For Flux Sake: Beer, Fags and Opposite-Lock

Contrary to popular belief, ’Fluxie’ did not enter the world on full opposite-lock, nor did he have a cigarette in one hand and a pint in the other. Destined to race, he never got the biggest breaks but he did become one of motorsport’s most colourful and best-loved characters, someone who has always lived life to the full.

Ian Flux’s autobiography tells it how it was, covering not only the highs -- including five championship titles -- but also the many setbacks. Along the way we laugh with him about much of it, particularly the pranks, but also learn about some dark times that he has never previously divulged.

• Early days: growing up on a farm, first kart aged 6, muddling through in the classroom, lots of laughs -- but also sexual abuse from a schoolmaster and an early racing mentor.
• The spark ignites: starting to race in 1970 with a Formula 6 kart, then onwards to Formula Vee; brushing shoulders with Formula 1 working for the Token and Graham Hill teams.
• Grabbing the chances: a Formula Vee title in 1975 leads to Formula 3 and Formula Atlantic, but still with various jobs to make ends meet, including as mechanic to motorcycle racing legend Giacomo Agostini for his four-wheel efforts.
• Diversifying into sports cars: successful adventures in Sports 2000 and Thundersports, winning championships in both, plus Thundersaloons.
• A true all-rounder: going into the British Touring Car Championship from 1988 in a wide range of tin-tops; racing a Jaguar XJR-15 in the big-money 1991 series held at Grand Prix races, including Monaco.
• Championship double in 1996: the ’golden year’ in the TVR Tuscan Challenge and the British GT Championship, the latter with a McLaren F1 GTR.
• So much else: racing on into recent times, notching up nearly 50 years on track; testing competition cars for Motorsport News; driver tuition and track-day demonstrations.

Ian Flux is a much-loved racing driver whose career spanned almost 40 years, starting in 1972. He won five national championships in Britain, including Formula Vee and British GT, and drove an enormous variety of cars, from open-wheelers to sports cars, sedans and GTs.

Matt James, a former local newspaper journalist from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK, has been with Motorsport News since joining the British weekly newspaper in 1995. He has reported on all levels of motorsport from club racing through to Formula 1 and, since 2004, he has been on the British Touring Car Championship trail. That means he has covered more than 400 BTCC races in that time, and his reports and news stories are carried across Motorsport News, Autosport and autosport.com.