Alexander Roy

When I received this book as a gift I dismissed it as likely to be the typical unauthentic, over dramatic portrayal of the life and lifestyle of street drag racers or worse, tuner/drifters. A Fast and the Furious in prose. I wasn't looking forward to it. Boy was I wrong.

The Driver is a memoir of a participant in a motor racing sub-culture known as endurance rallying. It is an insight into this small group of people who make a science of driving cross country as fast as they can - sometimes as fast as 175 mph - on public highways and Interstates for 600, 700, 1000, 1200 miles a day. Unbelievably dangerous and irresponsible but real and fascinating.

The basis for Roy's involvement is the viewing of Rendezvous, the car geeks' cult classic short move in which an unidentified driver races flat-out halfway across Paris though normal traffic with a camera on the hood of his Ferrari. On his deathbed, Roy’s father reveals that The Driver still lives. I don't recall any mention of sabotage, only that Roy becomes determined to find and meet him. In the process he gets hooked on the challenge of driving faster, further than anyone else. The book concludes with his record-breaking attempt to drive from New York to Santa Monica (?) in less than 31 hours.

Roy's writing isn't going to win any literary awards but for a gearhead it is really good (and I've read a lot of gearhead books). The Driver will appeal to a pretty narrow audience but for someone that has a background in motorsports or anyone who takes their cross country driving seriously (food, bathroom only when fuel is needed - calculating average speed and ETA) will really enjoy this book.

(But probably not good for someone who already has too many points on their license.) --SA Justus… (mehr)