Even after years in the sport, things like that still blew my mind, and as a normal bloke on the street, albeit one with a passion for working with cars and technology, I got to live out my dream job while dipping my toes into the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Just being in the bubble proved both infectious and disorientating at times. The adrenaline rush and the excitement of F1 is what entices and then traps a lot of people into the sport. They don’t want to leave, and when they eventually do they often have a hard time finding a replacement for the emotional highs and lows. My lasting memory as I left for the airport to fly home was of Kimi cowering in a corner of the room, using his laptop as a pathetic shield, while eggs and slices of toast rained down upon his head.” The sweetest gift from mum and mitchy <3 5-stars because I had such a fun time reading this. The glitz glamour and chaos of 00s F1 is front centre in this autobiography, but it never felt like a brag, more like charming recollections from a different time. it also made me wonder who will write the defining autobiography of the 10s or the current era.

The Mechanic: The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane Paperback

There was one instance when he actually bent to the will of the team. After he had been found, passed out on a rubber dolphin, in front of a night club on Gran Canaria, the team felt a public apology was required. Kimi ultimately relented but still did it the Kimi-way: It’s no surprise to me that after playing his part in securing Lewis Hamilton’s first World Title, Elvis has moved on to his next challenge, still surrounded by engineering excellence and cars but now in his role as a TV presenter, where his easy, relaxed style makes it feel like he’s putting his arm around the viewers’ shoulders and taking them on a walk behind the scenes of one of the biggest sports in the world. I look forward to watching him continue to push the boundaries in this field whilst inevitably looking for his next great life challenge. All I've learned is that to be a good pit-stop mechanic (ie, change wheels, change nose cone, fuel up) you have to be able to do one thing really well, like hold something up in the air, or wield the gun that takes the nuts off the wheel and to be a team player. He talks about endless testing, but doesn't go into details of what they were testing, what the differences were between what existed and what they were trying to do and exactly how the testing was carryed out.

The principle is sound, as are the author’s credentials... [A] genuine attempt to reflect the day-to-day realities of a relentless life on the road. And it is relayed by someone who doesn’t feel duty-bound to toe the corporate line" - - Motorsport

The Mechanic - Penguin Books UK The Mechanic - Penguin Books UK

With Kimi, though, there’s never been an ego, let alone an inflated one, and the celebrity lifestyle just wasn’t his way.” Then in 2008 McLaren finally won another championship, with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And that was quite the dramatic season as well. But I think at this point it has become clear that I was mostly here for the Kimi stories. And I have not been disappointed.I got on the radio straight away. ‘Er, guys, I’ve just found something floating around in the car. It looks like a big gold ring.’ The principle is sound, as are the author’s credentials… [A] genuine attempt to reflect the day-to-day realities of a relentless life on the road. And it is relayed by someone who doesn’t feel duty-bound to toe the corporate line Motorsport With the tarmac showing no sign of drying and time running out, some bright spark suggested we charter a helicopter. At first I was pretty sure he only said it as a throw-away joke as we all stood around waiting, becoming more and more frustrated at the situation, but in the end some of the most brilliant engineers in the business began to raise eyebrows and become excited. His crazy idea was to instruct the pilot to fly up and down the length of the strip, just above the tarmac, so his rotary blades could scatter the surface water away with the downdraft. If ever anyone left the race team after a significant length of service, either to retire or move on, it was our longstanding tradition to physically abuse that person after their last race. This would generally happen in a horrifically degrading manner, and often in front of the entire pitlane. Over the years I’ve seen people tied to the pit wall fence and covered with leftover food slops (which had been saved up during the week in preparation). People were doused in liquids that should never have been publicly seen outside of the human body. And I’ve watched, horrified, as one mechanic was set on fire before being hosed down with the enormous pitstop foam fire extinguisher.” Ron Dennis' rather special personality (I always found him fascinating) was the much more interesting aspect of this book in the early chapters. Some parts of this reminded me of reading about Steve Jobs, another interesting character. And then Kimi arrived at the team and the book became immense fun.

The Mechanic: The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane - Google Play

Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestley worked for McLaren Racing as a Formula One mechanic and member of the pitstop crew from 2000-2009. He worked with a distinguished list of drivers including Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Jean Alesi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. The principle is sound, as are the author’s credentials… [A] genuine attempt to reflect the day-to-day realities of a relentless life on the road. And it is relayed by someone who doesn’t feel duty-bound to toe the corporate line" - - Motorsport In the high-octane atmosphere of the Formula One pit lane, the spotlight is most often on the superstar drivers. And yet, without the technical knowledge, competitive determination and outright obsession from his garage of mechanics, no driver could possibly hope to claim a spot on the podium. These are the guys who make every World Champion, and any mistakes can have critical consequences. Following his retirement from McLaren, Elvis's first broadcast role was as pitlane reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live, where he was able to share his vast technical experience of the cars and equipment with listeners. Since then, Elvis has become an integral part of Sky's F1 coverage. He is now a co-host on the channel’s studio-based chat show, The F1 Report, as well as attending a number of Grand Prix events.There was a reflection of the season in the way we all partied that night. Fernando disappeared, never to be seen again. Lewis gathered together his own ever growing entourage in an exclusive private VIP area, none of us from the team were invited. Instead we dragged the night away with the new Formula 1 World Champion somewhere in Sao Paulo. I say somewhere because I really can't remember much about it. I do remember we ended up at Kimi's hotel, the sun rising, none of us able to stand or talk, but it was so nice to finally be able to share part of that incredible achievement with him. I couldn't help but feel that even though he was no longer driving for us, in our own inimitable chaotic McLaren way we'd made a substantial contribution to his world championship season and a tiny part of me had to have a laugh about that. As the mechanics and engineers rapidly worked out, using the spare car in the garage, what might have happened and what consequences it could have, someone suggested I throw it out of the car and over the pit wall next to my grid slot. unreservedly accessible pdf archives on the Internet. We don't have any document on our server. In the event Amongst all of this chaos over the years, Elvis was a dependable, reliable pair of hands and a great character to be around. rounding up (dammit, GR, are half-stars really that difficult???) But these hard-partying guys get 1 star for obnoxious behavior. (Except for Kimi, he gets a pass).