Full Tilt

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

'Bond is a true pioneer of our sport. Growing up in a motorsport family I knew the strong rivalry between Holden and Ford. Not many drivers have managed to cross over and be successful. Colin Bond was one of the first drivers to make the change and show it works.' - Craig Lowndes, three-time Australian Touring Car Champion

'A terrific memoir of a stellar career, and an insightful inside perspective of top-level motorsport, both rallying and racing, from the 1960s through into the 1990s.' - Australian Muscle Car

'The only driver to win the national rally and touring car championships as well as the Bathurst endurance classic, Bond holds a special place in the history of Australian motorsport.' - V8 Sleuth

Bathurst winner, Australian Touring Car Champion, and the only man to have won on both sides of racing's most iconic rivalry - Ford versus Holden - this is the high-octane story of motor-racing legend Colin Bond.

From his rallying crowns to his extraordinary Bathurst victory and his Touring Car Championship triumph, to the hugely controversial 1-2 Bathurst win with Allan Moffat in '77, Bond's career spanned the most thrilling decades of Australian motorsport. At the heart of it all was the fierce tribal battle between Ford and Holden - a rivalry Bond knew better than anyone.

Against the backdrop of the golden age of motorsport, Full Tilt is packed with accounts of racing with and against other superstars like Peter Brock and Allan Moffat. It captures the drama, danger and intense competition of the sixties to the nineties, the incredibly engineered Monaros, Toranas, Falcons and Commodores, the dirty tricks, dodgy deals and maverick team managers.

A celebration of speed, skill and the defining era of motor-racing, Full Tilt is essential reading for any lover of the sport. Written with bestselling motorsport journalist John Smailes, this is the incredible story of a life raced at full tilt.

'Colin Bond is one of the all-time greats of Australia's unique Ford vs. Holden battle. I don't recall ever having as much fun when working, and riding, with him.' - Edsel Ford II, Chairman of the Henry Ford Estate

'This is the motor-racing life of Colin Bond and it is also a history of the growth of the motor-racing scene at the time of the emerging touring car racing. A most interesting read - the backroom stories of some of my competitors are very entertaining.' - Norm 'Stormin' Norman' Beechey, two-time Australian Touring Car Champion

'Gracious and funny . . . gave us a Bathurst finish that will always transcend motorsport.' - Daily Telegraph

'Bond's career threads through rallying, touring cars, Bathurst glory and heartbreak, and later the political foxhole of team management. Through all of it, he combined mechanical feel, competitive smarts and that famously dry delivery that could cut tension like a cold chisel. The book captures this breadth without ever drifting into mythology. It simply lets Bond be Bond: the guy who got on with the job while everyone else argued about who the real hero was . . . A genuinely enjoyable, revealing portrait of a man who spent a career doing the work rather than talking about it.' - Auto Action

'A fantastic new book . . . some seriously impressive achievements.' Rusty's Garage

'a legend of motorsport, with a unique insight into racing . . . Full Tilt captures all the celebrations and controversy of racing from the 1960s to the 1990s.' - Western Advocate

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9781761472275
Published: September 2025

Number of pages: 384
Width: 153 mm
Height: 234 mm
Depth: not specified

Publisher: Allen & Unwin