Archive for Author 'Paul Lea', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Brooklands Belles: The Women Racers Who Took on The Men

by T.J. Hartwell

It took decades to break down the barriers barring women from competing in early motorsports on equal terms with men. Brooklands was the world’s first purpose built motor-racing circuit so if not here, where?

Bloody Dangerous: Fifty Missions Over Germany

The Last First-Hand Account From World War II

by Flt Lt Colin Bell, DFC

Chew on that subtitle for a moment: the last first-hand? Sure, you’ve seen a pile of war biographies already … but this author is a centenarian. And he rappelled down the side of a building at 102. Bloody dangerous all over again.

Formula 1’s Unsung Pioneers

The Story of the British Racing Partnership and How it Launched Motorsport into the Modern Era

by Ian Wagstaff

Best known for its association with Stirling Moss but for the worst reason, there are other factors noteworthy about BRP such as being the first fully sponsored F1 team.

Games Without Frontiers: Volume 1, 1966–1974

Matra – Alpine – Ligier – Simca – Renault – Alpine

by Stuart Ager

You can deduce from the cover illustration that this will be one unusual story. This book goes into a lot of behind-the-scenes material—and will require two more volumes to button it all up.

CTX 500, Last Train to Cockfosters

by David Brodie

The cover of this memoir looks harmless enough. If the author’s name means anything to you, you know it won’t be.

Grand Prix Ford: Ford, Cosworth and the DFV

by Graham Robson

Ford bankrolled the Double Four Valve. Big money, big resources, big wins. Also big friction, and not in a technical sense. This is a reprint of a 2015 title, now at a lower price. Big win.

FIAT in Motorsport Since 1899

by Anthony Bagnall

You may only think of Fiat in motorsport as a dominant force in 1970s rallying, especially when Abarth became involved with production and development, but note that other car on the cover, clearly a vintage machine.

Ultimate GT40 – The Definitive History, Vol. 2: 1963–1965

by Allen, Endeacott, Cole, Teske

With access to previously unpublished documents and photos this book shines a fresh and certainly sharper light on every aspect of the GT40 origin and development story.

The Ferrari 250 GTO Spotting Guide

by Yan-Alexandre Damasiewicz

Small enough to slip into your coat pocket this handy field guide is meant to help identify which of the 36 cars you’re looking at—provided you ever see one in the wild at all. Even if you don’t, you’ll learn here about not only the differences as-new but also mods made in later years.

Ultimate GT40 – The Definitive History, Vol 1

by Ronnie Spain

In 1966 three GT40 Mk IIs ruined Ferrari’s day at Le Mans. This book will also ruin something . . . your bank balance, if you go for all four volumes.

Three’s a Crowd: The First 20 Years of British Formula 3

A Pictorial History 1964–1983 from Stewart to Senna via Walker and Warwick

by Chris & Tony Ellard

You probably recognize all of those names, but there are many, many more here, embedded into rich, mostly photographic context.

Test Pilots: The Story of British Test Flying 1903–1984

by Don Middleton

Written by a pilot who is also a good writer this 1985 book continues to impress. This is not about flyboy derring-do but the hard and dangerous work of trying out things that look good on paper but have never been done in the wild before.

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