I just made the tea

July 7, 2014

Tales from 30 years inside Formula 1 by Di Spires with Bernard Ferguson

Di Spires and her husband Stuart spent 30 years refuelling drivers, mechanics and all manner of Formula 1 people in the Grand Prix paddocks of the world, serving the hospitality needs of teams such as Surtees, Toleman/ Beneffon and Lotus. Their years on the road offering TLC and cups of tea to world champion racing drivers and tetchy team bosses gave them a unique insiders’ view of the sport. Spires’ memoir wriffen with the help of former Cosworth racing boss Bernard Ferguson, is a racing book like no other.

Affectionate anecdotes about Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet and Michael Schumacher pop a few perceptions of these giants of F1. The book also charts how much F1 has changed, from the couple’s basic ‘bacon buffy’ early days as racing motorhomers to the haute cuisine demands in modern paddocks. A story that’s always purely personal, and at times quite charming. DS

Published by Haynes Publishing, ISBN 978 85733 223 3, £17.99

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Damien Smith

Damien spent two spells as editor of Motor Sport – at nine issues, his first was short. The second was longer, rejoining in 2007 until 2016. Between he spent two years as editor-in-chief of Autosport, a magazine he first joined in 1996. During his time on the weekly, Damien covered everything from club racing to Formula 1, via Formula 3000 and sports car racing.

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