Customer Reviews:
 A Real Inside Story May 5, 2008
Marcus Hassall
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a good looking and well put together book. There are plenty of great pictures from the history of Minardi, but the real treasures of the book are the interview quotes. Everyone who is everyone seems to have been a contributor to this book. You get plenty of Stoddart (of course, how could it be any other way?), but also Gian Carlo Minardi, pretty much all the past Minardi drivers, and other past team guys like Aldo Costa and Manca-Graziadei. And they don't pull their punches.
This book doesn't take too rose-tinted a view of the team. There is a real sense of frustration in the way things just didn't work out for Minardi. But from the stories here, you see how the personalities, sentiment, business wheeler-dealing and plain bad luck combined to wreck the team's dreams.
This is a great book - you'll learn a lot about Minardi, but a fair bit about how F1 works too.
A different take on F1, a must have May 5, 2008
Mr. R. Bartunek (London, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you ever wondered what "Star Wars" would be like through the eyes of the storm trooper who gets shot in one of those epic battle scenes and what "Ben Hur" would have been like if another greased up gladiator had been the main protagonist, then maybe you are the person with enough eye for detail for this book.
Forza Minardi is a meticulously researched history of Formula 1's perennial backmarkers Minardi, a team which kept on challenging the great and mighty at the pinnacle of motor sport for more than 20 years. In all those years, that's 346 Grand Prixs, the team did neither take a single victory nor ever finish on the podium. In short, it is the history of the also-rans, the cars TV commentators would mix up with the leaders rather than really speak about them.
Still, there is a story to tell, a story that some may find much more interesting than the monotonous PR-talk that comes as standard in post race interviews nowadays. There is much to be said about Minardi, but bland they were not.
Simon Vigar's book takes you through 20 years of Formula 1 history, from the turbo days until the days of stand off between the FIA and manufacturers. The book is full with amusing anecdotes such as soft natured team founder Gian Carlo Minardi admitting to "running after Ron Dennis with a hammer".
This book is highly recommended to all of those who had a soft spot for the Minardi Team when it was still in F1, but also to the motor sport fan who would love a different take on motor racing. Your favourite story, told in a different way.
Magazine reviews (Spring/Summer 2008) May 3, 2008
Mr. S. Vigar
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Top Gear magazine 'BOOK OF THE MONTH':
"If you're ever feeling down, here's an image to cheer you up: Gian Carlo Minardi, circa 1978, chasing Ron Dennis down the Mugello pit lane ... armed with a hammer. Not that we'd ever wish harm on Big Ron, of course - the confrontation, of course, came to nothing - but you can't deny it's an appealing vision.
It's the finest set piece in this comprehensive history of the Minardi race team: a team that spent 20 years in F1 amassing a total of 38 championship points; a team that failed to score a pole position or even a podium in 340 races; a team that, despite near-permanent bankruptcy, managed to stay on the right side of everyone on the F1 circuit (well, except Big Ron) and fostered some of F1's top talent, Mr Alonso begrudgingly included.
Hammer-chasing aside, it's the book's appendix that provides that finest entertainment, detailing Minardi's technical woes race-by-race since 1985. Electrics, spin, turbo, accident, accident, turbo, transmission ... and so on for 19 pages. It's only schadenfreude but we like it."
Motor Sport magazine:
"The tale of a Formula 1 team that took 52 races to finish in the points and spent 21 years struggling at the back of the grid sounds as though it could be a depressing read. Indeed, as Vigar says in the first few pages, "Some ask 'what went wrong?' The real question is 'what went right?'" A bleak start if ever there was one.
However, this year-by-year account of the Italian team is both interesting and endearing. Vigar, a self-confessed die-hard Minardi fan, charts the team's 21-year history from Formula 2 to its first GP in 1985, its first point in '88, the problems with Flavio Briatore before he took over and its predictable downfall.
This is an extremely well researched read and if you're wondering why someone would spend so much time on such a book, just have a think about how many people have written literary works on the Scottish rugby team.
Well written and easy on the eye, this first book on the team is a must for Minardi's hardcore fan base. And for others? Well, you might be pleasantly surprised. How many other teams can say that they survived while 24 others failed during their stint in Formula 1?
The story of Gian Carlo Minardi and his F1 team is certainly charming, even if they weren't loved by everyone in the paddock ..."
[Ed Foster]
Autosport magazine:
"Minardi were universally loved during their 20-year stint in F1 and now Simon Vilar (sic) has attempted to gather up the best bits in his new title, Forza Minardi!
Featuring interviews with Bernie Ecclestone, Fernando Alonso and the man himself Giancarlo Minardi, the book is well-researched and insightful - did you know for instance that Ayrton Senna, frustrated with the inter-team politics at McLaren, was weighing up a move to Minardi during the later stages of the 1989 season?
If there is one criticism - and there is one - it's that half the book (65 out of 135 pages) is dedicated to the five years under Paul Stoddart's stewardship, leaving only the same amount of space to cover the 1985-2000 period, including Pierluigi Martini's famous lap in front at Estoril in '89.
If you're one of those closet Minardi-istas, then it is recommended."
[Jamie O'Leary]
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