Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads
    Unavailable
    High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads
    Unavailable
    High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads
    Audiobook9 hours

    High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads

    Written by Peter Grimsdale

    Narrated by Peter Grimsdale

    5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘A band of stubborn pioneers rose from the embers of Britain’s cities after World War Two and created the finest automobiles the world had ever seen ... High Performance tells the exhilarating tale of their journey down the fast lane.’ Ben Collins, bestselling author of The Man In The White Suit and How To Drive
    ‘A wonderful glimpse "backstage" at the flamboyant mavericks and crazies who populated the British motor industry in the 60s.’ Alexei Sayle
    ‘High Performance is a cracking read and an adrenaline-packed tribute to the time when British mavericks “blew the bloody doors off” the competition.’ The Sunday Times

    Chosen as one of The Mail on Sunday’s ‘100 Summer Books’?

    In January 1964 a team of tiny red and white Mini Coopers stunned the world by winning the legendary Monte Carlo Rally. It was a stellar year for British cars that culminated in Goldfinger breaking box office records and making James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 the world’s most famous sports car.

    By the sixties, on road, track and silver screen the Brits were the ones to beat, winning championships and capturing hearts. Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Paddy Hopkirk were household names who drove the sexiest and most innovative cars. Designers like John Cooper, and Colin Chapman of Lotus, dismissed as mere ‘garagisti’ by Enzo Ferrari, blew the doors off Formula One and grabbed all the prizes, while Alex Issigonis won a knighthood for his revolutionary Mini. The E Type Jaguar was feted as the world’s sexiest car and Land Rover the most durable.

    But before the Second World War only one British car had triumphed in a Grand Prix; Britain’s car builders were fiercely risk-averse. So what changed? To find out, Peter Grimsdale has gone in search of a generation of rebel creative spirits who emerged from railway arches and Nissen huts to tear up the rulebook with their revolutionary machines. Like the serial fugitives from the POW camps, they thrived on adversity, improvisation and sheer obstinate determination. Blazing the trail for them was William Lyons, whose heart-stoppingly glamorous and uncompromising Jaguars propelled a bruised and bankrupt nation out of the shadows of war, winning the fans in Hollywood and beating ‘those bloody red cars’ at Le Mans.

    High Performance celebrates Britain’s automotive golden age and the mavericks who sketched them on the back of envelopes and garage floors, who fettled, bolted and welded them together and hammered the competition in the showroom, on the road and on the track – fuelled by contempt for convention.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio UK
    Release dateMay 16, 2019
    ISBN9781471185045
    Unavailable
    High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads
    Author

    Peter Grimsdale

    Peter Grimsdale is a bestselling writer, TV producer and former commissioning editor whose credits stretch from Big Brother to Panorama, from The Adam & Joe Show to Finest Hour and Dispatches on Deepwater Horizon and Tony Blair’s millions. His first motoring book was the critically acclaimed High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads. Racing in the Dark is his second book with Simon & Schuster.

    Related to High Performance

    Related audiobooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Kinematics 101

      May 1, 2020

      Kinematics 101
      8 min read

    • Article

      T140 Bonneville

      Oct 29, 2018

      T140 Bonneville
      14 min read

    • Article

      Return Of the Mac

      Jul 28, 2021

      Return Of the Mac
      10 min read

    • Article

      Honda Gb500

      Feb 14, 2022

      Honda Gb500
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Shed

      Oct 2, 2021

      Every time I amble out to The Shed and remove the cover (waterproof; essential) from the Sunbeam, I need to stand back and stare at it. It is simply so strange – and bear in mind that I’ve owned this one for over two decades and must have ridden at l

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Eric Dymock Archive

      Jul 1, 2022

      Think 1948. Only four years since the War and you need bureaucratic clearance to buy a new car. Petrol is rationed, Sir Stafford Cripps is Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it is ten terrible years since the last Earls Court Motor Show. Now half a mil

