In the quest for ultimate speed, Formula One combines human drama, cutting-edge technological innovation and high-stakes finance in a thrilling global circus watched by half a billion avid fans. The Fastest Show on Earth brings the FIA Formula One World Championship vividly to life for everyone from first-time race-goers to avid fans wanting to delve even further into the Fastest Show on Earth. Experts from within the industry share their insights into the effect that recent revolutionary changes to regulations have had on engines, tyres, brakes, aerodynamics, fuel, safety and the use of data in a whole new era of racing. Races, rule changes and drivers are brought up to date in a comprehensive guide to the world's most viewed sport. This book is a superb technical guide, including circuit diagrams, team histories, driver profiles and a comprehensive glossary that offers fascinating insights into the inner workings of a world that offers everything from tragedy to thrilling triumph. From the cut-throat intrigue of the Piranha Club to the unsung heroism of pit lane, every aspect of Formula One is covered in compelling detail. Much more than just a sport and far more than a business, Formula One is a world of larger-than-life personalities and razor-sharp business people. The book also offers a window into the new Liberty Media regime and what the future may hold for the sport under new ownership. This extensive guide includes the official FIA circuit diagrams, team histories, driver profiles, circuit facts, technical braking profiles, a special section on the history of Formula One in the US and the most comprehensive glossary of Formula One terms ever compiled.

In the quest for ultimate speed, Formula One combines human drama, cutting-edge technological innovation and high-stakes finance in a thrilling global circus watched by half a billion avid fans. The Fastest Show on Earth brings the FIA Formula One World Championship vividly to life for everyone from first-time race-goers to avid fans wanting to delve even further into the Fastest Show on Earth. Experts from within the industry share their insights into the effect that recent revolutionary changes to regulations have had on engines, tyres, brakes, aerodynamics, fuel, safety and the use of data in a whole new era of racing. Races, rule changes and drivers are brought up to date in a comprehensive guide to the world's most viewed sport. This book is a superb technical guide, including circuit diagrams, team histories, driver profiles and a comprehensive glossary that offers fascinating insights into the inner workings of a world that offers everything from tragedy to thrilling triumph. From the cut-throat intrigue of the Piranha Club to the unsung heroism of pit lane, every aspect of Formula One is covered in compelling detail. Much more than just a sport and far more than a business, Formula One is a world of larger-than-life personalities and razor-sharp business people. The book also offers a window into the new Liberty Media regime and what the future may hold for the sport under new ownership. This extensive guide includes the official FIA circuit diagrams, team histories, driver profiles, circuit facts, technical braking profiles, a special section on the history of Formula One in the US and the most comprehensive glossary of Formula One terms ever compiled.

Gear up for this high-powered picture book biography about Kitty O'Neil, the stuntwoman and racecar driver who broke the women's land speed record! Kitty O'Neil was a force to be reckoned with. She became deaf as a child, and grew up loving sports and action. Kitty jumped, ran, raced, and swam, all while learning to read lips and communicating through sign language. Eventually, Kitty took a job as a stuntwoman, doing the most dangerous job on set and even filming stunts for films like Wonder Woman! Still, Kitty wanted more thrills. She became a racecar driver and sought to do what no woman had done before. She chose the aptly named Motivator and trained like a true champion. In 1976, Kitty and the Motivator broke the land speed record, racing at over 600 miles per hour! Kitty was a hero to fans everywhere, and proved that she was truly unstoppable.

"Wilma Rudolph wanted to run and jump like other children. But she had a serious disease that kept her leg from growing well. She did not give up and one day she became a big star, winning Olympic gold medals"--

Beautifully illustrated and filled with rich historical detail and colorful anecdotes, this is a vibrant history for all those who have ever dreamed of running away to the circus, now in paperback. “Step right up!” and buy a ticket to the Greatest Show on Earth—the Big Top, containing death-defying stunts, dancing bears, roaring tigers, and trumpeting elephants. The circus has always been home to the dazzling and the exotic, the improbable and the impossible—a place of myth and romance, of reinvention, rebirth, second acts, and new identities. Asking why we long to soar on flying trapezes, ride bareback on spangled horses, and parade through the streets in costumes of glitter and gold, this captivating book illuminates the history of the circus and the claim it has on the imaginations of artists, writers, and people around the world. Traveling back to the circus’s early days, Linda Simon takes us to eighteenth-century hippodromes in Great Britain and intimate one-ring circuses in nineteenth-century Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso became enchanted with aerialists and clowns. She introduces us to P. T. Barnum, James Bailey, and the enterprising Ringling Brothers and reveals how they created the golden age of American circuses. Moving forward to the whimsical Circus Oz in Australia and to New York City’s Big Apple Circus and the grand spectacle of Cirque du Soleil, she shows how the circus has transformed in recent years. At the center of the story are the people—trick riders and tightrope walkers, sword swallowers and animal trainers, contortionists and clowns—that created the sensational, raucous, and sometimes titillating world of the circus.

With an exclusive foreword by Usain Bolt, The Fastest Men on Earth tells the fascinating inside stories of the Olympic Men's 100m Champions. It takes just under ten seconds to run, but the results of the Olympic men's 100 metres are etched forever into history. In The Fastest Men on Earth, journalist Neil Duncanson tells the stories of the 25 athletes who've been crowned champions in the event, and earned the coveted title of 'Fastest Man on Earth'. Each chapter explores the fascinating, inspiring, and occasionally tragic lives of these supremely talented sprinters, as well as the intense drama of the record-breaking runs that wrote them into history. Immaculately researched and featuring exclusive interviews with several Olympic champions, including a new conversation with Usain Bolt, The Fastest Men on Earth brings the stories of some of the greatest athletes of all time to life like never before.

No aircraft ever captured the curiosity & fascination of the public like the SR-71 Blackbird. Nicknamed "The Sled" by those few who flew it, the aircraft was shrouded in secrecy from its inception. Entering the U.S. Air Force inventory in 1966, the SR-71 was the fastest, highest flying jet aircraft in the world. Now for the first time, a Blackbird pilot shares his unique experience of what it was like to fly this legend of aviation history. Through the words & photographs of retired Major Brian Shul, we enter the world of the "Sled Driver." Major Shul gives us insight on all phases of flying, including the humbling experience of simulator training, the physiological stresses of wearing a space suit for long hours, & the intensity & magic of flying 80,000 feet above the Earth's surface at 2000 miles per hour. SLED DRIVER takes the reader through riveting accounts of the rigors of initial training, the gamut of emotions experienced while flying over hostile territory, & the sheer joy of displaying the jet at some of the world's largest airshows. Illustrated with rare photographs, seen here for the first time, SLED DRIVER captures the mystique & magnificence of this most unique of all aircraft.