Someone has a book out!

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dr-baker
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Someone has a book out!

Post by dr-baker »

As some of you will know, one of the forumites has a book published! And although ibsey is a first-time author, some people have been noticing him...



The website for his book can be found at: http://www.1994f1.com/ and his Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ibsey1

And somebody (yours truly) has done a Q&A with him! (I have this available to go onto the main website of GP Rejects, but in the meantime...)

Ibrar Malik has been a member of the GP Rejects forum for a number of years now, and has recently written a book about the fascinating, intriguing, eventful, controversial 1994 Formula 1 season. It was published by Performance Publishing in January this year (2019) and costs £29.00.

Hi Ibrar. How did you become interested in Formula 1? When was it? Who were your favourite teams and drivers?

“I vividly remember when [Roland] Ratzenberger and [Ayrton] Senna died, and the massive media hysteria afterwards questioning whether F1 was too dangerous. As a 12-year-old kid, I didn’t understand all the politics but I remember thinking ‘F1 drivers must have been extremely brave and loved what they did to carrying on despite the risks involved. That, and the emerging rivalry between [Michael] Schumacher and [Damon] Hill attracted me to the sport. I remember watching the ’94 Japanese GP and just being awe-inspired by those last few laps; nail biting doesn’t even come close!
Most of my childhood was spent playing racing games, like Grand Prix 2 on the PC; That was when I was bitten hard by the racing bug; In fact, I broke a few keyboards, from having pressed the accelerator key too much! My childhood hero was Jean Alesi, and my favourite race of his was the 1995 Japanese Grand Prix; classic Alesi, wasn’t it?” My friends used to give me stick for being an Alesi supporter as he only ever won one Grand Prix (the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix) and occasionally did silly things. But for me he was exciting to watch, as you never knew if he would be driving an amazing next race or do something stupid, like running out of fuel.”

How long have you been following the F1/GP Rejects website? How did you find us?

It was the “Appreciating Alesi” blog on the old F1 rejects site that first made me become aware of the site around 2006 / 2007. Having read the other blogs, I immediately knew this was home to some knowledgable F1 fans. I loved contributing to the forum since 2010, precisely because the other members knew what they were talking about & more importantly were honest when they didn’t know things. As a result of that latter point, I can’t recall seeing too many arguments descend into nastiness on the GPrejects, which is the reason it is one of my favourite forums. Everyone seems respectful of each other and retains their manners when debating subject, which means conversations are always more fun & interesting as a result. This is the reason I have given the GP rejects forum a bit of my research on 1994 under the “17 years on, it starts up again...” thread and would like to post & contribute more regularly to the forum. However unfortunately time these days doesn’t allow it, however I do still check back when I can, and hope to carry on contributing when time permits in future.

What was your inspiration to write a book on the 1994 season?

This book arose because there is constant innuendo about how Schumacher and Benetton cheated in 1994, with heated debates on F1 Forums about how sound those accusations are. So I started researching this subject a few years ago, purely because I needed to know the truth. I remember debating 1994 with dr baker on GP rejects in 2010 under the “unpopular opinions” thread, and subsequently in the “17 years on, it starts up again...”. I soon found the more I uncovered about the behind the scenes politics, the more motivated I became to dig even deeper and place those findings within the public domain. A book was the best way to do this because the politics that year were complicated hence why you have to understand how things unfolded race by race. Today it’s easy to view 1994 with the benefit of hindsight. However, by reliving the season in the detail only a book can allow readers will appreciate certain things better, like the correlation between the politics and controversies.

Also, because the book discusses both sides to the 1994 controversies it, therefore, allows the reader to decide for themselves what REALLY happened without them becoming involved in a heated internet forum argument. In my opinion, the current books covering 1994 only touch upon the controversies and they don’t usually address the opposing side’s arguments. But the best way to find out how true an allegation is is by analysing it in detail which will either result in it standing up to scrutiny or that allegation falling apart like a cheap suit. Which is what the upcoming book does with all the 1994 controversies, whilst also including fresh insights from those involved in the story.
Admittedly I’ve never written a book before nor considered myself a writer or even had any childhood aspirations to become one. The primary reason behind this book is to record and discuss the mind-blowing/exclusive content unearthed within the book, whilst placing it within the public domain for further debate. To date the book is receiving lots of excellent reviews both here; http://www.1994f1.com/sample-page/ & on my social media pages.

