James Newbold Revives Formula 3000's Forgotten Tales
It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I sit down with James Newbold, author of Formula 3000: Where Legends Earn Their Stripes, to explore his fascinating new book, an in-depth chronicle of one of motorsport’s most influential yet often overlooked championships.
James shares how his passion for racing history inspired him to document the full story of Formula 3000, a series that ran from 1985 to 2004 and served as a vital proving ground for many drivers who would go on to reach Formula One. Together, we discuss the pivotal moments, personalities, and rivalries that defined the era, as well as the challenges of bringing such an ambitious project to life.
I highlight how James’s meticulous research and storytelling breathe new life into a chapter of motorsport that deserves far greater recognition. This episode is both a celebration of his dedication and an invitation to rediscover the legacy of Formula 3000, a series where true legends earned their stripes.
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Transcript
So, James Newbold, welcome to the Backseat Driver.
Speaker B:Thank you very much for having me on.
Speaker A:As a first book, this is some serious undertaking.
Speaker A:What gave you the impetus to do this?
Speaker B:You could say I'm mad, frankly.
Speaker B:I have IP worked for a long time as a journalist, so writing and motorsport history are two things that I would say in my wheelhouse.
Speaker B:I've always enjoyed longer form features and, you know, been able to do, you know, a big hunk of research was always something that I viewed as.
Speaker B:Yeah, I enjoyed it rather than viewing it as a, as a pain, really.
Speaker B:So I've always sort of gravitated towards projects that, you know, maybe a little topics that are a little lesser known and required a bit of research and been able to tell a full in depth story.
Speaker B:I've done various pieces in my time.
Speaker B:You know, last year I did a piece on the history of larousse, which I really enjoyed.
Speaker B:I mean, there's not too many people that are churning out pieces on that, so that sort of gives you an example.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've, I've never really been the one for all the breaking news stories.
Speaker B:It was always more sort of deep dives.
Speaker B:Yeah, that, that, that, that float in my boat.
Speaker B: But yeah, Formula: Speaker B:I mean, you know, people know the broad brushstrokes of who the champions were and things like that, but a lot of the actual storylines, I think, had gone massively under the radar.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And to the point where, you know, they were being forgotten by history, really.
Speaker B: I started the project, it was: Speaker B:This hasn't really been told.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Don't forget remainder bins.
Speaker A:It started life at 90 quid.
Speaker A:Now it's all yours for a fiver.
Speaker A:And I mean, before we went on air.
Speaker A: I mean, I commented, I mean, F: Speaker A:And it's one of those things, it vanished.
Speaker A: t it went out of existence in: Speaker A:You think, good God.
Speaker A:I remember watching it.
Speaker A:But it just, it's like you said, it just slipped below the radar, did all this.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was a championship that at its peak produced some astonishing talents and really brilliant racing.
Speaker B: is manufacturers, and even in: Speaker B:But it was a really good opportunity for a really good formula for designers to cut their teeth really and get a good grounding in what it took to really have an influence on multiple areas of the car where I think, you know, now engineers coming up, you know, learn their trade, you know, running drivers in spec categories, where it's effectively a driver training formula to, you know, coach the driver how to drive the car in the most effective way possible to coax the laptop out of the car rather than really developing parts and bringing new items to the car.
Speaker B:So it did change a lot.
Speaker B: You know,: Speaker B: people, the appeal of formula: Speaker B: cars in: Speaker B:And there were regularly over 40 cars that were attempting to qualify.
Speaker B: In: Speaker B:It did produce, you know, and, and yielded a huge amount of interest.
Speaker B:Just, it just sort of dwindled as there was increasing competition from rival categories.
Speaker B:And really the promotion, when you speak to lots of people, was the key element that was missing, really.
Speaker B:People had the impression that a lot more could have been done on that aspect.
Speaker B: reasing grids to the point in: Speaker B:But, you know, you would say that the quality at the front was still there to the end.
Speaker B: rop, there's a sidebar in the: Speaker B:He went to Formula one.
Speaker B:Jose Maria Lopez won the Le Montre for hours.
Speaker B:A couple of years ago, Esteban Guerrieri was a winner in the World Touring Car Cup.
