A six-point safety harness wraps over your shoulders and between your legs, a head and neck brace clamps down your chest. The world ahead is visible only above a rim at eye level; the world behind is seen only through two mirrors little bigger than cigarette boxes. The start lights begin to illuminate red, and when they extinguish, your life will enter another dimension: this is not a fighter jet or a spacecraft, you are on the starting grid of a Formula One track, strapped into the world’s most technologically advanced racing car. The turbocharged engine, with more than 1,000 horsepower, is about to kick you in the backside, hurtling to 100 kph in 2.5 seconds, careening toward the first corner of the track. For the average reader, even driving a single lap of a Grand Prix would be impossible. But for the world’s twenty best racing drivers in the series’ ten teams, it is a way of life that is extreme in almost every facet.

Selected by veteran F1 journalist Brad Spurgeon,Formula 1: The Impossible Collectionchronicles the milestones that lifted Formula One from a gentlemen’s club in 1950 to a global sport with hundreds of millions of fans around the world, third in popularity only to the Olympics and World Cup soccer. Highlighting exceptional technical innovations, remarkable drivers’ achievements and exciting race finishes, this volume illuminates immortal names such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Bruce McLaren, Enzo Ferrari, Colin Chapman, Bernie Ecclestone, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Jean Todt, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, who recently made history tying Schumacher’s championship titles and breaking his record of total career race victories.

A spirited tribute to the sport and all those who have made it possible over the decades, this handcrafted Ultimate Collection volume dynamically illustrates that Formula One is far more than “cars going around in circles,” it is the culmination of a passion that fires the mechanics, technicians, engineers and team directors behind the scenes, in addition to the drivers themselves, who are prepared to possibly pay the ultimate sacrifice to be part of its glorious history. Housed in a luxury clamshell case with a metal plaque, this spectacular tome is presented in a red canvas tote bag to preserve its craftsmanship.