Review by Z. Taylor Vinson for The New York Times, June 2008
Circulation: 1,500,000
Alistair Weaver combines his love of travel with his love of cars in 'A Drive on the Wild Side.'
Ten years ago, at 21, he became a road tester at Autocar magazine in England; now he freelances. The book is a compendium of 20 of Mr Weaver’s articles about road trips around the globe, published in various media from 2004 to 2007.
While some of the drives may not be so wild (piloting a Smart car in Beirut traffic), others fully qualify (gunning a Brabus EV12 to 200 miles an hour on the autobahn). Some of the drives are short (the Goodwood Festival of Speed in a Jaguar), and others long (1800 miles through western China in a Ferrari).
Mr Weaver is an amiable and observant companion, whether you are with him in a Mini Cooper S convertible on the Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road in Dubai or in a spavined ’88 Lincoln Town Car on the BABE Rally (Big Apple to Big Easy) in the United States.
Although he offers occasional comments about the vehicles he drives — acerbic ones in the case of the Bentley Continental GT – this is not a car book. It’s a travel book with excellent photographs that primarily capture local color and secondarily, the vehicles themselves. A series of ego trips, yes, but they make for enjoyable rides with a good-humored driver.
The Flying Lady, May 2008
US magazine
Circulation: unknown
This is a compilation, from various sources, of essays from the last 10 years by a journalist and TV presenter. The articles are more travelogue than 'road test' and focus on the human condition – both that of the author and the people he encounters along the way. The locations are scattered all across the globe and the cars are all modern types, from Bentley Continental (in South Africa) to Smart (at the Artic Circle).
And while it is the author's goal to take you along on his rides, his greater wish is for the readers to go see the world for themselves. The fine photos are by seven photographers, all successful and capable professionals and as well traveled as the author. Anyone with an eye for story telling in pictures will recognize the care that went into their composition and selection for this book.
Sports Car Market, April 2008
US magazine
Automotive journalism isn’t a priestly calling. Oh, there are a few practitioners with the highest standards, a burning need to expose the excesses of corporate greed or consumer abuses, and many are passionate motorheads.
A sub-genre is the hard-driving freelancer, grabbing the cool opportunity to pilot a Ferrari across China’s Silk Road or drive a Mini on the best road you’ll never drive (the Jabel Hafeet Mountain Road in the United Arab Emirates).
Weaver is that guy, and this book is a collection of his stories from 20 of those ultra-cool trips taken for a variety of motoring publications. The writing is crisp and professional, the photography high-quality, and the adventures mouth-watering. Weaver is living the career I dreamed of, the bastard.
Provenance: ***
Good reporting from exotic locales in often exotic automobiles.
Fit and finish: ****
Beautiful printing of some striking photographs by seven different photographers.
Drivability: ***
Nothing more or less than quality motor porn. If you like watching as much as doing, then 'A Drive on the Wild Side' is for you.
Big End, Spring 2008
Magazine for the Gay Classic Car Group
I have a slight difficulty with this book which was sent to me by the publishers without my requesting it. However, on that basis, they have to take the rough with the smooth.
I'm not saying that it is a bad book, or even a badly written book – it's just that it is not my kind of book. It does not greatly increase the sum of human knowledge, it has to be said, and the cars written about are, largely, not my kind of cars – being too recent. I'm sounding like a grumpy old man now.
Indeed the whole book is a somewhat indulgent collection of stories that have been printed previously in various motoring magazines as a kind of homage to the fact that the writer enjoys travel and cars. Lucky him. Indeed the publisher's blurb waxes lyrical about this being a compendium about the author's life with cars – which given he is only 30 years old now may be said to be only just beginning. Oh dear – I'm really sounding like a grumpy old man.
I do, however, find myself taking a different stance on this book than to the Peking to Paris Centennial by Philip Young which at least recalled a spirit of a long gone age and the individual heroics of the competitors. Maybe that's an age thing after all – maybe you'll look at it from a different perspective.
There are some good photographs though – and it was good to see the snappers (some of whom I have worked with) getting their own little biographies at the back.
Brown Book, April 2008
Alumni magazine for Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford,
While he was in his final year at LMH, Alistair Weaver got in touch with me. He knew that I had graduated from the College in the late 1980s and had forged a career in motor-sport journalism and broadcasting. Alistair was more of a road-car man than a racer, but he wanted some careers advice, and as an alumnus of the college I was glad to help. My advice was simple: 'Offer yourself to one of the main motoring magazines, start at the bottom, learn the discipline of journalism, particularly how to sub-edit, and all the time look for an angle no one else is doing and then make it your own. Find your own voice.' Judging from Weaver's new book 'A Drive on the Wild Side', he has heeded some of my advice. He has a refreshing originality about his work in a sector - motoring - which has become tired and clichéd. With the world now clearly past the tipping point on vehicle emissions and global warming, the day of the alpha-male petrol head showing off, as he road-tests his latest Lamborghini, are surely numbered. The clock is ticking on the gratuitous burning of rubber and fossil fuel. But Weaver has found a fresh angle and works it well here, and because he is intelligent he has added a poignant quality to his writing about cars. He knows that the game is almost up, but he asks us to reconsider driving, to look at it not just as a pleasure but also as a necessity for many. The developed world is getting ready to abandon petrol engines. But in many countries featured in this book they are barely past the Volkswagen Beetle stage. It is not just a petrol head's story. Weaver is as keen on travel writing as he is on cars and he weaves the two strands very effectively. He is particularly strong on drawing out human-interest angles in all of his stories. We drop in on some fascinating characters such as Maria Jose Clemente, who runs an orphanage in Sao Paolo. He discovers the horrific loss of life on the roads of Tanzania: 161 deaths per 10,000 vehicles. 'A Drive on the Wild Side' is a collection of his writings for 'Top Gear' magazine, 'The Sunday Times' and 'Autocar' among others, many of which stem from journeys to less developed and therefore less easily navigable countries. I love the scope of this book: Weaver has traveled the world in search of a good story and there are some great drives here. He joins a convoy of Ferraris across China, drives a SMART car to the Arctic edge of Finland, and he meets up with the Born Free Foundation. There are also some wacky novelties, such as a semi-legal street race in Moscow's Red Square.
Track & Race Cars magazine, July 2008
UK magazine
Alistair Weaver has had some fantastic adventures all over the world and in some of the world's best cars. This book brings together some of these great stories in a mix of travel and motor writing. Driving along side the Great Wall of China in a Ferrari, Jaguar XK across the south west of Australia and even a driving in test Mumbai are among the adventures featured. It is well written with humor and some beautiful pictures, a good fun read.
Written by award-winning journalist and television presenter Alistair Weaver, and illustrated by some of the world's leading automotive photographers, A Drive on the Wild Side, takes you on a fascinating journey across some of the world's most challenging roads. Experience the heat of the Laos jungle, the loneliness of the Arctic and the bullet-marked streets of Beirut from behind the wheel of some of the world's finest cars. Find out what it is really like to drive a Ferrari 612 across the forgotten wastelands of western China, or to chase poachers on the slopes of Mount Kenya. This book tells the fascinating, hair raising and moving stories experienced during a career-spanning automotive adventure in style, with 400 stunning photos.
