David Hayhoe was born in Beckenham, Kent in 1954 and educated at Hawes Down Secondary School, West Wickham. His professional career as a Civil Servant began at the age of 17 in London, a career which was to last 33 years. He began in the Department of the Environment in 1971, in housing and road construction statistics, and moved to IT in 1986. He progressed to Aviation Security in 1990 and was an inspector of the airports and airlines throughout the UK from 1992 until he opted for voluntary early retirement in 2004. Alongside his professional career, he developed a Formula 1 database and has written and contributed to numerous Formula 1 books, media guides, magazines and newspapers since the 1980s. His first book was the Grand Prix Data Book in 1989 (published by Haynes), followed by three further editions. It led to being invited to be the statistician for the prestigious Autocourse Grand Prix annual in 1991, a position he has held ever since. In 2016 he self-published the first edition of his latest venture, Formula 1 The Knowledge. This was well-received globally and has led to more ideas to make the second edition even more comprehensive.