Official F1 annuals reviewed
6th September 2009, 7:00 by Keith Collantine 21 Comments »
The new range of official F1 guide books
One of my favourite books when I was growing up was “In the driving seat” – a book about F1 racing tracks by Derek Allsop with quotes from Nigel Mansell in it. I learned the track layouts and got my first glimpse of the strange-looking cars of decades past.
The young fans of today are the drivers, team members and, of course, grown fans of tomorrow – and FOM has decided to tap into that market with a new range of books produced by Penguin. They are “The Official Guide”, “The Definitive Visual Guide” and the “Official Annual 2010″. So, are any of them any good?
Aimed squarely at children, the “Official Annual 2010″ featured games and puzzles alongside some basic information about the F1 teams and drivers. That’s the 2009 teams and drivers, of course, as the 2010 line-up not been known yet.
It’s bright and colourful but conspicuously thin, particularly when an extra £2 gets you the rather more substantial “Official Guide”.
This is over 170 pages, softback rather than hardback, and geared more to information than entertainment. It’s all presented in a clear and very accessible form with details on the tracks, drivers, cars, rules and more. And it doesn’t make the mistake of trying to pass itself off as a title for next year.
The “Definitive Visual Guide” is twice the price of the “Official Guide” but doesn’t add much more for the money. Conspicuously absent from it – and all these titles – is much in the way of information on how to get into motor racing either as a competitor or by going to the tracks.
It’s described as “ideal reading for all Formula 1 fanatics” but the truth is if you’re an F1 Fanatic reader you don’t need any of these books. You probably could’ve written them.
But if you’ve got a child who’s showing an interest in F1 – or they haven’t yet and you want to make sure they do – one of these titles would be a good place to start. The “Official Guide” offers the best value, but the annual would be a better bet for younger children. Just think: if you don’t do it, someone else might buy them a NASCAR book…
Formula 1 Official Annual 2010
ISBN 978140930288
£7.99
Formula 1: The Official Guide
ISBN 9781409303060
£9.99
Formula 1: The Definitive Visual Guide
ISBN 9781405346825
£19.99
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mp4-19b said on 6th September 2009, 7:36
LOL! I dunno about the books, but i can say one thing for sure. I’ll see to that my child(whenever he/she) is born i hooked on to F1 Fanatic
mp4-19b said on 6th September 2009, 7:37
is hooked on
Keith Collantine said on 6th September 2009, 8:06
Thanks MP4-19b
Patrickl said on 6th September 2009, 20:35
Maybe not books, but they made a pretty popular kids movie about talking NASCAR cars
ajokay said on 6th September 2009, 23:54
Damn, that is a good film.
There is an F1 related kid’s show I discovered the mther morning called ‘Roary the Racing Car’. It’s made by the same company who gave us Bob the Builder, so it is all stop-frame animation. I was surprised as to how accurate some of the information woven into the story-lines is, as usually this kind of thing is dumbed down for kids, or overlooked by non-motorsport fans. The show takes place at the fictional ‘Silver Hatch’ circuit.
Plus the narrator is Stirling Moss. Great little show, have a look for it on your freeview listings.
TheRedLion said on 6th September 2009, 9:14
I’m not sure if NASCAR fans read books
Baz said on 6th September 2009, 10:32
Their books probably have plenty of colourful pictures of race cars and quotes from the Bible.
K said on 6th September 2009, 14:15
Their pages are probably large, cumbersome and difficult to turn and the narratives just go around in circles
Bigbadderboom said on 6th September 2009, 14:56
And you can only turn the pages one wy LOL
Matt said on 7th September 2009, 2:20
You sure they have quotes? Can NASCAR fans read? lol
Harv's said on 7th September 2009, 2:22
Im not sure that all NASCAR fans can read!, na i shouldnt say that, its a bit mean.
mp4-19b said on 6th September 2009, 10:31
Latest reports are suggesting that there has been a surge in F1 viewership in USA, mainly due to Keith & his blog. Pregnant American mothers fear that this will lead to the decline of NASCAR following. So they’ve come with a interesting method:-
Pregnant American mum’s are given NASCAR books with colourful illustrations , since American ladies do not have the patience to read books, they instead grind the book into powder, mix it with Budwiser beer, oh! sorry, the official NASCAR beer is Coors Light
& gulp it. This process is repeated for several months, the more books the mum gulps, the more anti- F1 the child becomes. This method was put to test a few months back 
Check out the result for yourselves
http://www.funnypart.com/pictures/FunnyPart-com-nascar_baby.jpg
Max should resign now!!! said on 6th September 2009, 11:39
LOL
mp4-19b said on 6th September 2009, 12:24
Link to the Photo
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/315/funnypartcomnascarbaby.jpg
Brawn said on 6th September 2009, 12:47
LOL BAZ!
Robert said on 6th September 2009, 15:21
Well, seeing as most racing fans here have never heard of F1 (of if they have, all the know is that it’s “kinda like IndyCar, right?”), I do not anticipate seeing any of those books at my local book store.
I actually checked at my nearest Barnes & Noble (a chain of very large book stores) and I believe the only thing they had relating to F1 was one book about Senna.
Oh well. Hopefully USF1 catches on and within a couple of years there will be two books.
Spud said on 6th September 2009, 20:40
Well put Keith.
I think I’d rather use you’re site.
You can’t have a bit of banter with a book!
There’s a loty of intelligent people that write for your website (including yourself of course) so that will do me just fine!
Grace Lovvorn said on 6th September 2009, 21:05
Well, that’s just dandy. Amazon nor Barnes and Noble has those books. Yes, I may know the majority of the information in them, but I’d just like to expose my friends and family to Formula 1. Well, I guess everyone will continue to be brainwashed by NASCAR. Sigh.
Although they aren’t in America right now, does anyone know when they’ll be for sale here, if ever?
Nitpicker said on 6th September 2009, 21:06
I’m not a fan of pre-season ‘annuals’ which don’t offer much except some notes on the drivers and circuits, some of which may change before the season starts. I’d rather read something after the event which has good analysis of the hows and whys of performances during the race (as long as it’s of a good quality, such as F1Fanatic and Autosport coverage).
KNF said on 8th September 2009, 4:11
I would rather get hold of some of the SAE books they have on the subject…
Speaking of children getting into F1…
My two-year old niece takes an interest in Gran Turismo and F1 Championship Edition every time my brother brings her over. It’s still debatable on whether if we should use her planned university funds on a go-kart instead…
James_mc said on 12th October 2009, 1:15
I looked at the kiddies one earlier today in Tescos. I liked how it had all the champions from the last 20 years. Unfortunately Senna was in his Williams outfit, Alonso’s garments were 2 seasons too late and as they insisted on using the same mug-shot rather than a different one for each season you are treated to 28% of a double-page spread devoted to Herr Schumi making a rather silly face…