Alan Mann's Autobiography

Hi All,

The late Alan Manns book, ''Alan Mann, A Life of Chance'' is out this month.

Published by Motor Racing Publications Ltd., & written by Alan with Tony Dron.

Regards Steve

ps £45 retail, under £30 on WH Smiths UK web site (but not in shops)
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
Tony is an excellent writer and has a monthly column in OCTANE. Alan Mann passed away not along ago. I"m going to put this on my must read list.
 
Are there many pages devoted to the Ford GT? What about Shelby?
I heard that when Shelby left the Daytona coupes with him, he threatened to throw them in the Irish sea if Shelby didn't pick them up. I hope there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff like that...
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
I'm supposed to get this tomorrow. I'll post a review of sorts, keeping in mind that it's basically going to say either "fabulous" or "don't bother". Frankly, I expect the former rather than the latter.
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
It's a very good read, I have to say. Lots of good asides about the folks involved, although they do make me curious about some other things. Like for example, why is John Whitmore SIR John Whitmore? It appears he was knighted at a rather young age, if I have it right.

Lots of good photos, too, it looks like from collections Mr. Mann kept over the years.

I have not reached the GT40 era yet in the book but he is still back in the saloon racing days. Evidently he was very good at this and won quite a few races.

Race team managers seldom get their due, I think, but their books are always entertaining. Thus far, besides this one, I've read Wyer's, Horsmans's, AND Alfred Neubauer's, which, if you can find it, is a tremendously entertaining read. I was lucky and found it in English translation.
 

Keith

Moderator
He is a genuine nob Jim, not a "made" one. Being a baronet, he would have inherited the title from his father...
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
I have not reached the GT40 era yet in the book but he is still back in the saloon racing days. Evidently he was very good at this and won quite a few races..

I headed straight for the Mk II chapter, and, well, there was no love lost between him and Ford to put it mildly. The acid nearly drips from the pages, to the point of being, well, bitchy. At one point he complains because Ford engineers measured air pressure in inches of mercury ("whatever that means" he says) instead of PSI. Oh please, get a grip.

And how he hated the Mk II and everything it stood for.... and no real fan of the Mk IV either.
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
Not how I read it. I thought he was fair. Try starting at the beginning and getting a sense of the arc of his career, you'll see what I mean, I think.
 
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