As most of you here know I've been involved in karting for a very long time. ZipKart and Martin Hines have been significant in British karting throughout the time I've been involved and have contributed immensely to the development of karting here.
I bought the book and read it cover to cover. The reason I bought it was because I was interested in learning more about Martin and ZipKart. I expected it would discuss his life in some degree of detail and that there would be mentions of the tragedies he's suffered. It did this, rather weakly though and with not enough of the stuff I [and most other kartists] would find interesting. His karting related stuff appeared to be overly focused on name dropping... all the famous people he's worked with... etc...
We were also treated to salacious accounts of his jack-the-lad attitude to women. I don't know how true any of that stuff was and frankly I don't care. Importantly, its not why I bought the book and its an aspect of his life that's of no interest to me. I know many others who've read the book feel similarly about it. I feel it was a mistake for him to include that content. Whether it was down to him, or his ghost writer, it waters down his accomplishments and cheapens his portrayal as a person. I also understand why it would cause offence to some of those that have been close to him. There's a place for tabloid content and the autobiography of a karting figure ain't it.
So in summary, its not a great autobiography and unless your an ardent karting enthusiast and willing to overlook some serious literary shortcomings, I'd advise giving it a miss.
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