Is there anything in the book that may be of interest to the readers of the GP Rejects website? What are the reject highlights?

There is lots within the book that will be of interest to the GP rejects website. Firstly the book is dedicated to Roland Ratzenberger (the only book I am aware that is). Not only this but on the 25th anniversary of Roland’s tragic passing there will be a very special tribute blog to him, written in conjunction with Roland’s helmet supplier, who had a very touching personal story to tell about Ratzenberger’s 1994. This blog will be published here: http://www.1994f1.com/blog/ around 30/4/2019. On that site you’ll also see there are some other blogs of interest to GP Rejects memebers (i.e. how the 1994 the Pacific was a less refined version of the Benetton etc). There are also lots of great ‘rejectful stories’ within the book, I’ll exclusively give you guys an extract of the book showing you what I mean;

“ Portugal 1994, was one race Ferrari came close to withdrawing from following an altercation with officials. Around 10 pm on the Friday evening, some mechanics tried leaving the circuit following a long day, Andrew Reedie from Pacific Grand Prix explained what happened. “So it was a late night for us at Pacific and for Ferrari too. The hire cars were parked outside the track behind the pit straight stand. Three of us had gone to wash up and so we were a few minutes later than the rest of the boys leaving. We walked through the tunnel under the track as the track staff closed the gates. We had an argument with them but they refused to open the gate again. With that, the Ferrari boys arrived and it all got a bit Italian. Realising we were going to get nowhere and worried we would get left behind, we started to go back when the boys in red started kicking the doors in.”

“Then the police arrived and they have guns so we legged it and ran across the track and jumped the fence. The Ferrari lads broke the gate down and streamed out of the tunnel. The next day all hell broke loose but we just denied everything even though we started the argument. That’s when the fine was handed down after an investigation.” For breaking down a locked door, Ferrari was fined $50,000. In addition, Ferrari would be banned from a race should a similar incident occur during a subsequent event. If you are beginning to wonder whether the sport lost its marbles in 1994, you wouldn’t be alone. Ferrari was livid at the excessiveness of this penalty for something they described as an "insignificant incident".

The Italian team’s anger was evident within its subsequent press release. “Ferrari has been subjected to a ridiculous and unacceptable penalty by the stewards of the Portuguese Grand Prix. An appeal has already been lodged against the decision, but in the meantime, Ferrari would point out that the stewards’ action definitely shows a total lack of credibility and seriousness in Formula 1, which has been evident since the start of the season. The right thing to do would be to withdraw its drivers and cars from the event and return immediately to Maranello. Ferrari will not do this only out of respect for its motorsport enthusiasts around the world.” F1 News joked the FIA might have been more lenient if Ferrari had blamed the incident on a "junior employee", or produced a letter from the door manufacturer showing drawings of how to kick the door down (following Benetton’s Hockenheim fuel fire hearing). Ferrari eventually withdrew its appeal in the "interests of F1" and raced at Portugal”

There also might be a world exclusive blog in September 2019 on Phillipe Adam’s the story in his own words of how his F1 drives cameabout in a feature marking the 25th anniversary of it which should be published here; http://www.1994f1.com/blog/

Who have been your main contributors? Have you been able to get any ‘big names’ involved?

The book contains exclusive contributions from former F1 driver Mark Blundell, Benetton insiders; Willem Toet, Frank Dernie, Simon Morley (the “junior employee” blamed for the Hockenheim fire), Christian Silk & Joan Villadelprat. Antony John Dennis (a Benetton Ford Electronics expert) and Williams’ insiders Paul West & Richard Wise. It has over 250 photos which help bring this story to life and many are rare. Readers have all been astonished at what is unearthed. As a result the book has got a few famous fans as well…

How were you able to fit in writing a book around your day job and day-to-day life?

