There is a new book out, The Pits: The Real World of Formula 1, written by Beverley Turner who is described as being a Formula One TV presenter and, on one website, the 'queen of speed'. I have no intention of reading this pap, but then great chunks have been printed in the UK national press, and I have heard her interviewed on the wireless and, believe me, that is quite enough.

Turner has never been a Formula One presenter. She was a deputy interviewer who asked a few questions, occasionally and vacuously. In three years she was used for 15 races and was rubbish. She knew little either about motor racing or about interviewing. There is a world of difference between being a presenter and being an occasional reporter. It is like writing a book about an F1 backmarker and claiming he was a Grand Prix Ace. She not only claims to have been a TV presenter, but she allows herself to be described as 'the Queen of Speed'. Beverley Turner is the Queen of Speed? Did you know that? It was news to me as well.

Turner claims that men in Formula One are unreconstructed Male Chauvinist Pigs. As a revelation, this ranks with Adolf Hitler was not always as nice as he liked to pretend. She is surprised that racing drivers have groupies offering sex without commitment or responsibility and drivers have been known to accept the offer rather than to retire to their hotel rooms alone with Teach Yourself Calculus. Gosh! Does that sort of thing really go on?

Rock stars have groupies, Roman gladiators had groupies, actors in the Elizabethan theatre had groupies, but don't groupies tend to be female? Is not a groupie, by definition, a volunteer? If a groupie cannot get into the sack with the lead guitarist, don't some go down the pecking order which is why roadies can have smiles on their faces? There are girls out there known as screwdrivers, yet the Queen of Speed blames the drivers for being sexist.