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Alfa Romeo: From 1910 to 2010
by Maurizio Tabucchi

“When I see an Alfa Romeo, I tip my hat!”

                                    —Henry Ford, 1939
  (long thought an apocryphal—and unlikely—remark but 
  confirmed in 1988 by Dr. Ing. Pierugo Gobbato in an 
 interview with Griffith Borgeson as having been made 
          to Gobatto Sr. during a visit to Dearborn.)

Alfa Romeo or A.L.F.A.—Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili which translates into Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company—or simply Alfa is in the enviable position of celebrating 100 years of operations, 1910–2010. All sorts of books will laud the centenary, and Italian publisher Giorgio Nada of Milan, Alfa’s hometown, has produced two. One is a €500, 200 page limited edition of 1998 copies (Alfa Romeo. The Official Book - Centenary Edition) by various authors and then this much more affordable tome.

The book covers in chronological order the ups and downs of the firm; the emphasis is on the product but there is useful if not extensive reference to the overall political and economic situation and ancillary topics of technical relevance such as aviation.

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International Automotive Media Award: Best Book of 2009

Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed
by Michael Argetsinger

This biography consists of two books, this 344-page text version with only 40 photos and a second volume, Mark Donohue: His Life in Photographs consisting of several hundred photographs with relevant captions. Argetsinger has written a remarkable and fitting tribute to one of America’s greatest race drivers. That it has already won several awards including the prestigious International Automotive Media Award is no surprise; Argetsinger’s previous work, Walt Hansgen: His Life and the History of Post War American Road Racing was similarly praised and feted in 2006.

This is a significant book fully worthy of the IAMAs. In a full-time effort that required more than three years to complete, Argetsinger interviewed over 211 people close to the subject, and enjoyed not only access to all the family papers but those of the Penske organization as well. He also had access to the unpublished tapes made for Donohue’s own book The Unfair Advantage.

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Mark Donohue: His Life in Photographs
by Michael Argetsinger

This book is a companion volume to Argetsinger’s excellent bio Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed. Publisher David Bull clearly has his fingers on the pulse of what readers want—and are able to afford. His books are not cheap but there hasn’t yet been a case of a David Bull book not being good value for money. Still, Bull’s desire was to keep the price of the Excellence book to under $40 and, since it runs to a hefty 250,000 words, the only way to achieve it was to cut back the number of photos. So, for the reader able and willing to plunk down another $39.95 the 40 photos in that book can be augmented with this companion volume by the same author containing almost 250 photos!

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Men of Power
The Lives of Rolls-Royce Chief Test Pilots Harvey and Jim Heyworth
by Robert Jackson

Test pilot brothers are a rarity, the reviewer knowing only of two: Belper-born Harvey and Jim Heyworth. They both worked for the same company, at the same time, and both became chief test pilot. Harvey, the elder of the two became the third test pilot at Hucknall, where Rolls-Royce had its flight test establishment, in 1936 following service in the Royal Air Force. At the outbreak of war he returned to the service and became a squadron leader in command of a fighter squadron during the Battle of Britain. In the summer of 1941 he was seconded back to Hucknall.

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Grand Prix Showdown!
The Full Drama of Every Championship-Deciding Grand Prix Since 1950
by Christopher Hilton

A nail-biter! You do not have to be a petrol head or F1 groupie to become totally engrossed in this book! But you do have to have a sufficiently long attention span to follow the written word, not skip ahead, and take time to savor the drama the author so purposefully built into his story arc. A book like this is kind of the counterpoint to “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Here, it takes a thousand words—figuratively—to paint a picture but, unlike a picture, the author can control, by his carefully considered choice of words, the impact his pacing and tension have on the reader.

Motorsport historian Hilton has a long string of racing books to his credit and especially his best-selling biographies of Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Clay Regazzoni show his aptitude for combining the personal with the technical.

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