if you win the WCC you get a whole bunch more money than the 10th placed team.

Bernie ? There has been much written about him. In short he's a maverick. Many years ago he owned the Brabham team, back then the commercial side of F1 didn't really exist - cars had sponsor stickers all over them but it wasn't really exploited. More than that, the whole commercial side was disorganised - teams would do deals to run in races directly with promoters. When there were flyaway races teams would book their shipping (of cars/equipment) individually. Bernie saw an opportunity, he started representing the teams - initially getting a bulk deal on transport to lower costs, then he began to represent the teams to negotiate deals. For the most part the teams were happy with this, at least initially - they were naive and far more interested in putting next year's car together than dealing with business people. When TV money started coming along they understood ! Which led to Ken Tyrrell rather angrily declaring that Bernie had stolen F1 from the teams. FOCA (the company that Bernie set up to represent the teams) became FOM. Bernie then eventually sells FOM to a number of investors - most notably CVC Capital Partners.

It should be noted that over the years Bernie has made the sport what it is today (good and bad). The commercialisation has bought huge amounts of money to the sort - F1 drivers are household names all over the world. Bernie made the sport more professional - previously teams would run in F1 for the odd race or two when they could afford it using old cars, sometimes with only one car.
Probably the biggest thing that Bernie did was improve safety and medical care. He employed Sid Watkins as the official F1 doctor. When promoters refused to let Sid inspect medical facilities Bernie threatened to cancel races if Sid wasn't allowed to inspect facilities or found things were not up to the required standard.
Sid was a wonderful chap and is very much missed, his book is worth a read - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Limit-Triumph-Tragedy-Formula/dp/0330351397/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2KS044VRWQHPN89Z40TY and the follow up https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Limit-Sid-Watkins/dp/0330481967

Anyway, back to the money - CVC are capitalists. They buy something and later sell it to make money. In the case of FOM I believe the profit generated paid back about 50% of their purchase price of the years - then of course they sold it to Liberty Media. They've done pretty well out of it.
CVC's strategy was to leave Bernie in place - he knows everyone, he knows the business and his eye for a deal was (is?) pretty impressive. Basically as an employee of CVC his job was to make them as much money as possible - and thats what he did. This has attracted a lot of negative press for Bernie over the years. To some extent he & CVC were "chasing the money" -hence races in India, Korea and many other far flung destinations. You have to remember Bernie is 86 and basically, doesn't understand the internet, social media and all that stuff - this has also caused negative press.

When LM bought FOM and quietly moved Bernie aside many rejoiced because they saw Bernie as all F1's problem personified. Ultimately LM have purchased F1 to make money, so in some respects the rejoicing was maybe a little premature. Having said that, LM clearly have their own ideas on how to monetise F1 - its still early days, lets see what happens.

This question has been asked a bunch of times, but the one post I've found the most helpful was /u/that_video_art_guy's response in this post. For quick reference, here's the copy/paste:



I've read many of these books, I'm partial to the mechanics and team member books but find all of them to be very enjoyable.


The Super Collective Super list of Super Good F1 Books:

Mechanics/Team Members


[Life in the Pit Lane: Mechanic's Story of the Benetton Grand Prix Year](
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Pit-Lane-Mechanics-Benetton/dp/0760300267/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356716346&sr=1-5&keywords=steve+matchett) - Steve Matchett

[The Mechanic's Tale: Life in the Pit-Lanes of Formula One](
http://www.amazon.com/Mechanics-Tale-Life-Pit-Lanes-Formula/dp/0752827839/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356716346&sr=1-1&keywords=steve+matchett) - Steve Matchett

The Chariot Makers: Assembling the Perfect Formula 1 Car - Steve Matchett

Team Lotus: My View From the Pitwall - Peter Warr

Jo Ramirez: Memoirs of a Racing Man - Jo Ramirez

Art of War - Five Years in Formula One - Max Mosley, Adam Parr, Paul Tinker

Tales from the Toolbox: A Collection of Behind-the-Scenes Tales from Grand Prix Mechanics - Michael Oliver, Jackie Stewart


Technical Books

Red Bull Racing F1 Car: Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual

McLaren M23: 1973 Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual

Lotus 72: 1970 Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual

Tune to Win: The art and science of race car development and tuning - Carroll Smith

Engineer to Win - Carroll Smith

Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook AKA: Screw to Win - Carroll Smith

Race Car Vehicle Dynamics: Problems, Answers and Experiments - Doug Milliken

Chassis Design: Principles and Analysis - William F. Milliken, Douglas L. Milliken, Maurice Olley

The Racing & High-Performance Tire: Using Tires to Tune for Grip & Balance - Paul Haney


Technical Driving

Ultimate Speed Secrets: The Complete Guide to High-Performance and Race Driving - Ross Bentley

Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving - Carl Lopez

Working the Wheel - Martin Brundle


Drivers and Rivalry's

Senna Versus Prost: The Story of the Most Deadly Rivalry in Formula One - Malcolm Folley

The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit - Michael Cannell

Winning Is Not Enough: The Autobiography - Sir Jackie Stewart

Shunt: The Story of James Hunt - Tom Rubython

Alex Zanardi: My Sweetest Victory: A Memoir of Racing Success, Adversity, and Courage - Alex Zanardi, Gianluca Gasparini, Mario Andretti.

