What To Buy An F1 Fan For Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I would share a few ideas for those who have to buy for motorsports fans, or simply want to splash out on yourself just to get you through to next March. Listed below are some great ideas for gifts, and where I am able to, I have provided links to online shops that sell the goodies, so you won’t even have to leave the sofa.

First up is a selection of Formula One reviews of the 2006 season. With so many to chose from, it can be hard to make a decision.

Respected by many, Autocourse (The World’s Leading Grand Prix Annual) is written by Alan Henry, whose account of the season is usually the most well-written. Although the book is priced at a relatively expensive £40, you get what you pay for with 288 pages of facts, figure, photographs and descriptions.

For those on a slightly smaller budget, the Formula One Yearbook is a good choice. At 224 pages, the book contains team profiles, excellent photography and in-depth reviews of the races, round by round. And at £19.99, it is somewhat cheaper than the Autocourse annual.

Of course, not everyone wants to hunch over a book at Christmas, so why not involve everyone and sit around the television watching the Formula One Review 2006. This series of DVDs have become a tradition in F1, and many people pride themselves on collecting every year possible. The review begins by giving a little background to this years campaign, and then goes through each race, showing all the best bits from the season. Priced similarly to the books, the DVD costs just £19.99.

Staying with DVDs, why not buy a copy of John Frankenheimer’s critically acclaimed Grand Prix (2 Disc Special Edition). Only recently released on DVD, this film has won three oscars, and sees James Garner play a Formula One driver of an era past. The film takes the viewer through all the emotions of Grand Prix driving, and has become a cult film among F1 fans. At a very reasonable £11.99, this is a must for Christmas this year.

If you really wanted to splash out this festive season, you could pay a visit to the Official Online Formula One Store. Only recently opened, the online store is an attempt to bring fans closer to the sport by allowing F1 branded merchandise to be sold. They sell all sorts of things, from stationary and wallets, to caps and posters. If you are feeling extravagent, you could spend £260 on a carbon fibre and leather mousemat. Hand-made in the UK, it was apparently designed by the same people that produce monocoques and employed state-of-the-art computer modelling techniques also found in the automotive industry. It is one fine mousemat, but at £260, a little out of my league.

You could head over to Grand Prix Legends and check out their mammoth store, with products ranging from the usual DVDs and books right through to the team’s officially endorsed merchandise. GPL are famed for there 1:18 die-cast scale replica F1 cars, and they are slowly getting the 2006 models in. Click here to see what I think is the prettiest car from last seasons grid, the Williams FW28.

And if the die-cast replicas are a little un-adventurous for you, try your hand at building a replica scale model of an F1 car using the children’s favourite – Lego! This particular model – LEGO Racers 8674: Ferrari F1 1:8 – is a 1:8 replica of a Ferrari Formula One car, and measures a massive 61cm in length (pictured above). It is officialy endorsed by the Ferrari team, and previous to seeing it on Amazon, it was £99, but for a limited time Amazon are pricing it at a reasonable £69. And at 1246 bricks, this toy should keep any F1 fan quiet until Boxing Day! If you are looking for something for the younger generation, Lego also have other models available, ranging from four years and up for the LEGO Racers 8362: Ferrari F1 Racer 1:24, and ten years plus for the LEGO Racers 8653: Enzo Ferrari.

So there you have it. Books, DVDs, Toys and models. All available for delivery before Christmas (providing you order in time – I strongly urge you to check each websites delivery policy) and all great ideas for motorsport-related gifts this year.

Please note some links are affiliate, but this does not alter the price of the product. Image courtesy of Lego.com.