Mon Ami Mate

Mon Ami Mate is Chris Nixon's double-biography of two of Britain's finest racing drivers of the 1950s, Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, who formed a remarkable friendship during their two seasons together at Scuderia Ferrari. With the help of dozens of people who knew them, Nixon has traced the lives of the two remarkable men from childhood, through their racing careers to their untimely deaths, examining along the way their relationships with families, friends and team-mates, and also their passions for boats, planes and girls. Nixon describes in detail Mike's early success with Scuderia Ferrari; the political row caused by his failure to do National Service and his controversial role in the 1955 Le Mans disaster. He also reveals for the very first time the existence of his illegitimate son (born in France in 1954) and recounts the full, almost bizarre story of his tragic death in a road accident in January, 1959, just weeks after he had won the world championship with Ferrari and retired from racing. Peter's early life and career are presented with the help of his Father's unpublished memoirs and his years at Scuderia Ferrari are illuminated by the recollections of his widow, Louise. Letters she wrote to ther parents in America up to the time of Peter's tragic death in the 1958 German Grand Prix shed new light on his great friendship with Mike and his remarkable father-and-son relationship with Enzo Ferrari.