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View Full Version : A great Xmas read--"Paddock to Podium"---The Mechanics View



MaxNf500
11-03-2015, 08:35 AM
Available direct from Max Rutherford cmr.mtr91@gmail.com $35 post free in NZ. Email me for postage cost if outside NZ.
Here are some of the things reviewers have written.
Max is very honest in his views of those he worked for and alongside: Messrs Tauranac and Brabham don't get any marks for man-management or appreciation of effort, although Max acknowledges Sir Jack as a very good race car developer. On the other hand, it's clear that he holds Stewart (who has written a delightful foreword) in high esteem; ditto - Ken Tyrrell and his wife Norah. Classic Driver—Mark Holman

Sir Jackie Stewart --"Ken's mechanics were the best - better at what they did than I ever was at what I did. Mechanics were the only true professionals in motor racing; they were artists at their work." Quote from Jackie’s own book.

Self-published books have a certain look and feel - and some seem to surface through vanity rather than because there is a worthwhile tale to tell. This is not of that ilk. First-hand accounts of life with such as Brabham and Tyrrell paint a vivid account of the period, but it's the tales of road trips between continental races - living on prize money and cooking meals on a small stove at the roadside - that give this its charm. Rutherford also pays tribute to the quality of Belgian chips as much a fact of life in 1967, apparently, as it is now.
Motorsport – Simon Arron.

What particularly distinguishes this book from many others is that it has been written by someone who was there, in the thick of things, in his own words and supplemented with his own photographs. Max does not mince his words and has some fairly critical comments to make about certain individuals while clearly having a high regard for others. Anyone with an interest in international F1, F2 and F3 racing as it was in the 1960s should acquire this book and will not be disappointed. British Racing Drivers Club—Ian Titchmarsh

Race mechanic Max Rutherford was part of the Antipodean presence in '60s motor racing, and eventually worked with Jackie Stewart during the Scot's title-winning '69 Fl campaign. He mines a rich seam of anecdotes about the likes of Charlie Crichton-Stuart, Jack Brabham and Ken Tyrrell, and he pulls no punches. The result is an entertaining read.
Classic and Sports Car--- James Page