Scan barcode
bradland's review
4.0
David Coulthard's autobiography is as its title proclaims: 'It is what it is'. I wasn't much of a fan of his back in the day, did like him a bit in the early days but it became clear in his 1999 season he didn't have the capacity to be a World Championship driver.... even though McLaren kept him for 9 years! This book provides an interesting insight into what makes DC tick, including some surprising personality traits. There are a lot of things here that I didn't know about him, the sort of pressures involved in starting out in motor racing and many amusing stories. DC, as he shows in the book, was incredibly lucky to get the break he did, though under horrible circumstances. Thinking about if the Williams seat had not been vacant, DC may not have ended up in F1 at all or struggled to like Alan McNish. He is honest about himself, that he was great on his day but just lacked that consistency over a whole season teammates Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen had. However, he made that up with his PR friendly manner and devotion to whatever team he was involved with, which is why Ron Dennis kept him for as long as he did I reckon. Personally, I can't see a better driver for Redbull when they bought Jaguar in 2005 as he provided the perfect persona for their brand. If you have an active interest in Formula One racing and the racing drivers behind the helmet I recommend giving this a go.
neil_denham's review
3.0
Well what a strange man David Coulthard is. Full of contradictions, strange anecdotes and OCD tendencies.
What is does do in this book is give a good idea of what sort of person you have to be to be an F1 driver, precise, focused, single minded, full of self belief.
He really does believe that he is one of the greatest drivers to ever have raced, and he is happy to cherry pick statistics to back up his point.
This is not to say he isn't a likable character though, he is very human, he has flaws that he recognises, he has a good sense of humour.
Particularly watch out for the chapter where he claims he is not a ladies man, and then details many many women he has been with, or the bit when Jensen Button rugby tackles him to the ground, or his essay about toilet brushes...
A strange man indeed, but worth reading for any F1 fan.
What is does do in this book is give a good idea of what sort of person you have to be to be an F1 driver, precise, focused, single minded, full of self belief.
He really does believe that he is one of the greatest drivers to ever have raced, and he is happy to cherry pick statistics to back up his point.
This is not to say he isn't a likable character though, he is very human, he has flaws that he recognises, he has a good sense of humour.
Particularly watch out for the chapter where he claims he is not a ladies man, and then details many many women he has been with, or the bit when Jensen Button rugby tackles him to the ground, or his essay about toilet brushes...
A strange man indeed, but worth reading for any F1 fan.
esperata's review
3.0
You get a feel that this biography was narrated as it almost sounds like David is remembering points as it goes along. Certainly he repeats little bits and gets sidetracked from his main point. Overall it doesn't seem to be as well organised as you'd expect from him and things like the 2007 spygate should have been explained for new F1 fans.
There are also moments when it sounds as though he's answering a question. But none of this detracts from the interesting life he has lead or his ability to honestly analyse his own life. He says himself that he prefers question and answer sessions to giving straight speeches so I guess this method of writing worked well for him.
I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone interested either in Coulthard himself or to someone just interested in a behind the scenes look at F1. It's interesting to realise he wrote this book looking ahead at 2008, with no thought of retiring, yet by the end of that year he'd hung up his helmet. This truly is covering his life as a driver.
There are also moments when it sounds as though he's answering a question. But none of this detracts from the interesting life he has lead or his ability to honestly analyse his own life. He says himself that he prefers question and answer sessions to giving straight speeches so I guess this method of writing worked well for him.
I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone interested either in Coulthard himself or to someone just interested in a behind the scenes look at F1. It's interesting to realise he wrote this book looking ahead at 2008, with no thought of retiring, yet by the end of that year he'd hung up his helmet. This truly is covering his life as a driver.
More...