Lights Out, Full Throttle : The Good, the Bad and the Bernie of Formula One

Lights Out, Full Throttle is the hilarious account of life in the F1 pit lane from two legends of the sport, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert.Damon and Johnny here. Motorsport's answer to Ant and Dec, just a lot more comprehensible and, all in all, a wee bit taller. Between us we have about 100 years’ experience of driving cars quickly and have competed in 261 Grand Prix spawning 25 wins, 49 podiums, one World Championship and 458 championship points. We even have a win at Le Mans to our names, as well as two smashed ankles, a broken arm, a broken wrist, a broken leg, about sixty broken ribs, a pierced upper thigh that missed Johnny’s twig and berries by millimetres, and a bruised ego or three.Basically, we’re two middle-aged men who are both what you might call physically compromised. That said, contrary to popular belief, we still have a modicum of bladder control and can talk Formula 1 with the best of them. Which brings us to our book. Despite its immense popularity, when it comes to things like humour and absurdity, Formula 1 is not exactly a ride on the big dipper and in that respect it hasn’t buttered our parsnips for decades. Well, nil desperandum boys and girls because we, Damon Graham Devereux Hill, OBE, and John Paul Herbert, No BE, are here to put the F back into Formula 1 by ditching aerodynamics, clean air and tyre degradation in favour of honest, forthright opinions and apocryphal stories involving automotive derring-do. And, derring-don’t!

Damon Hill is a former Formula One World Champion who raced against some of the legends of the sport from Ayrton Senna to Michael Schumacher. The son of racing legend Graham Hill, Damon entered Formula One in 1992, racing for Brabhams and then Williams and took over as team leader when Senna died in 1994. Having lost the 1994 World Championship to Schumacher by a single point, Hill was crowned World Champion in 1996. He is also the author of his autobiography, which was a Sunday Times number one bestseller.

After retiring in 1999, Hill pursued various business ventures as well as becoming president of the British Racing Driver's Club in 2006. He now works as a commentator on Sky Sports' award-winning coverage of Formula 1.

Johnny Herbert is one of a small number of British drivers to win a Grand Prix since the 1970s, tasting success with Benetton at Silverstone and Monza in 1995, then delivering a one and only top podium place for Jackie Stewart’s team at the 1999 European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. He also became the first active Formula 1 driver to win the endurance classic 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Bertrand Gachot and Volker Weidler in 1991, and has been a champion at karting, the Formula Ford Festival, Formula 3, the European Le Mans and the Speedcar Series in his long and varied career. He has also written his autobiography What Doesn't Kill You . . ., which was published to acclaim in 2016.