Archive for Author 'Tom King', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Classic Engines, Modern Fuel: The Problems, the Solutions

by Paul Ireland

A compliation of articles the author wrote for various magazines about his Manchester University XPAG Tests. Features real data and practical descriptions applicable to all classic engines.

Betrayed: Secrecy, Lies, and Consequences

by Frederic H. Martini

Being a POW is hard enough. Not being believed afterwards, and even being denied disability benefits is worse. Having someone who knew of your plight but didn’t help be hailed as a hero is . . . well . . . this book will make you question who the good guys are.

I Kept No Diary

by F.R. (Rod) Banks

If your motor requires high octane fuel it probably has high compression. Banks is the man who championed this technology—and a thousand other things—which is probably why he had no time to keep a diary. He was 80 when he wrote this book, and still working!

The Riley M.P.H.: A History of Its Development & Production 1932–1935

by Robin Cameron

Blink—and you missed it! Not because it’s so fast but because it was offered for only half a year and in all of 14 copies. Like many other makers’ “Vitesse” or “Speed” models Riley’s “MPH” was less about nominal speed than the idea of speed.

Drawn Out, A Seriously Funny Memoir

by Tom Scott

Comic relief . . . you know you want it. Political commentator and cartoonist, satirist, scriptwriter, playwright, raconteur, provocateur, all-round funny man. He won New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year—seven times! (Ok, it’s a small country.)

The Spiders’ Web

by John Bradshaw

Nothing “itsy-bitsy” about this Spider, or its newer incarnation Big Spider. Following Wasps and Gnats it was made by British Cyclecar maker GN. Looking more agricultural machinery than sporting car it routinely embarrassed bigger cars and set hillclimb records in the 1920s. This is the story.

The Wilson Preselector Gearbox, Armstrong Siddeley-Type

by Peter “Banjo” Meyer

It’s all in the name: preselecting allows you to call up the next gear, usually with the transmission remaining in the current gear until you press the “gear change pedal,” thereby obviating the need to master timing clutch to shift lever. It’s complicated. This book explains all.

“Sam” – Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Lord Elworthy

by Richard Mead

KG, GCB, CBE, DSO, LVO, DFC, AFC, MA—this letter salad bespeaks a highly decorated life. It is only fitting that a biography of this distinguished officer should appear during the RAF’s Centenary year.

Searching for Charlie, In Pursuit of the Real Charles Upham VC & Bar

by Tom Scott

It could be the stuff movies are made of. In fact, two screenplays exist. The protagonist is the only combat soldier ever to win the Victoria Cross twice, and his bravery in World War II probably deserved several more. This book puts the source of his courage and daring into context.

Not Much of an Engineer, An Autobiography

by Sir Stanley Hooker

Gravely ill, this highly acclaimed aero engine engineer managed to stay alive just long enough to finish his autobiography. A modest man, he would have been embarrassed by the praise his eulogists bestowed on him.

The Other Bentley Boys

by Elizabeth Nagle-Turnbull

To this day we think of the storied drivers by that name but it is the “other” Bentley Boys—the mechanics—who first called themselves that.

Driven, An Elegy to Cars, Roads and Motorsport

by John Aston

This is a book for an unhurried moment when you have the time to roll words around in your head. If your interest is motorsports and the people and places that give it color, all the better but that’s not all you’ll find here.