Speaker B:Alan van der Merwe's career didn't go too much further due to cash shortfalls, but he earned a good living for many years as the medical car driver and was at the time the reigning Formula 3 champion of great Britain.
Speaker B:So you'd say that all the way through, even if grids did dip a little bit for it obviously changed to GP2 for 05.
Speaker B:The quality was there, even if the numbers weren't always there.
Speaker A:I mean, I'll just run through some of the names that, shall we say, as the book's title says, where legends earn their stripes, we are Jean Alessi, Christian Fittipaldi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Nick Heidfeld and if memory serves, Tom Christensen drove as well, I think.
Speaker A:And then we have others.
Speaker A:Eddie Jordan, Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, David Sears, who very kindly wrote the forward, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard.
Speaker A:I mean, it's definitely of who's who of drivers.
Speaker A:It's like you said, they didn't all make it into F1, but a lot of them, shall we say, I dare say you could say, cut the teeth at international racing and then went on to drive other disciplines like sports cars and touring cars.
Speaker A:I mean, it had a major effect on the world of motorsport, didn't it?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, you mentioned Michael Schumacher there.
Speaker B: ever did one race in Formula: Speaker B:And Mario Martini is one of the drivers I spoke to for the book, a long time store of the Japanese scene and he sort of said he just couldn't believe how quickly Schumacher was able to adapt to this.
Speaker B: You know, Japanese: Speaker B:And yeah, he had, you know, manufacturer effectively tires and then sort of customer tires that were maybe, you know, a couple of specs below.
Speaker B:So if you didn't have the pucker tires, you weren't going to do anything.
Speaker B: which wasn't the fancy car in: Speaker B: u know, doing that in Formula: Speaker B:That probably did help him to get that driver, Jordan, that obviously where he started the ball rolling at Spa.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But, I mean, you mentioned there, you know, lots of drivers.
Speaker B: cross to the European Formula: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: s an active driver in Formula: Speaker B:Formula One door didn't open for him for myriad reasons that he's already talked about in his.
Speaker B:His excellent autobiography.
Speaker B:That's out with.
Speaker B:With Ephro as well.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I say I am.
Speaker A:I haven't seen that.
Speaker A:I read that.
Speaker A:I mean, I've.
Speaker A:I missed meeting him by a fraction of a second, and that's as close I've ever come.
Speaker A:But, I mean, one or two have said to me, formula one missed out on a good driver.
Speaker A:My reply was, but endurance racing certainly didn't miss out on a good driver.
Speaker A:I mean, he is.
Speaker A:He's the king of le Mans.
Speaker A:The 24.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:And, I mean, there's lots of drivers, as you said, that.
Speaker B: That did impress in formula: Speaker B:From other categories.
Speaker B:Yeah, sorry, From.
Speaker B:From other countries in the.
Speaker B:In the different National Formula 3 Championships.
Speaker B: And then it was Formula: Speaker B:That was your big, you know, shop window to.
Speaker B:To Formula one.
Speaker B:And for some reason, certain, you know, drivers didn't make the cut in.
Speaker B:In Formula one, but then certainly did impress elsewhere.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, I can't remember who it was now.
Speaker B: yone who was quick in Formula: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Indianapolis 500 winners like Gil Deferen and Kenny Brack.
Speaker B:Alan McNish is another who won Le Mans.
Speaker B: u know, the legacy of Formula: Speaker A:Yeah, the one thing I noticed in this early, guys, as you commented, there were a variety of chassis and a variety of designs.
Speaker A: Some of the F: Speaker A:Some didn't look at all like an F1 car they didn't really resemble, I suppose you could say they resembled a lesser Formula single seater that had got the bigger engine fitted to them.
Speaker A:I mean, it was quite unusual early on, wasn't it?
Speaker A:It was very diverse.
Speaker B:Diverse is a good way of putting it.
Speaker B: I mean, in: Speaker B:And some of the choices were made on the basis of, well, this is a recent car that was designed to fit a DFE in it.
Speaker B: he big factors behind Formula: Speaker B:And Formula two, it's, you know, its engines were too expensive, in short, and if you didn't have a Honda, which was everyone apart from DeWalt, the works rolt team that had an exclusive deal, you weren't going to win.
Speaker B:So that was why 3,000 came into being.
Speaker B:But you had, as you say, this huge range of cars.
