What they're saying ...
"A pleasure to read . . . chronicles a time when an unfettered Detroit, led by 'car guys,' could achieve great things."
Wall Street Journal
"Henry Ford II’s monumental effort to topple Enzo Ferrari from the summit of sports-car racing at Le Mans is vibrantly told in this fast-paced account of the clash between the two fearsome, hyper-competitive automotive titans."
Bloomberg
"Like the cars it describes, Go Like Hell is a streamlined marvel built for speed, fueled by testosterone and likely to elicit happy grins from anyone who has ever heard music in the squeal of a tire or the roar of an engine . . . [Baime] hits the gas, pops the clutch and takes readers on a red-blooded ride to glory that will have them smiling all the way to the checkered flag."
Dallas Morning News
The epic story also told in the film FORD V FERRARI. Go Like Hell chronicles the battle between two titans, two nations, two continents, to win the greatest sports car in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, during the Golden Age of Motor Racing in 1960s.
Read the New York Times profile of A.J. Baime here.
By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company, built to bring automobile transportation to the masses, was falling behind.
Young Henry Ford II, who had taken the reins of his grandfather’s company with little business experience to speak of, knew he had to do something to shake things up. Baby boomers were taking to the road in droves, looking for speed not safety, style not comfort. Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari, whose cars epitomized style, lorded over the European racing scene. He crafted beautiful sports cars, "science fiction on wheels," but was also called "the Assassin" because so many drivers perished while racing them.
This riveting work of nonfiction, Go Like Hell, tells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done.
