Mon Ami Mate

Mon Ami Mate is the story of two of Britain's finest and most charismatic racing drivers, Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins. Throughout the nineteen-fifties they played a large part in putting Great Britain on the International racing map and, in 1958, Mike became the country's first-ever World Champion. In this remarkable double-biography, Chris Nixon traces their brief but action-packed lives with the aid of dozens of people who knew them and presents a candid portrait of the two friends that goes far beyond the mere catalogue of race reports which makes up all too many racing biographies. Mon Ami Mate takes an in-depth look at Mike's problems with the authorities which arose concerning his National Service (or lack of it); examines in detail his part in the Le Mans disaster of 1955 and reveals for the first time the existence of his illegitimate son. Very little was known about Peter until now, for while Mike wrote two brief volumes of autobiography, there has been absolutely nothing of substance written about Peter before or since his death. With the aid of his father's unpublished memoirs and the letters and memories of his widow, Louise, Chris Nixon has been able to fill the void. Although the two youngsters met frequently during the early fifties, it was not until they joined forces at Scuderia Ferrari in 1957 that their great friendship began. It's real starting point was almost certainly at Monaco, when they first came across the expression, 'mon ami mate', in the hugely popular strip cartoon, 'Four D Jones', in The Daily Express. The friendship grew rapidly and, with Peter's bride Louise acting as den mother, it became an accepted feature of the European racing scene until Peter's untimely death during the 1958 German GP. Mike was shattered by the tragedy, but continued to race and emerged victorious from his season-long battle with Stirling Moss for the World Championship. Having won the title, Mike retired from the sport he had graced so well and wrote the second part of his autobiography, Champion Year, which he dedicated to 'Mon ami mate, Peter Collins'. Just days after he had delivered the manuscript to his publisher, Mike was killed in a road crash. Packed with new information and illustrated with almost 300 photographs, most of them not seen before, Mon Ami Mate is not just a biography of two remarkable men, it is also something of a history of the first decade of European motor racing after World War Two. And, in passing, it is also a fine tribute to all those who took part in that remarkable period.