Tony Robinson - The Biography of a Race Mechanic

The biography of motor racing mechanic Tony Robinson, who worked with some of the great names of the sport in the 1950s and ’60s. Tony started as one of the mechanics for Stirling Moss in 1954: the year of Stirling’s first serious assault on the world championship. After a semi-nomadic period touring Europe with privateer Bruce Halford, who also raced a Maserati 250F, Tony joined the British Racing Partnership – a Formula One and Two team part-owned by (Sir) Stirling’s father, Alfred. Stirling was driving a BRP-entered Lotus on the day of the accident that effectively ended his racing career. 
At BRP, Tony responded to the Lotus 25 by building what was the first monocoque F1 car following Colin Chapman’s groundbreaker. He also designed a car for Indianapolis, before going on to work for Cooper. During his time in motor racing, Tony rubbed shoulders with such great names as Juan Manual Fangio and Mike Hawthorn; Stuart Lewis-Evans – whose manager was Bernie Ecclestone – was one of Tony’s drivers, and McLaren’s Ron Dennis worked for him during his time at Cooper.
This is the fascinating story of one of motorsport’s most enduring characters.

Independent Reviews

"Wagstaff gives the inside story on how Tony designed F1 and Indy cars at BRP, as well as depicting a wide and respected racing career. It's instructive to see from the inside how a team functions – and how hard a mechanic works." – MotorSport

"Grand Prix racing has changed beyond all recognition in the past 50 years, a fact underlined by this biography's superb opening chapter, which recounts the superhuman solo effort that mechanic Robinson put into transporting Bruce Halford's Maserati 250F to a race in Caen, and then on to the Nurburgring for the 1957 German GP. Robinson began his career working for Stirling Moss and, after his stint with Halford, he again linked up with Moss via BRP, later showing his versatility by being closely involved with the design of its F1 cars. More careful editing would have been welcome – at one point, a proof-reader's note to the author has been left in – but it's entertaining, and the pictures are highly evocative." – Classic & Sports Car