Archive for Author 'John Aston', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

How F1 Works: The Sport Explained

by Steve Rendle

Apparently 80 million people globally are watching each race on TV. Even if they know all about the cars and the drivers and teams, did you realize that even the size of the trophies and the color of the podium carpet are regulated? Everything is, and where would you look that up? Here.

20 Years of GT3 Racing, the Story of the World’s Leading GT Sportscar Category

by Gary Watkins

The history of motorsports is rife with racing series that didn’t last because they couldn’t adapt, or had too narrow a focus, or ran out of participants and money, or were too blatantly self-serving. GT3, now over 20 years old, seems to have all the right answers.

Derek Daly: Serial Survivor

by Derek Daly

The rollercoaster life of a race driver, writer, broadcaster, racing advisor and businessman, told without flinching. That the reader will often flinch is another matter, and a mark of the authenticity of this autobiography.

Lotus Europa, Colin Chapman’s Mid-Engined Masterpiece (Reprint)

by Matthew Vale

If you thought the original Europa was produced in small numbers, consider that the “modern” one forty years later topped out at only 490 units. This book deals with the former, and for the second time—it is a reprint.

F1 Racing: Drive – The Secrets to Formula One Success

by Rachel Brookes

Written by a TV presenter and pit lane reporter this book examines the obvious question of why some win and some don’t. Drivers, team bosses, and others from all corners of the sport take a stab at answering it.

Adrian Newey: An Illustrated Biography of F1’s Greatest Designer

by Frank Hopkinson

Newey designs have won 12 Constructors’ and 14 Drivers’ titles and 223 Grands Prix between 1991 and 2024. Hence the title of this book, which is a quick overview of a busy career that is still in full flourish.

Special Brew, The Story of the Southern African Formula One and Libre Specials

by Robert Young

F1 may return to Kyalami in 2027. How many South African race drivers can you name? Or, to broaden the scope, how many drivers who raced in South Africa, Rhodesia, Portuguese Mozambique? And let’s add cars to that. Aha. You need a book.

Lando Norris: Road to World Champion

by Nate Saunders

The fingerprints on his 2025 championship trophy haven’t been polished off—and already there’s a book! Not a bio but a race-by-race recap of a nail biter of a season.

It’s… A… New Track Record!

by Rick Shaffer

That phrase was uttered so often it became the track announcer’s trademark expression, especially during the decade presented here. The era saw extraordinary advances in car, engine and tire design—and also money sloshing around the sport, which financed even more advances.

Dragster Genesis: The Formative Years of Fearsome Acceleration

by Barry John

No place to hide: two cars, side by side. Run a quarter mile. One wins. As a kid the author studied Hot Rod magazine, later he studied art at college. Youth well spent, apparently, because this book combines both interests.

Great Auclum National Speed Hill Climb 1938–1974

by Stephen R. Lovegrove

Situated on a private estate, this only 440-yard-long course was short in length but long in motorsports impact and career-making—also intensity if not all-out danger.