McCarthy's Car (Flat Out, Flat Broke - Perry McCarthy)

Member Name: IainWear

Product:	Flat Out, Flat Broke - Perry McCarthy
Date:	16/04/06 (177 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Told with a twinkle in the eye and with great humour

Disadvantages: I didn't discover this sooner

Hands up if you ever wanted to be a racing driver when you were younger? Or even if you still harbour dreams of being one? I know I certainly did. It didn’t matter to me whether I was racing in rallying, Touring Cars or in Formula 1; I just wanted to be paid for driving very fast. There was a spell in my younger years where I even had a vague ambition of being a motorway policeman, for much the same reason.

Perry McCarthy had the same dream. His childhood certainly prepared him for the world of being a racing driver, as he had a daredevil streak and an eye for the ladies, even at the age of six. But this would be as close as he came to fulfilling his dream until he was 18 and had a session at Brands Hatch which proved him to be a natural driver.

From here on, Perry’s life becomes a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Motor racing is an expensive sport and he spends a lot of his time trying to get the money to be a racing driver and a lot of money trying to win races and get into Formula 1. He experiences successes and failures, winning races and losing his home and obtains national press coverage early in his career, but only thanks to a spectacular crash which left him with a broken back. But he never gives up on his dream.

McCarthy is clearly a bit of a nutter, but he’s a very likeable one. Despite a huge number of set backs, the book is written with a huge dollop of good humour. Even when things are going at their absolute worst, he recounts the tales with a twinkle in his eye that lets on that he was really having a good time. The whole story reads like he’s just dashed into the pub with a huge grin and said “You’ll never guess what I’ve just done” and then, when he’s talked you into buying him a drink, tells you exactly what that was.

By the end of the book, I was rooting for McCarthy. I had to admire the stubbornness of a man who knew what he wanted and refused to give up on it, despite all the obstacles that were put in his way and despite all the things that went wrong. I loved the way that he keeps smiling and joking even when his dreams and his life were falling apart around him. By the end of the book, I was cheering his wins and disappointed when they lost. But most of all, I was smiling all the way through, as alongside being a decent driver, his ability to make you smile is one of McCarthy’s great talents, whether the smiles are at his own expense of someone else’s.

This isn’t intended as a comedy, but it’s a fair bit funnier than many books I have read that were. McCarthy isn’t a comedian himself, but he’s got more amusing anecdotes than people who are. Despite all the bad luck he had, McCarthy manages to make this a heart warming and uplifting story. It’s a tale of what can be achieved if you never give up your dreams and always remain positive.

If you’ve ever had any interest in motor racing, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It’s easily the funniest and quite possibly the best book I have ever read on the sport. Although McCarthy’s expressed intention was to get into Formula 1, he has been involved and, more often then not, crashed in most forms of four wheel racing. So whatever your favoured form of motor racing, it may well be featured here. As this has all happened relatively recently as well, many of the names he mentions will be familiar to those who have been a fan of the sport for anything more than a couple of years.

Those who aren’t fans of the sport will probably get less enjoyment from the book, although even then there may just be enough laughs to make it worthwhile. But if you know anyone who is a fan, this would make the ideal present for them, as it did for me.

Unlike the sport did to McCarthy, buying the book won’t break the bank. It is available from Amazon for £6.39 or play.com for £5.99. Second hand copies have also been seen from £3.61 on eBay, £1.99 at the Amazon Marketplace and £3.75 at Green Metropolis.

For the huge amount of enjoyment any motor racing fan will get from this book, these are ridiculously low prices to be paying. It’s a book I know I will be reading again and again, as although the story may become stale with constant repetition, the humour never will.

Summary: The Life and Times of a very funny racing driver