Rare Book Review: Ronnie Peterson – Formula 1 Super Swede by Johnny Tipler
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2014 Rookie Marcus Ericsson of the Caterham F1 team is the first Swedish driver on the grid since Ronnie Peterson. Ronnie of course was a legend in the heroic 70’s era of F1 racing. If you’re a Ronnie Peterson fan, Johnny Tipler’s “Ronnie Peterson – Formula 1 Super Swede” is the must have book. Tipler […]
2014 Rookie Marcus Ericsson of the Caterham F1 team is the first Swedish driver on the grid since Ronnie Peterson. Ronnie of course was a legend in the heroic 70’s era of F1 racing. If you’re a Ronnie Peterson fan, Johnny Tipler’s “Ronnie Peterson – Formula 1 Super Swede” is the must have book.
Tipler has collected in-depth background research and interviews with Ronnie’s close friends (Schenken), mechanics, engineers and other associates.
Max Mosley, Ronnie’s team principal at March, pens the book’s foreword. Tipler then charts Ronnie’s career from his early karting days with each chapter plotting his seasons from F3, F2 through to F1 with March, Lotus, March, Tyrrell and back to Lotus. The final chapter deals with his final race accident and the tragic aftermath.
The book’s collection of photos is a strong feature – in addition to the typical car/driver track shots, Tipler has collected personal photos and arranged them in a family album scrapbook style layout. Many of these photos are of Ronnie and his wife enjoying time away from the circuit with other drivers like Fittipaldi, Stewart and Lauda.
Like any other Coterie Press book, this one is a large high quality bound hardcover with heavy grade paper and a ribbon bookmark.
The combination of the usual Coterie Press standards, excellent photography and personal recounts make this a great book. Its also now, a little harder to find in motorsport bookshops, so it also is considered rare now. Compared to the other excellent book, Memories of Ronnie Peterson and the earlier Alan Henry title “Ronnie Peterson Super Swede”, Tipler’s book is much more a detailed and complete biography with lots of unique photos. This is a very well balanced book that satisfies those fans who like to read lots of background research and study great photos.
Wow Factor or Money Shot: Plenty to choose from candid shots (seat fitting in the 1971 March 721) to action shots (sideways in the P34) to early career photos.
Suitable for: Ronnie and 70’s F1 fans.
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This seems to be an excellent book, thanks for the review!
One comment though… Marcus Ericsson is NOT the first Swede in Formula 1 since Ronnie Peterson. Slim Borgudd drove for ATS in 1981 and a few races for Tyrrell in 1982, and then Stefan Johansson was in F1 between 1983 and 1991, including stints at Ferrari and McLaren.
Thanks for that correction!
Many times Peterson followed Andretti closely home, leading to speculation that ‘Team Orders’ were in place. Throughout the 19 Peterson had the reputation of being the fastest driver in F1 in terms of raw speed.