This absorbing collection of stories from over a century of motor racing around the world includes the Frenchman who drove 25 miles in reverse, the Grand Prix in which the leading drivers were so far ahead that they stopped for a meal in the pits, the Le Mans 24-hour race won by a car patched up with chewing gum, and the driver who drank six bottles of champagne—virtually one per pit-stop—on the way to winning the Indianapolis 500.