Regga – The extraordinary two lives of Clay Regazzoni

Christopher Hilton

This is the first English-language biography of Clay Regazzoni, which is surprising given how popular he was in the UK during the ’70s. But this engaging work makes up for the shortfall. You can’t go far wrong with ‘Regga’ – he was so colourful. Hilton works through the highs and lows of a quirky racing career (from Ferrari to Ensign in one winter) and documents the 1980 accident at Long Beach which left Gianclaudio paralysed. It would’ve been easy to skip through his ‘second life’ when he was confined to a wheelchair, but just as much space and effort is dedicated to this. Hilton’s strength is his depth of research. So many ‘voices’ add to the story – friends, rivals, team-mates and bosses. It’s a book that does justice to the man. DS

Published by Haynes, ISBN 978 1 84425 479 8, £35