      7 min read

    • Article

      Paddy Hopkirk MBE b.1933

      Aug 24, 2022

      Paddy Hopkirk MBE b.1933
      1 min read

    • Article

      Saleroom

      Nov 1, 2019

      With a name like Christopher Columbus Smith your destiny is pretty much mapped out for you. He was born in Michigan in 1861 and, by 1930, the company that bore his name had become the world’s biggest manufacturer of mahogany motorboats. As the world

      2 min read

    • Article

      from the ARCHIVES PART 3: THE 1980s

      Nov 12, 2020

      My other car is also a Porsche’ was one of the highly amusing bumper stickers of the 1980s, and popular with yuppies. These young upwardly mobile professionals, with their rampant consumerism and overt materialistic attitude, were thought to be a pro

      4 min read

    • Article

      Best Cars Of The 1960s

      Apr 15, 2021

      THE swinging sixties brought a vast array of unforgettable cars that would establish the path of the industry for decades to come. And while there are myriad models from this era to choose from, we’ve picked 30 standout machines. Millions of families

      11 min read

    • Article

      Dancing On Ice

      Mar 2, 2022

      Dancing On Ice
      2 min read

    • Article

      Dancing On Ice

      Mar 2, 2022

      Dancing On Ice
      2 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Nov 24, 2021

      Books
      5 min read

    • Article

      When Aston Got Groovy

      Jun 3, 2021

      When Aston Got Groovy
      5 min read

    • Article

      Spike Rhiando

      Jan 24, 2024

      Spike Rhiando
      3 min read

    • Article

      Stephen Bayley

      Dec 28, 2022

      I am going to take a sharp, glittering axe to our national roots of shame and humility. I am going to say that there was a period, a surprisingly recent one, when British car design was the best in the world. Not just that it was ‘good’ in that vexat

      3 min read

    • Article

      from the ARCHIVES PART 2: THE 1970s

      Oct 15, 2020

      Continuing our series, Gentleman Jack gets in a ‘flap’, with both his flared trousers and what proved to be a difficult decade for motorhome manufacturers The opening action sequence of the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me, in which James Bond skis ove

      4 min read

    • Article

      Books & DVDs

      Nov 25, 2020

      Books & DVDs
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Heinz Wolseley Hornet

      Apr 16, 2021

      The Heinz Wolseley Hornet
      7 min read

    • Article

      Caister Castle Car Collection Caper

      Sep 13, 2022

      Nothing quite prepares you for a visit to this stunning collection, located very close to the seaside, a stones’s throw away from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. Okay, so the advertising leaflet states that the display area has recently been increased fro

      4 min read

    • Article

      Event Report

      Nov 14, 2023

      One thing Britain was in need of for a long time was an authentic, traditional kustom show with the emphasis on the ‘K’. Readers who have spent many an hour gazing at old photographs of early National Roadster Shows and Detroit Autoramas will appreci

      2 min read

    • Article

      Capris On Screen

      Jun 11, 2021

      Capris On Screen
      3 min read

    • Article

      Barn Find Collection

      Mar 15, 2024

      Barn Find Collection
      7 min read

    • Article

      Motoring

      Oct 18, 2023

      This year, we celebrate five 75th birthdays of significance to the British motor industry (as was). In 1948, wartime rationing was increased by the Labour government. Steel was strictly rationed and carmakers were compelled to export. Factories that

      2 min read

    • Article

      Trials Of The Century

      Dec 10, 2021

      Trials Of The Century
      6 min read

    • Article

      Silver Screen Machines

      Feb 24, 2021

      Silver Screen Machines
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for High Performance

    5/5

    10 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Excellent book. The history of British car manufacturers in a nutshell. Great narration
    • 5/5
      Absolutely wonderful. I hope for more books focusing into deeper stories of these days!
    • 5/5
      So interesting! Highly recommended... I really enjoyed reading about how some of the best loved and iconic cars came about and the fascinating people who shaped the automotive industry around the world. Brilliant read! Loved it.