It Is What It Is: The Autobiography - David Coulthard

Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 the Hard Way! - Perry McCarthy The Black Stig, Damon Hill

F1 Through the Eyes of Damon Hill: Inside the World of Formula 1 - Damon Hill, Photography: Sutton Images


People Of F1

Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One - Professor Sid Watkins

Beyond the Limit - Professor Sid Watkins

I Just Made The Tea: Tales from 30 years inside Formula 1 - Di Spires

Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone - Susan Watkins


Picture Books

McLaren The Cars: Updated 2011 Edition

Art of the Formula 1 Race Car - Stuart Codling, James Mann, Peter Windsor, Gordon Murray

He left because Bernie wouldn't offer Williams the new Concorde agreement until Parr had left. Parr is a very astute businessman who came from a background without motorsport. That he climbed pretty much to the top of one of the most respected teams in the sport so quickly and made them profitable outside F1 speaks volumes about his business abilities. The succession plan for Williams basically involved Parr taking Frank Williams' place when he was too old. And have a separate team manager who understood the technical side of F1. But he went after Bernie way too soon and got targeted for actually seeing the forest for the trees.

If you have a few bucks and some free time, check out his book. He will be back in F1 one day, and hopefully to fix the shambles that is the governance; he's far too good not to be brought back.

Really any of the Codemasters F1 games are great on PC if you just want to race F1 cars. If you want more realism but also use other cars, you could always try iRacing or the rFactor games. Personally, I've always loved playing F1 2012 and F1 2013.

As for racing wheels, I don't personally own one; however, my cousin has the Logitech G27 wheel which I've used while playing iRacing and I really liked it. It's on the more expensive side though: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-941-000045-G27-Racing-Wheel/dp/B001NT9TK4?ie=UTF8&keywords=logitech%20racing%20wheel&qid=1459282064&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4

Just FYI, Howard leight are great because they protect your hearing while also amplifying non damaging sounds (ie talking). So you can still enjoy all the sounds without any tinnitus!

This may bend your budget a bit, but this would be amazing for a 4-5 year old f1 fan.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/F1-Ferrari-Foot-to-Floor/dp/B0018RFO78

Http://strassenversion.net . thats me! haha thanks very much. ill just jump in here and also give a shout out to pJ Tierney who re released his F1 posters.
http://pjtierney.net/#2323544/Formula-1-Print-Series


also I own a bunch of F1 books this one being my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Formula-Camera-1980-89-Quentin-Spurring/dp/1844251098/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1322597995&sr=8-20


another book i am going to either get for myself or ask for is this concept work from Dan Simon http://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Motors-Spaceships-Another-English/dp/1933492279/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322598044&sr=1-1



edit**

i have some new stuff coming out in a week or so if you want to wait to check that out. its going to be different from other stuff that i offer

I Just Made the Tea is a good non-technical book with many great behind-the-scenes anecdotes.

Sorry but your friend Stef doesn't know what she's talking about.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Private-Paradise-Jacques-Villeneuve/dp/B000NDEZM8

4.8 stars on amazon from 5 reviewers. Need I give more evidence?

Grover-Williams wasn't the only multi-GP winning driver to be hunted down and killed by the Nazis. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Benoist

Joe Saward has a great book on the subject called The Grand Prix Saboteurs:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Grand-Prix-Saboteurs-Saward/dp/0955486807

I've taken these to a race before. They're my shooting headphones, but have found them to work great at the track.

http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-R-01526-Electronic-Earmuff/dp/B001T7QJ9O

Automatically blocks noise above 82db, and allows you control how much ambient noise you can hear. Meaning, you can have a conversation with someone and still hear them just fine with the headphones on, but as soon as a noise greater than 82db occurs, they block it.

Also has an external audio jack to plug into.

Always a good opportunity to plug this incredible book which really goes into Surtees

https://smile.amazon.com/Go-Like-Hell-Ferrari-Battle/dp/0547336055

One of Ilmor's employees, Jade Gurss, wrote a book about this engine a few years ago. Great read on the background of the engine and all the pitfalls the engineering team had!