Speaker B:You know, Lola came in with an adapted Indy car that Mario Hyten describes in very unflattering terms as like a big whale.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was just far too big.
Speaker B:I mean, that was, that was a rushed car that didn't see a wind tunnel where the March and the Roll were adapted Formula two cars that did see a wind tunnel that, you know, helped their transition to being flat bottom monoclocks because of course, Formula 2 had the Venturi tunnels underneath them.
Speaker B:Yeah, but, yeah, you had, you had old Formula One cars from Tyrrell, from Arrows, from Williams.
Speaker B:AGS adapted their Formula Two car.
Speaker B:This was before they were a Formula One constructor.
Speaker B: eir Formula One car for, for F: Speaker B:But it very quickly became clear that, you know, a customer racing car manufacturer was your way to go.
Speaker B:But yes, the, the Formula one teams that were, you know, selling their old cars just didn't really have the staff to provide, you know, customer support in the way that, you know, that the manufacturers like March had, you know, their own works engineers that were embedded in teams.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's the same for, for Lola and Reynard did that very well as well when they entered.
Speaker B:But the Formula one teams just didn't really have the numbers or the impetus to do that because their main focus was the World Championship.
Speaker B:And of course the cost of repairing Formula one cars when they were damaged was significantly higher as well, which was another factor that maybe worked against their being more widely used.
Speaker B:And of Course they were running on tyres and they weren't designed for.
Speaker B: en, you know, morphed into a F: Speaker B:And the same for Ront.
Speaker A: d tyres over the duration of F: Speaker A:As you said they were the two brands and you read where certain drivers couldn't do us were, weren't able to do a lot with the car and as soon as they, the following season were able to switch tires, all of a sudden, one better term, the car came alive.
Speaker A:They could actually make it win.
Speaker B: in, in International Formula: Speaker B:So the tyres weren't really a factor, but they very much were in, in Japan, you know, if you had a Yokama tyre then you were pretty much Karen's.
Speaker B:He thought to be able to do very much.
Speaker B:And you know, Dunlop had periods where they were quite competitive and at other times not at all.
Speaker B:And Bridgestone seemed to be the sort of more stable entity.
Speaker B: t Bridgestone in the Japanese: Speaker B:So there were, yeah, lots of different elements to it, you know, the engine wise, you know, the DFE from different tuners that were preparing them.
Speaker B:Won the first four.
Speaker B:Yeah, first four championships.
Speaker B: ut then the MUFIN came in for: Speaker B:Yeah, for the next three years.
Speaker B: rgence for the DFV briefly in: Speaker B: sworth AC engine comes in for: Speaker B:It wouldn't have taken a lot for Pedro Lami to have won that title in 93 with the older DFV engine against the newer AC that ultimately won the title with Olivia Bannis and the Dams.
Speaker B: which had been introduced in: Speaker B: with should have heron in the: Speaker B:Battle, but was never able to win a title in open competition.
Speaker B:And of course it wins everything from then on.
Speaker A: ure engines specifically for F: Speaker A:It was a slightly de specced F1 engine, because I know engines are made for specific cars and specific formula.
Speaker A: Was this the case in F: Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely was.
Speaker B:I mean, apart from the DFE, which of course had been going since the 60s, you know, every engine that was introduced afterwards was bespoke for that category because, of course you had the 9,000 rpm roof limit.
Speaker B:And so it sort of was logical really, that an engine that was designed to most effectively reach that point was going to be the way to go.
Speaker B:So, yeah, the first sort of non DfE engine to win was the.
Speaker B:It was Honda badged, but it was designed and built by John Judd's engine development operation.
Speaker A:Because I know there's a photograph in the book and it says this engine is carrying.
Speaker A:I think it said the Honda cam covers were in effect.
Speaker A:It actually wasn't a Honda engine carrying the.
Speaker A:Underneath the cam covers, but it was running as a Honda.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that was the.
Speaker B: that was in Japanese Formula: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it was.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It could be a little bit confusing at times in terms of who had actually done what engine, because at various different points, the.
Speaker B:It started out being known as the Judd KV engine, then it was known as the Zytec Judd kv and then sometimes it was just known as the Zytec kv.
Speaker B:But it was the same engine the whole time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:For some reason was known as different things, but, yeah, it was very much a joint.
