Variable Valve Timings : Memoirs of a car tragic

''What defines the car-saddo condition is not being able to recall a time when the toy-car-era of your life actually ended. Because for us sufferers, it never does.''

Nobody knows cars like Chris Harris does. He calls it ''unhinged geekery'', but the rest of the world call it infectious enthusiasm, adrenaline fuelled escapism and rigorous journalistic integrity.

And then there are his famous skills at the wheel, from city cars to rally cars, not forgetting the Guinness World Record 3.4km sideways in an electric car.

And now for the first time, Harris takes us down the road of his lifelong obsession with the automobile - along surprising diversions, around hazards and obstructions, down the fast lane collecting Gs and back to the lock-up to prep the stock.

From the six-year-old who could recite the stats from What Car? magazine to the YouTube car guru whose honest reviews got him banned by Ferrari. From the Scalextric track of his childhood, to podiums as a racing driver out in the world. From behind his garage doors to the floodlit Top Gear studio.

Variable Valve Timings brings you an incredibly engaging story of adventure and petrolhead joy, told with wit, warmth and disarming honesty. This book is a true one-off, just like Chris.