Although Rolls-Royce called my first book, THE SECRET HORSEPOWER RACE, quote: "a masterpiece", and the Royal Aeronautical Society quote: "a major contribution to the history of the piston aero engine". 

This one comment is still what means the most to me.

Baretzky masterminded three decades of sucess as head of engine development at AUDI, probably his greatest achievement was the endurance racing V10 diesel, which annilated all opposition at Le Mans for years.

For a time, when I was working for Toyota in Germany who were making their own competing engine, Baretzky was considered by many engineers and racing fans the most capable racing engine designer alive.

My father (an engineer and journalist who had advised me a lot when I was writing it) died just as the book came out, and he never read it. For me, this comment was a in a strange way, a little bit like being told "well done" by my father. You probably need to have worked as a race engine desiger for that to make much logical sense to you, as I never met Ulrich but if you`re REALLY into engines, you`ll probably understand what I mean.

Attached is a photo of a signed piston/rod assembly from the engineers at in my dept at Toyota as my leaving present when I left Germany, shown next to a Merlin piston and a Honda motorcycle racing piston from the 60`s. (This is a Toyota F1 piston not from the Toyota Le Mans engine)