It wasn’t easy, in fact it was by far the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my 37 years on this planet. It was so hard that I initially took a sabbatical and then resigned from my day job purely to write this book. That is how passionate I am about it and what is uncovered! When you have a passionate for something you just do whatever is needed to get that thing done. Many readers have remarked how my passion for this subject makes the book a better read for them.

What were the biggest challenges involved in producing the book?

“The biggest challenge has been getting a publisher involved. Performance Publishing always ensure that any book they take on will be a high quality, professional product.”

“It is also extremely rare that an unknown author like myself is ‘traditionally published’, which underlines how amazing the content is. I started contacting publishers at the end of 2017, and got rejected more than 30 times which was very stressful at times.”

“From that process, I learnt how important it is to build up an author platform and show your potential readers that you know your subject. Since March 2018, I’ve been writing blog posts on my website (http://www.1994f1.com) – which are usually released at the beginning of each month. So far, they’ve been well received and each month, more websites are willing to post these blogs on their respective sites.”

“Another challenge was sending hundreds of emails whilst attempting to organise interviews and only receiving a few replies. But as I said earlier, if you have a passion for something you just keep going. Persistence, organisation and passion for the subject you are writing about are absolutely vital if you’re going to write a book.”

Do you have any plans for the future to write any more books?

Yes. Currently I am working on an audio book version of the 1994 book. This is all TBC but hoping the audiobook will be available by May 2019, and will be around half of the content of the printed book (due to certain telmentry traces & illustrations which cannot be explained via audio). But as a result it should be around half the price of the print book. Whilst I would always recommend the print book, for the full “1994 experience” I also think, this audiobook would be a great half way house option for those who can’t stretch to £29 (which book reviews have stated is great value for what you get within the book).

Beyond that, I do have a second book in mind which would be a nice follow up subject to this book. Whilst I can’t give away any more details on that second book at the moment more details should be announced on my Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/ibrar.malik.58910049 over the summer. Alternatively if readers sign up here; http://www.1994f1.com/contact/ you’ll get that second book announcement emailed directly to you in due course. For any fans of F1 during the 1980’s to 2000’s this second book certainly would be of interest to you so please stay tuned.

If people are interested, how can they obtain a copy of your book?

You can order the book and read a free sample of it here:https://www.performancepublishing.co.uk/1994-the-untold-story-of-a-tragic-and-controversial-f1-season.html There will be a limited number of books initially being printed so I would highly recommend ordering sooner rather than later to avoid missing a potentially valuable first edition copy. Depending on demand, the print run may remain limited..so those who have that first edition copy may find the book increases in value over time as a result.

Thank you for your time!


(Ibs has included some photos to go with this, so if this could go on the main site, that would be appreciated!)
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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ibsey
Posts: 1485
Joined: 12 Jan 2010, 00:25

Re: Someone has a book out!

Post by ibsey »

Thanks also to dr-baker for doing that interview. I remember having some heated debates with him over 1994 back in 2011 (with the unpopular opinions thread) and now proud to call him a friend. This is precisely why GP Rejects will always be my first love as an F1 forum. because there is that mutual respect among other members.

Would also like to add Mario was a very important beta reader of the book, and certainly my writing improved as a result of his numerous suggestions. So would like to credit Mario (and dr-baker who lent me his magazines) for their very kind help in this project. Its been fun, and hope it might lead to more F1 books...maybe even on some reject drivers & teams ;)
Coming January 2019 a new F1 book revisiting 1994.


Pre order it here; www.performancepublishing.co.uk/1994-th ... eason.html


The book's website; www.1994f1.com/
User avatar
ibsey
Posts: 1485
Joined: 12 Jan 2010, 00:25

Re: Someone has a book out!

Post by ibsey »

Hi all, Just to let you know that Autosport Magazine has just reviewed my book which (along with some other reviews) can be found here; http://www.1994f1.com/sample-page/

Laos just to let you know I am currently working on a second book about something from F1 during the 1980's & 1990's. Whilst I can't give away any more details than this just yet, I will say a blog post from the original F1 Rejects website inspired this topic. More details to follow in due course.
Coming January 2019 a new F1 book revisiting 1994.


Pre order it here; www.performancepublishing.co.uk/1994-th ... eason.html


The book's website; www.1994f1.com/
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