“Have
you ever wondered who would
spend their life hurtling around circuits
at break-neck speed on two wheels, and
what you’d feel as the adrenalin rush
kicks in? The Fast Stuff: Twenty years
of top bike racing tales from the world’s
maddest motorsport, by Mat Oxley,
introduces you to the stars of motor-
cycle racing and their passion for the
sport...” DISCOVER WHAT IT'S LIKE TO RACE WITH THE BIG BOYS and find out
what motorbike racers think about as they compete and their motivation to win
— former race rider turned respected journalist Mat Oxley's The
Fast Stuff gives you the inside story of the people from the world of motorcycle
racing.
Packed with interviews from the fastest, maddest, baddest racers — from
hard-drinking old-timers Graeme Crosby and Gary Nixon through to golden age
legends Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz and on to today's super-pros Valentino
Rossi, Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden (a popular guy with the ladies!) and John
Hopkins — The Fast Stuff tells it how it is in GPs. Read about the
dirty tricks that have been played and the on-track techniques used by top riders;
the psychology of 'flow' and tales of racing with Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz
and Mick Doohan at the Suzuka Eight Hours.
Mat finds out how racers feel about the racing world; what they think as they
race; their ambitions, dreams, successes; and which circuits they most enjoy.
Kenny Roberts Jnr explains how to slipstream — daredevil close — and
what happens when you do it.
From the thrill of the race to the tragedies, you will learn how riders carve
their careers from early beginnings — people like Casey Stoner, who says
he has been riding since he was born and fulfilled the great promise he'd shown
as a 16-year-old.
Mat's revealing interviews delve into the minds of racers such as the inimitable
John Kocinski, Steve Hislop and John Reynolds. Mat also interviewed Californian
Don Vesco in 1999 — Don was motorcycling's king of speed, roaring across
the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, breaking speed records on both two and four
wheels. He died of prostate cancer in 2002, aged 63, while he was still working
on his Turbinator streamliner, designed to be the first wheel-driven vehicle
to crack an astounding 500mph.
Eddie Lawson is known both for his passion for racing and his hatred of journalists.
When Mat saw him taking a couple of pills he made a throwaway remark about drugs.
Eddie responded: "…they're aspirin. I've got a headache. It must be looking
at you journalist guys all day!"
Many racers began learning about their skills from trials and developed a love
of speed — 'adrenalin city' — into a career. The scientific explanation
of how the experience of speed reacts in your body is fascinating and riders
never forget that they are always learning.
The Fast Stuff includes facts and figures about crashes and looks at
the so-called "Grim Reaper" two-strokes. Mat bemoans the passing of Assen, MotoGP's
"oldest and truly unique racetrack" that, he says, has been "hideously mutilated".
This historic racetrack saw wins for the likes of Barry Sheene, Mike Hailwood
and King Kenny Roberts.
Teenagers today are lucky. They can do things that their parents only dreamed
of. There are many riders who reached the very pinnacle of their sport while
barely out of their teens, including golden boy Valentino Rossi with his phenomenal
talent.
Mike Hailwood's father gave him a miniature motorcycle, powered by a 100cc Royal
Enfield two-stroke, at the age of seven; which he rode around the grounds of
the family's Oxfordshire home during the 1950s — a time before anybody
had thought of mass producing mini-bikes.
Mat includes profiles of history's youngest premier-class kings, including:
John Surtees; Mike Hailwood; Freddie Spencer; Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner.
The final chapter of The Fast Stuff looks at computerised control systems.
The Fast Stuff is the result of two decades of Mat's writing for Bike,
Performance Bikes, MCN, Roadracing World, Classic Bike, AMCN and other magazines
worldwide. It is a comprehensive and absorbing account of the world of motorcycle
racing from the men who live the dream.
• The Fast Stuff: Twenty years of top bike
racing tales from the world's maddest motorsport by Mat Oxley is out now
in hardback at an RRP of £18.99. ISBN: 978 1 84425 496 5.
"The Fast Stuff… a comprehensive and absorbing account of the world of
motorcycle racing from the men who live the dream" — MotorBar
Quotes from The Fast Stuff:
"I'd sit there, focusing on the feeling of wanting to spit nails and rip the
handlebars off the bike. It was like going out to fight" — Wayne Rainey
"Speed has a kind of affinity to me, it's the time God and I have our little
talks" — Steve McQueen
"We'd probably had just a little bit too much to drink, and Eddie (Lawson) stuck
his Porsche in the ditch… with my coaching" — Kevin Schwantz
Mat Oxley
Mat Oxley first discovered that he loved going fast on motorcycles when he got
his first bike at age 17. He enjoyed a long and successful racing career that
included winning the Isle of Man 250 Production TT in 1985, finishing third
in the 1986 Endurance World Championship and taking second place in the 1984
Le Mans 24 Hours. Since retiring from racing, he has become one of the most
respected journalists on the motorcycle Grand Prix scene. Often irreverent,
occasionally hilarious, he has been MotoGP's gonzo journo since the late 1980s
— always shooting from the hip, always offering a unique perspective of
the world's maddest Motorsport.
Oxley says: "Motorcycle racers are fascinating people; they live their lives
at some kind of extreme, which makes them fascinating people to talk to. That's
what this book is really about — it is a collection of stories and interviews
that live and breathe on the words of the sport's towering greats."
Mat Oxley has written several books, including acclaimed biographies of Rossi
and Mick Doohan. Over the past two decades he has interviewed every racer that
matters and ridden every race bike that matters. In 2001 he was nominated for
a Royal Television Society award for his commentary work on Channel 5's MotoGP
programme. He lives in London.
“Have
you ever wondered who would 
Alfa Romeo Brera S 3.2 V6
Manakin: In The Desert
