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John Chatham - Mr Big Healey Norman Burr

John Chatham - Mr Big Healey By Norman Burr

John Chatham - Mr Big Healey by Norman Burr


$43.99
Condition - Like New
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Summary

John Chatham, driver, racer, repairer, rebuilder, tuner, trader and lover of Austin-Healeys, was uncontrollable in his youth, and has only mildly mellowed with age. This title presents a personal account, full of motoring and sporting anecdotes, and the story of John's family, his work, his business, his three wives and his lovers.

John Chatham - Mr Big Healey Summary

John Chatham - Mr Big Healey: The Official Biography by Norman Burr

This is the authorised biography of one of the best-liked bad boys in British motorsport. John Chatham, driver, racer, repairer, rebuilder, tuner, trader and lover of Austin-Healeys, was in the words of Geoffrey Healey uncontrollable in his youth, and has only mildly mellowed with age. Burly and genial but formidably competitive, and not above bending the rules when he thought he could get away with it, to many he is the archetypal club racer. John is so synonymous with Austin-Healeys that the most famous racing Healey in the world, DD300, is so well-known mainly because John campaigned it for decades, notching up tens of thousands of racing miles. But his career embraces far more than one car, and until this biography no-one had attempted to fill in the gaps. The book is not a dry description of one club race after another. It does include a list of John's principal sporting achievements, but no complete record exists of the hundreds of events which made up his competitive career, so the writer has not attempted to compile one. Instead Norman Burr, who was himself acquainted with John in his youth, has created a more rounded and personal account, full of motoring and sporting anecdotes, but also telling the story of John's family, his work, his business, his three wives and his lovers. John has a comprehensive photo library from which the book is generously illustrated, with cartoons added to illustrate some of the moments that a camera was not around to record. Thoroughly politically incorrect even by the standards of the 1960s, it's an account which will strike a chord not only with admirers of Big Healeys, but also with anyone who believes that independent thinking, and the courage to apply and enjoy it, is the greatest virtue of all. This title contains Foreword by Simon Taylor.

John Chatham - Mr Big Healey Reviews

For those who love British sports cars, especially Austin-Healeys and the limited production MGC series, this book provides some very interesting historical insight ... filled with Chatham's wild ride through life." - Classic MG magazine "From early 100S sorties to the saga of his ex-Le Mans 'DD 300', the tale is spiced with the highs and lows of his private and business lives. Like its subject, it never come off the gas." - Classic & Sports Car. From the outset it's a case of thank goodness for Veloce, the west country publisher whose biographies cover those who might not be household names, but do have a key role in motoring history or today's classic car movement. Author Norman Burr, an engineer whose Austin-Healey enthusiasm led to a friendship with Chatham, has an excellent turn of phrase and, while clearly writing for an enthusiast audience, doesn't get bogged down in information that is usually the preserve of anoraks. Instead, he charts Chatham's business working with Austin-Healeys, and what free time he had competing with them. His long-term ownership of DD300, the Big Healey he will always be associated with, is woven throughout much of the story, including his decision to sell it. Too many motor sport biographies are weighted down in statistics and pay little attention to the subject as a person. John Chatham Mr Big Healey is the opposite. Author Burr's light touch makes this a throughly interesting, sometimes amusing, often compelling read that is recommended to motor sports fans of any vintage. - on-magazine.co.uk.

About Norman Burr

Trained as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and Bath University, lifelong petrolhead Norman Burr has always worked in specialist publishing, and in 1997 made his first contribution to motorsport writing with Living with Speed, an acclaimed book chronicling a year in the life of hillclimb legend Roy Lane. This is his first fully fledged biography and draws not only on the recollections of John Chatham and those around him, but also on Burr's own experiences, for as a student in the Bristol area in the early 1970s, he knew John at the peak of his driving career.

Table of Contents

1 Early years: life before the driving licence 2 First Healeys: SAL 75 and DGL666 3 DD300 and the Modsports years 4 The MGC and the Targa Florio 5 DD300 returns 6 Team Healey 7 The London-Mexico 8 The Conclave Challenge 9 Tailpiece: John Chatham in (semi) retirement

Additional information

GOR013953886
9781845842574
184584257X
John Chatham - Mr Big Healey: The Official Biography by Norman Burr
Used - Like New
Hardback
David & Charles
2010-03-06
160
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
The book has been read, but looks new. The book cover has no visible wear, and the dust jacket is included if applicable. No missing or damaged pages, no tears, possible very minimal creasing, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins

Customer Reviews - John Chatham - Mr Big Healey