Speaker A:It wasn't a case of what cam covers have we got?
Speaker A:All they'll do.
Speaker A:Stick them on.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was very much a joint.
Speaker B:Joint venture, that one.
Speaker B:I've just written the feature actually on the Jod KV designs at jkv.
Speaker B:I'm onto it now for race car engineering.
Speaker B:So that'll be.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Hopefully by the time that this podcast reaches the air.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I mean, it's.
Speaker A:It really did get to the glory days.
Speaker A:I mean, did it ever such rival Formula One?
Speaker B:I don't think you would ever say that it rivaled Formula One because it was.
Speaker B:It was always the.
Speaker B:The stepping stone Formula.
Speaker B:It never had the prestige of Formula One.
Speaker B: teal Formula One's thunder in: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Which of course was the race famously where the track Disintegrated to the extent that Formula One teams said that, we're going home, this is not suitable to race off.
Speaker B:The track surface had been hastily redone and it just wasn't suitable for the rigors of Formula One cars.
Speaker B: Yumula: Speaker B:That would have been him up for Formula One otherwise.
Speaker B: ula One support category from: Speaker B: , you know, very much formula: Speaker B:But yeah, due to the aforementioned, you know, promotional struggle, should we say, never quite seemed to get the audiences or the interest that the on track product merited.
Speaker B:I mean, it didn't help, but it went to some particularly odd circuits.
Speaker B: You know, Albacete in: Speaker B:It was, you know, an oversized go kart track, really.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, and I've just mentioned it was, you know, a great standalone venue and a staple of the calendar for, for many years.
Speaker B:But it was anachronistic even in its time.
Speaker B:It was, yeah, a puzzling one that, that managed to be a fixture on the calendar.
Speaker B:It was obviously very well regarded, I think, by the people that were part of the championship.
Speaker B:You know, I really enjoyed the time in it approaching people for the book.
Speaker B:A lot of people were very happy to talk about it and reminisce on those days that they still, you know, regard very fondly as, you know, one of the favorite points in their careers.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Eric van der Poel even said that, you know, was a really sociable time.
Speaker B:And in the years after, you know, Formula one, he just always wanted to try and team up in sports cars and touring cars with people that he, you know, raced against and just hung about with in his 3,000 years.
Speaker B:That were, you know, a very friendly and enjoyable time, it seems like, anyway.
Speaker B:It was, it was a very different atmosphere in the paddock.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Compared to what you might see in today's Formula 2.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I mean, the one thing, you look at the photographs in it and there didn't appear to be any shortage of sponsorship in the main.
Speaker A:It pulled in some decent names, didn't.
Speaker B:Did have some decent sponsors.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, there was a lot of, you know, cigarette, obviously, sponsorship until the Loyvan ruled out tobacco advertising, which sort of left a big hole in a lot of drivers budgets.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, you had.
Speaker B: In: Speaker B:It was a real envy of many a Formula One sponsorship manager.
Speaker B:But I think it's fair to say though that those sort of big deals were often the exception to the norm.
Speaker B:You know, you had a lot of drivers that were really scratch action around the budgets and yeah, driving with.
Speaker B:With pretty much bare liveries.
Speaker B: I mean, Joerg Muller in: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, only the.
Speaker B:The odd decal on it.
Speaker A:And I just must say I noticed there's a picture of a driver, I think it could have been at Monaco.
Speaker A:And he stood there in an in overalls with absolutely nothing on them apart from the name of the manufacturer of their overalls.
Speaker B: That'll be Nicholas Keyser in: Speaker B:Yeah, the.
Speaker B:Yeah, at that point the.
Speaker B:The Demblovis team that he was driving for were, you know, about to go under, you know, a couple of rounds later.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker B:That was it.
Speaker B:I mean, that.
Speaker B:That race is.
Speaker B:Is a very famous one, not because Nicholas Keiser won it, but because Bjorn Verdheim lost it.
Speaker B:I mean, such dramatic circumstances exiting the final corner when he slowed down too early.
Speaker B:Yeah, that will go down as one of the.
Speaker B: The most prominent Formula: Speaker A:I will say that's.
Speaker A:That got to be like the ultimate in embarrassment really, hasn't it?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, it's to his enormous credit that beyond Verheim was.
