Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #345901 in Books
• Published on: 1987-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 188 pages

Customer Reviews

To hell and back
I am amazed that this book has been out for 20 years and nobody has written a review on it.
In his autobiography, Niki Lauda describes his life from his birth right to his retirement in 1985. On top of that he adds chapters on the evolution of Formula One during his career, observations on his colleagues and competitors, the Lauda System (of success), his home and the pains of building Lauda Air.
I shall spare you any extensive review of Niki Lauda's Formula One career because you can read that up in his book yourself, except one bit. When driving for McLaren, Niki Lauda talks quite a bit on how biased McLaren was towards the other driver and how the team turned against him. This favoritism I have read about in other drivers' memoirs and it does make a bit of a mockery of McLaren often-stated equal opportunity policy.
But apart from that, what struck me is the determination you need to succeed into the pinnacle of Motorsport. You also need to be able to almost endlessly raise money to support your bid. Niki Lauda similarly to many others in Formula One started his career deeply in debt and in a way I am amazed that he made it given that his finances were incredibly hazardous more than once. I also like the way he went about making sure that he got what he wanted, which I think one can learn some lessons from even if one is not attempting to enter Formula One.
An incredible book.