Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans Summary and Reviews

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
by A.J. Baime

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
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Book Summary Information

Author: A.J. Baime
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-06-09
ISBN: 0618822194
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Book Reviews of Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans

Book Review: A Gear-Head's Delight!
Summary: 4 Stars

Everyone who knows me, knows that I am a consummate car-guy. Specifically, I lead the pack in a Dodge. Everyone, also, knows that in the history of auto racing- Chrysler's Hemi continues unbeatable. No Fords, Chevros, or Ferraris, around here ever pass my Challenger without permission!

That said... I find AJ Baime's "Go Like Hell" (2009 304-page hardback) absorbing. This brilliant text is a quick read for the auto racing enthusiast. The book is well-written from interviews, book research, and the author's personal touring of the car racing world. It is comfortably resourced with 23 pages of end notes and eight helpful pages of period black-n-white and color photographs.

Baime presents the fast paced, colorful, story of Enzo Ferrari's and Henry Ford II's early and mid 1960s battle for the face of Formula One auto racing. Their fight across the race tracks of Europe and America, posited curiously by the author as an extension of World War II, reveals Ferrari's personal nationalism and Ford's familial obsession to win regardless. The story is dramatic, tragic, exciting, and memorable.

Author Baime brings statistics, celebrity conversations, colloquial expression, sports analysis, and personal reflection to this gripping ride through Ford's herculean efforts to beat Ferrari. Readers meet Lee Iacocca, Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Ken Miles, Phil Remington, Dino Ferrari, Giovanni Agnelli, Bruce McLaren, Mario Andretti, and many more. The various 1959-1967 Ferrari and Ford racing models are reviewed from tread to top and bumper to bumper. The development of Ferrari's 4 liter V-12 and the birth of Ford's historic 427 cid (7 liter) motors are told with reverence and insight.

Baime relates brilliant victories (at Indy, Daytona, Riverside, Sebring, Monza, Le Mans, and many more), pit row personality conflicts (between Goodyear and Firestone contractees), auto industry management mistakes (don't race a Ford with and Italian gear box!), fiery race car crashes, and "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat", as Jim McKay used to say. An informative history of Le Mans wheels adeptly through the story like a Ferrari 330 P3's romp down the Mulsanne at 210 mph. This book is a gear-head's delight!

Baime's writing style is quick, concise, and forward, much like the race pilots of which he writes. You won't want to put this book down. Beware, there is some gruff language here (steering the book away from a fifth star) mostly in quotes. But, what else would one expect from the hard running-win at all cost-racing scene (and a "Playboy" magazine editor writing about it)?

If you have a spouse, relative, friend, or acquaintance who loves auto racing this book is an excellent gift candidate. If you're a gear-head wanting to learn about the face of racing in the 1960s this book is a must-read.

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