PETER COLLINS: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY

From Belle Vue to Brisbane, Crewe to California, in a glittering 18-year career he captivated crowds wherever he rode with his spectacular dashes from the back that set hearts and pulses racing and… Lue lisää From Belle Vue to Brisbane, Crewe to California, in a glittering 18-year career he captivated crowds wherever he rode with his spectacular dashes from the back that set hearts and pulses racing and won him every honour the oval shale sport has to offer. His 10 FIM gold medals include five World Team Cup and four World Pairs victories – more than any other English rider has ever achieved. A record 154 international England or Great Britain caps will almost certainly never be emulated. Much revered PC’s greatest individual triumph came in Slaski Stadium, Katowice, Poland on September 5, 1976. Aged 22, the former farmer’s boy from the Manchester suburb of Partington in Cheshire, swept to World Championship glory in typical all-action style that thrilled the 120,000-plus crowd and millions more watching on TV. It was the culmination of a dream inspired by his boyhood hero Peter Craven. During the 1970s and early 80s, Peter became a national hero who adorned the back pages of the UK tabloids, a true sporting superstar whose track exploits and hectic globetrotting lifestyle earned him bigger pay days than those of contemporary international footballers. In his long-awaited autobiography, Collins – the head of speedway’s most famous racing dynasty – shines a very insightful light on a magical period when his daring deeds were the embodiment of his sport’s last golden age. As well as taking readers on a long and eventful journey through his illustrious grasstrack, speedway and longtrack racing career spanning from 1970 until 1987, Peter also reveals the inside stories on major controversies – the ‘disgraceful’ tracks and freak injuries that probably cost him more major titles, possible bike sabotage, a heated row with an England team-mate, fun and fisticuffs on Down Under tours with the British Lions, rejecting a tempting offer to leave his beloved Belle Vue, and how his brief stint as the Aces’ promoter ended acrimoniously after he’d led the fight to save the world famous Manchester club from possible extinction.