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

Taking the World by Storm

by Malcolm Cracknell

A rollercoaster ride of a book about what might have happened in an alternative history of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1997.

Karl Ludvigsen’s Fast Friends, Stars and Heroes in the World of Cars

by Karl E. Ludvigsen 

If you’re around car books at all there’s really no way you’d not know this award-winning author’s name. He’s been around, he’s seen things, he’s forgotten more than you will ever know. Here are 23 examples of people that left an impression on him—not least his father.

Niki Lauda: His Competition History

by Jon Saltinstall

He won two of his three F1 championships after the fiery crash in 1976 that almost killed him. The courage and willpower this takes defies description. So does losing the title one year by one point and winning it another by half a point. Racing is about so much more than car control; this book paints the picture of a driver who applied himself with unprecedented commitment.

One Formula – 50 Years of Car Design

by Gordon Murray and Philip Porter  

“Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” – the extraordinary legacy of oenophile, soap box racer, and Bob Dylan disciple Gordon Murray. He is the man who also created the road-going sports car that won Le Mans, who designed  F1 cars that won 50 Grands Prix, and who is still pushing every envelope he can find.

Porsche 911 – The Practically Free Supercar

by Robert McGowan

Are you thinking of scratching that 911-shaped itch but worry about the cost? This book might help you get a good night’s sleep in that regard—but, if you thought yourself immune to the lure of the 911, it may also give you ideas…

My Greatest Defeat

by Will Buxton 

“What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Easier said than done! Even if it does, extreme experiences leave their mark and take a toll. Racing drivers are always only one step away from crippling disaster. Here twenty of them allow a look behind the PR-polished façade.

Enzo Ferrari – Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automotive Empire

by Luca Dal Monte

Every minute you spend reading this review, Ferrari will sell 100 items with their name on them. Not cars—they, intentionally, hover around the 8000 per year mark—but “stuff,” from socks to books to engines for Maseratis. What is it about Ferrari that so many want to buy into its cachet? 1000 pages offer some answers.

Jim Clark – The Best of the Best

by David Tremayne

We can argue about whether Jim Clark was the greatest Grand Prix driver in history. After all, there are one or two other candidates, possibly even three or four. But we won’t disagree about whether this book is the definitive story of Scotland’s greatest driver.

How to Build a Car

by Adrian Newey

If only really smart people can design race-winning cars then just how smart must someone be whose designs have won over 150 Grands Prix? An unexpectedly gifted writer, Newey reveals the man behind the cliché of the geeky designer in his ivory tower.

The Perfect Car

by Nick Skeens

If volatility of temperament is a measure of competence then Barnard should be counted a genius. And he is, because he really was. The exasperating perfectionist who cut down anyone and anything in his way makes for an intense story.

Brian Redman – Daring Drivers, Deadly Tracks

by Brian Redman, Jim Mullen

A really good biography of a great racer and a hugely decent man who survived his pro years—often barely—with enough good cheer to retire at age 52 and still remain active in historic racing.

What Doesn’t Kill You . . . My Life in Motor Racing

by Johnny Herbert

Today this gifted all-round driver is praised for an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of his sport on his broadcasts for Britain’s Sky Sports F1 channel but this autobiography skips over a few bits in the name of telling a grander story.

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