Speaker B:Was happy to chat to me about that, about that race, and he was able to put it behind him to.
Speaker B:To win that championship ultimately, very convincingly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, as it came towards the end, I mean, it was an international formula.
Speaker A:It then seemed to fragment and the Japanese seemed very keen on it for a while, didn't they?
Speaker B:It really spread around the globe.
Speaker B:Yeah, the Japanese Formula 2 sort of lagged on a little bit after the European equivalent had ceased.
Speaker B:It did, yeah.
Speaker B: rope, before Japanese Formula: Speaker B: after they had a year off in: Speaker B:It was, yeah, forgotten in history.
Speaker A:But what was the cause of the three Chi race?
Speaker B: en't able to run old open era: Speaker B:It just didn't really work.
Speaker B:I think the market wasn't quite there at that stage for teams to enter both championships and for reasons best known to race control, they threw a safety car out which you can see in that photograph.
Speaker B: talian later European Formula: Speaker B:That was a, a sort of second tier category in Europe that drivers that didn't quite have the budget for a full international championship could go in.
Speaker B: t championship, winning it in: Speaker B:You also had some pretty decent peddlers from Britain.
Speaker B: ing winning races in that and: Speaker B: ces, was a title contender in: Speaker B: or BMW, beat Jeanria Bruni in: Speaker B:Bruni then went straight to Formula One the year after and has become a stall sports car driver himself.
Speaker B: till compete in older formula: Speaker B:So the original chassis did 96 to 99.
Speaker B:Sorry, 96 to 98.
Speaker B:Lola replaced that in 99.
Speaker B: neration chassis that went to: Speaker B: The third cycle of one make: Speaker B:2004.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I mean it's like I said when we started, I mean the people who went on to become managers or involved in running teams and I'll be quite honest, I hadn't realized that Christian Horner used to race.
Speaker A:I knew Helmut Marko used to race because that's how he lost the use of his left eye at Sherrad.
Speaker A: n Horner had been a racer in F: Speaker A:But I suppose besides learning how to be, shall we say, a potential F1 driver.
Speaker A:It allowed others to cut their teeth or learn how to be a team manager.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, Eddie Jordan is a good example of that as well.
Speaker B:You know, someone who had been successful in Formula 3.
Speaker B:You know, they.
Speaker B: n the British Championship in: Speaker B: ps, and then won the title in: Speaker B: One after winning the Formula: Speaker B: Pheronics in, I think it was: Speaker B:So, yeah, you did have some.
Speaker B:Some teams that made the step up.
Speaker B: didn't win A championship in: Speaker B:They came close, as I mentioned earlier, with Child of heron in 94.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Carried on through 95.
Speaker B:And then when it came to 96, they were full steam ahead with preparing to enter Formula One.
Speaker B:A Stuart Grand Prix, which is now the very successful Red Bull racing team.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, and Jordan, of course, is now aston Martin.
Speaker B: So Formula: Speaker B:In that.
Speaker B:And of course, Fernando Alonso is still going strong.
Speaker B: He won the last race at the: Speaker B:But he went straight up to Formula One with Minardi and made a very good impression, and the rest was history.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't think he's ever going to retire, to be perf.
Speaker A:Be honest.
Speaker A:He keeps mentioning it, but I get the feeling something in.
Speaker A:Something in the back of his mind won't let him.
Speaker A:But it's.
Speaker A:I mean, I conclude these people who ran the teams and then moved to Formula one, there would have been similarities in running the two teams, for want of a better description.
Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, Formula: Speaker B:When you went up to Formula one, the, you know, the areas of specialism increase exponentially.
Speaker B:But, yeah, you know, I think it was.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It was an opportunity to show that, you know, you can run a team that can cut it and.
Speaker B:And be, you know, very strong opposition.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And of course, you know, in those Open era days, particularly, you know, you were having to do deals with, with manufacturers for engines for chassis.
Speaker B:You know, when there were different options, there was that opportunity to barter to say, well, actually I've got a Formula 3 champion ready to sign with me.
Speaker B:Can you do a deal for a slightly cheaper chassis?
Speaker B:Because it's a sure if I bet that we're going to be a success and that will help you sell more cars.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it also, I think, did help with the commercial nails as well for those that did move up.