Huge question to answer. I suggest reading Total Competition: Lessons in Strategy from Formula One by Ross Brawn and Adam Parr. Funnily enough I ordered it a few hours ago.

Link

Why is this book so obscure and expensive? Why wasn't it republished? You can find only 3 copies on Amazon, starting from $230. (edit: since I wrote that, two more popped up, reaching from $70 to $1153)

​

I guess it has to do with the Senna family. They were allegedly very strict in providing home videos for the Senna documentary, requiring that Ayrton be presented in a favorable way, which is one reason why the movie ended up being biased and one-sided.

I know it is out of your price range but I love the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel
The one complaint I have and it isn't about the G27, its that I can't use the clutch and stick with GT5.

Actually, as an artist I think you will appreciate another book by the same author: Adam Parr's graphic novel The Art of War

To anyone interested in racing, the story of Ernst Degner's defection from the MZ moto GP team is probably the best motor racing story ever. It's got everything, friendship, betrayal, the cold war, international espionage. It's awesome. A book was written about it called Stealing Speed.

Classics like:

• Total Competition (Ross Brawns time at Ferrari working with Schumacher and his own team
  
• The Mechanic (Perpective from Mechanics life in F1, by mark presley)
  
• Aussie Grit (Mark Webbahs life in F1)
  
• How to Build a car (by a certain Adrian Newey)

Do you think that something like the F1 Technical Analysis or the Hayne's RB6-Rb10 Manual will have any of this stuff?

I just finished Stealing Speed all about his story, good light read if anyone is looking

One of the perks of using standard currency is having access to books like these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lotus-1978-Onwards-Models-Ground-Effect/dp/1785210793/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=haynes+lotus+79&qid=1562945690&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Its $10 on amazon for the blu ray.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GNZM0B8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427086777&sr=8-1&keywords=1&dpPl=1&dpID=51hVdrkcEYL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

If you want to read more about how this engine came to be I would recomment you guys to read Beast by Jade Gurss

It's a DVD release. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Review-Formula-World-Championship/dp/B0049CW4U4/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1325201026&sr=1-1

Sid Wakins' Beyond The Limit is the only F1 book you need.

Newer one are all available on DVD. The earlier ones are, I believe, all on VHS.

1987 example

2010 example

You can also sometimes find them posted online.

Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GNZM0B8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427086777&sr=8-1&keywords=1&dpPl=1&dpID=51hVdrkcEYL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

There's also a similar Ferrari model... http://www.amazon.com/Feber-Ferrari-F2008-Foot-Floor/dp/B0018RFO78/

Edit: Can't find the Lotus one for North American orders.

I can only rememeber this whenever I hear about Jaques.

Ayrton Senna's Principles of Race Driving

You haven't really looked at all have you?

Art of the Formula 1 Race Car
http://amzn.com/0760337314

McLaren M23: 1973 onwards (all marks) (Owners' Workshop Manual)
http://amzn.com/0857333127

Lotus 72 Manual: An Insight Into Owning, Racing and Maintaining Lotus's Legendary Formula 1 Car (Owners' Workshop Manual)
http://amzn.com/0857331272

Red Bull Racing F 1 Car: An Insight into the Technology, Engineering, Maintenance and Operation of the World Championship-winning Red Bull Racing RB6 (Owners' Workshop Manual)
http://amzn.com/0857330993

The Golden Age of Formula 1
http://amzn.com/3832794360

Formula 1 in Camera 1950-59
http://amzn.com/1844255530

Formula 1 in Camera 1960-69
http://amzn.com/1844252183

Formula 1: The Roaring 70s (English, German, French, Spanish and Italian Edition)
http://amzn.com/3832795375

Formula 1 in Camera 1970-79
http://amzn.com/1859609600

Formula 1 in Camera 1970-79: Volume Two
http://amzn.com/0857330748

Formula 1 in Camera 1980-89
http://amzn.com/1844251098

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Lotus-1978-Onwards-Models-Ground-Effect/dp/1785210793/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=haynes+lotus+79&qid=1562945690&s=gateway&sr=8-1

As /u/retify posted above

You should check out Watching the Wheels, Damon Hill's autobiography.

And also Mark Webber's - Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey

To add to that, Grand Prix Saboteurs tells the story of Robert Benoist and a few of the other GP stars of the 20s/30s

Here. Not at $10 anymore though. Theres also a few for other F1 cars for about $20-$40

Haven't read it yet, but it's on my list: https://www.amazon.com/Go-Like-Hell-Ferrari-Battle/dp/0547336055

About Ford and Ferrari at Le Mans

I bought this book, then moved across the planet and left it in storage :(

http://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Motors-Spaceships-Another-English/dp/1933492279

edit: added sad face