Ultimate F1 gifts guide: 2008 annuals & 2009 calendars

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Formula 1 annuals and calendars

Annuals and calendars are pretty typical gifts at this time of year and as you’d expect there’s a good selection of F1 versions available. Here’s a look at which are the best.

2008 F1 season annuals

Autocourse 2008-2009

Autocourse is the daddy of F1 annuals. Early issues are highly collectable and complete sets have sold for four-figure sums and more. Although the publisher changed a few years ago the same high production values remain in the modern editions.

The bulk of each annual is given over to F1 but there’s also details on all the major motor racing championships including American series, GP2, Formula Three categories, touring car racing and much more. It costs more than other annuals, but it’s definitely the best choice.

If you’re buying a gift for a fan of a particular driver, why not get them the Autocourse from the year their favourite driver won the championship, or had their strongest season. Although older Autocourses can be very pricey, more recent ones are often much cheaper:

The Official Formula 1 Season Review 2008 (Haynes)

Haynes’ F1 season review comes with an introduction by Bernie Ecclestone and is well put together and illustrated. It doesn’t have the pedigree of Autocourse, but if that doesn’t bother you you’ll find this a perfectly suitable substitute and a much cheaper one too.

Other alternatives to Autocourse include:

F1 2009 calendars

Autocourse Grand Prix Calendar 2009

I’ve got a 2008 Autocourse calendar on my desk. It’s a bit of an unusual shape but the wide format shows the pictures off very nicely. Given the quality of the Autocourse annuals I was hoping for some truly outstanding F1 photographs and, to be honest, it didn’t quite meet that expectation. It’s a good product though and as it’s often bundled in cheaply with copies of Autocourse it’s a decent stocking-filler.

F1 driver and team calendars

If you want a calendar of an active F1 driver you better be a Lewis Hamilton fan – at least, if you live in Britain.

Apart from that your choice seems to be limited to Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Ferrari. If you were hoping for 12 pictures of Adrian Sutil on your wall in 2009 you might have to get out the scissors and sticky tape…

If anyone finds any other good calendars available, especially those not available in the UK market (there must be Alonso and Raikkonen ones), please post links below.

Still to come in the Ultimate F1 gifts guide: toys, games, gadgets, clothes, DVDs, videos, books and ‘money’s no object’ gifts…

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Ultimate F1 gifts guide: 2008 annuals & 2009 calendars”

  1. Already got the official AND unofficial LH calendars. There is also an unofficial LH dvd and of course, the reissue of his autobiography updated celebration stylee. All must buys of course.

  2. I read the first version of the autobiography and didn’t think much of it “My Story” (Lewis Hamilton, 2007)

  3. Keith, yes I did too, but as a fan, you have to get all these things. The new version will be interesting as it will have the story of the 2008 season and new photos. I have to say the Mark Hughes book was the best and I couldn’t put it down. It was very informative too.

    I’ve just seen a T-shirt on Amazon that you can buy with “Mrs Lewis Hamilton” on it – now even I wouldn’t buy that … or would I?

  4. Alonso has changed its R29 for a bus …sorry it’s in French

    traduction with google

    http://www.gp365.fr/fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1791&Itemid=117

  5. Keith, i cant find a biography of kimi raikkonen do you know if there is one?

  6. Striay – Not in English I’m afraid, though I’d like to see one.

  7. I’ve just seen a T-shirt on Amazon that you can buy with “Mrs Lewis Hamilton” on it – now even I wouldn’t buy that … or would I?

    I’m surprised you didn’t come up with the idea to begin with!

  8. Loki, touché.

  9. me too! thanx anyway!

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