Speaker B: enormous amount from formula: Speaker A:Yeah, to go back to the book.
Speaker A:I mean, after each chapter there is a highly detailed list of who, what, when, where and everything else.
Speaker A:I mean, lot of this information readily to hand.
Speaker A:Did you have to go and seek it out?
Speaker B:So I need to give credits for, for those stats pages to Peter Hyam, whose series, you may know, you may know his name for the Formula one cars decade by decade series that's out with, with Ephraim Publishing and many other books that he's authored.
Speaker B: that I think was published in: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, yeah, he was, he was an invaluable help with, with putting together those databases of, of the winners of, of of key races.
Speaker B: winners of the international: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I have to say a huge thanks to Peter for delving for putting those stats together and also to Kevin Wood and to Peter Mills, who were super helpful with sourcing pictures from the Motorport Images archives.
Speaker B:I'm based down in Plymouth, so it was not particularly easy for me to get up to London to do all the archive digs that I wanted to do.
Speaker B:So they were invaluable in helping to source the images for what I hope is an engaging product.
Speaker A:I mean, do any of the cars still survive?
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker B: ally tend to see many Formula: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: a real aficionado, a Formula: Speaker B:There are a few very hardy enthusiasts.
Speaker B: think it's about five Formula: Speaker B:He has, I think the Moreno championship winner from 88 which is being restored, a Marco Epicella first Reynard as well.
Speaker B: a historic series for Formula: Speaker B:Sadly the costs involved suggest that that's unlikely.
Speaker B:But you know, as soon as there is a grid put together, I'll certainly be there for you.
Speaker A: emember that some of the old F: Speaker A: of the first cars in it were F: Speaker A: h regrettably outclassed the F: Speaker A:But I have seen them out in other things.
Speaker A:But it didn't seem to rain very long.
Speaker A:I don't know if you remember, boss.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean they're still, there's still a few that do the Euro boss, I'm afraid.
Speaker B:I don't know what it's called these days but yeah, a friend of mine, Davey from sportscar365 actually sent me a picture of a Alola out at Zandvoor the other week and yeah, you do still occasionally see them in hill climbs and other competitions like that.
Speaker B: saw for sale A fully restored: Speaker A:I'm going to say that's the problem with racing.
Speaker A:I used to be involved in it and it's one of the quickest ways to empty your wallet, regrettably.
Speaker A:It's a hell of a fun way to empty your wallet but it's not for the financially faint hearted, regrettably, is it?
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker A:The only thing I can say is James, well done.
Speaker A:It's a fantastic book.
Speaker A:Even more impressive because it is your first book.
Speaker A:Any, any more books penned or due or being considered?
Speaker B:Nothing, nothing in the pipeline at the minute, no.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was very much an all consuming project for five years around the day job and yeah, I'm enjoying having a little bit of distance every evening on slaving away, editing transcripts and yes, preparing interviews and things like that.
Speaker B:There may be another one one day, but not Irrelevantly, that's for sure.
Speaker A:But I was going to say, I've spoken to other authors and they've said it's probably one of the quickest ways to bring your marriage to an end if you're not careful.
Speaker A:They said because you do that like you, you do the day job and then when you come home, you do the night job, which regrettably means the family never actually see you.
Speaker B:Yes, yes, let's be wrong.
Speaker A:But once again, James Ruble, congratulations.
Speaker A:It's a fantastic book.
Speaker A:I found it fascinating.
Speaker A: t I'd rather forgotten about F: Speaker A:I remember that.
Speaker A:It was some damn good racing and it's time.
Speaker B:That's the hope, I think, is that it, you know, reminds people of a period in motorsport that did produce a lot of, you know, amazing human stories and, you know, there's, yeah, over 100 interviews in, in there with, with different people that are telling their own story and yeah, I hope it.
Speaker B:It does provide a.
Speaker B:A good account from a period of no time history that is well regarded and it was a pleasure to write it and I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Speaker A:Well, I'll be quiet on.
Speaker A:It's up to press.
Speaker A: It's my book of: Speaker A:It's been a pleasure chatting to you.
Speaker A:Thanks very much for, shall we say, devoting yet more time, even though you've now finished writing the book.
Speaker B:Thanks very much, Buck.
Speaker A:Cheers, James.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker A:Bye.
