A.R.S.E.

wife got me this yesterday, i'm a fair way through it and it's not too bad. Unlike a lot of biographies it doesn't start with 3 chapters about where their grandparents grew up and what all their cousins names were. He gets straight into it and the first half of the book is an account of all his years competitive years, so pretty much from 89 until he retired in 08. The halfway through it he goes back to the early days to give a background on how it all started.

A couple of things stand out in it, he and Lowndes get along a lot better than i expected, he has huge respect for him and despite the fact that they had a few very competitive years together, Lowndes is the one guy that Skaife has the most respect for. It now makes a lot of sense as to why they are teaming up together for the enduros this year.

Also the Gentleman Jim nickname is a fallacy, he said Jim drove cars as hard as anyone else and they'd come back a steaming pile of melted shit. He said he and Jim also got along very well and Jim had a great sense of humor. They would joke about how many slabs they owed the boys if they damaged the car, and when Skaife rolled the GTR at Adelaide Jim got on the radio and said 'Skaife has crashed' and they asked how badly the car was damaged he replied 'he owes you a bottleshop'.

Skaife still swears a lot. I knew he did back in the early days, i saw him at Bathurst back in 89 when he was just a lad and he was talking to a fan about one of the Sierras going off the road and as he was listening to the fans version of events he was saying 'fucking hell, no shit, holy fuck, bullshit, fuck'. I thought the media machine that Skaife became might have curbed his use of F words but it's all through the book.

Skaife is very good at what he does. He spends a fair bit of time going over his success and how and why it happened. It doesn't come across as ego, but he knows why he had all the success that he did and spends a fair bit of time explaining what he did to get the success with both Gibson and HRT. For the most part he credits a lot of very hard work rather than just having natural talent. He is also quick to give credit where it's due with the team. Likewise he also goes into some of his bad performances and why he faded in his last couple of years and takes the blame for a lot of his poor performances.

Another thing that was surprising is that he and Walkinshaw actually get along quite well. He said they are both very similar personalities and Tom was always there by his side supporting him whatever the situation. Although he doesn't go into too much detail over the saga of HRT changing hands back to Tom, it seems as if he is pointing the finger more at Fishermans Bend than at Tom.


Over all it's quite a good read so far with some occasional surprises.

I've been considering getting it because like you i always felt Skaife was unjustly perceived by a few out there and was hoping his book would be able to portray that side if people doubted it.

How much was it out of curiosity?

Regarding the "Gentleman Jim" nickname, I always thought it was because after he'd punted someone off he'd say "sorry". He wouldn't be remorseful, but he would apologise.

Wait till you get to the FIGJAM bit w00dsy...

you will know it when you see it... you will need to read it right till the end for it to become clear...

i thought the whole bit was kinda FIGJAM, i'm at about page 200 so i'll report back if something stands out. He does talk a lot about how successful he was, but in fairness he also says that it was due to a lot of hard work.



somebloke, it was $18 at Big W.

w00dsy wrote:i thought the whole bit was kinda FIGJAM, i'm at about page 200 so i'll report back if something stands out. He does talk a lot about how successful he was, but in fairness he also says that it was due to a lot of hard work.



somebloke, it was $18 at Big W.

That sort of FIGJAM is expected, he is writing a biography on his career that is arguably the most outstanding in Australian History, I would expect him to be pretty proud of those stats... trust me, you will know it when you see it.

ah yes, i found it. So fellow competitor, tell us a bit about Mark from your perspective so we can add it to the book 'well, i beat Mark in my very first try, because i was being awesome and will continue being awesome because i am awesome'.

w00dsy wrote:ah yes, i found it. So fellow competitor, tell us a bit about Mark from your perspective so we can add it to the book 'well, i beat Mark in my very first try, because i was being awesome and will continue being awesome because i am awesome'.

I knew you'd find it... it just really stands out quite badly doesn't it when it is in amongst the others...

I think I have a fair idea who you're talking about, given b-cup's feelings towards that particular gentleman.

yes B-Cups opinions of this gentleman have been known before

VTRacing wrote:I think I have a fair idea who you're talking about, given b-cup's feelings towards that particular gentleman.

Actually he has been quite helpful on another project recently... so I need to be a little careful...

For the record it is a great insight into the workings of Australian Motorsport, especially some of the early stuff.

He still stops a bit short of the process of how people like the Kelly's got into the sport at the level they did, but he has gone a bit further into it than others have...

Maybe I missed a part w00dsy, but I did not really get the part where some people beleive he paid out on Snappy Tom... in fact he sort of went the opposite to a degree, but maybe I missed that bit...

it is certainly worth a read for those interested in the sport generally...

Another one I found interesting a few years back is Murphy's Law... Can't stand the guy personally but he did open up to how certainly what it takes in New Zealand as a younster and how he did not come from a silver spoon background and just what it takes to make it at the top levels...

One I would like to see write a balls and all book would be Jason Bright... if ever there was a guy who had to fight for everthing he has in motorsport he is it.. it is a bit of a shame britek went the way it did in the end although something tells me even if he did write a book, not everything about britek would see the light of day...

bengatta wrote:...even if he did write a book, not everything about britek would see the light of day...

You're not wrong there.

Britek is not viewed favourably among the rallying community.

VTRacing wrote:

bengatta wrote:...even if he did write a book, not everything about britek would see the light of day...

You're not wrong there.

Britek is not viewed favourably among the rallying community.

yes, a sad part of their history indeed, and not the only one, but Brighty was on a hiding to nothing. i wish he could tell the whole story as it would be great for motorsport hopefuls to understand just how far your arse cheeks have to stretch to make it in this sport... and just how quickly good can turn bad...

a really close friend of mine was a side casulty of that debacle... but there were numerous first stike casualties sadly so I guess he does not count to much.

Got this yesterday, read 200 pages of it and I skipped to find that quote you relate on about. I thought it would be him.

Great read, but I sort of feel like It was proof read at all. Some bits feel like I read them earlier and one paragraph was a mis print from an earlier part (the season by season stuff the italics part was repeated for the next year)

Despite that I'm defiantly enjoying it. First biography I ever read.

NeilPearson wrote:Got this yesterday, read 200 pages of it and I skipped to find that quote you relate on about. I thought it would be him.

Great read, but I sort of feel like It was proof read at all. Some bits feel like I read them earlier and one paragraph was a mis print from an earlier part (the season by season stuff the italics part was repeated for the next year)

Despite that I'm defiantly enjoying it. First biography I ever read.

Yeah it does repeat itself a bit, but once you get through that it is OK... but biographys tend to do that becasue they often need to explain things at a time when another discussion is taking place for them to be taken in context. Then later when they are talkng about the year overall, it will come up again.

The comments of said person also need to be taken in context, it just made me laugh that others can be so humble when required...

One of the reasons he is doing so well in his current role in life is because of that very ruthless streak, so I admire it. All the drivers have it, you cannot be a top line sportsperson unless you think you are better than everybody else, it is just sometimes it is nice to see it hidden when it is apoproriate to do so... Like Jana Rawlinson...

it is a good book, I hope you enjoy it and get a better understanding of the sport overall... if you read it from a sport perspective and not as a fan or enemy you get more out of it..

i know what you mean Neil, the first half of the book is a summary of his successful years and then he goes back over it all in a lot more detail. I've actually found the business side of it the most interesting bit, probably because that's the part most people don't get to see.

w00dsy wrote:i know what you mean Neil, the first half of the book is a summary of his successful years and then he goes back over it all in a lot more detail. I've actually found the business side of it the most interesting bit, probably because that's the part most people don't get to see.

You get more pages that way...