High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads

A heady mix of nostalgia, superb car design and reckless spirit. The best book you will ever read about the glory years of British racing car design.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 20 February 2020
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd

After the war, a group of determined pioneers emerged from the ashes of Britain's cities and created the finest automobiles the world had ever seen. High Performance is an exhilarating account of their remarkable journey.

Ben Collins, the bestselling author of How to Drive, has praised High Performance as a "cracking read" and an "adrenaline-packed tribute" to the era when British mavericks "blew the bloody doors off" the competition.

In 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, 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 as the most durable.

However, 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.

Weight: 250g
Dimension: 177 x 199 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781471168482