Archive for Items Categorized 'Racing, Rally', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Lords of Speed: The Great Drivers of Formula 1

by Roberto Gurian

The obvious expectation would be that this book is about all-conquering race winners. Some of them indeed are but they’re in this book because they’re “great” for other reasons. Forty-six bios, some will surprise, all will give you something to think about.

John, George and the HWMs: The First Racing Team to Fly the Flag for Britain

by Simon Taylor

Underdogs. One a mechanical engineer, the other almost a household name as a quite good race driver. England is picking itself up after the war so they stood up a race team—because they could and because no one else was. They did well, but ask people today about “HWM” . . .

Kinser: A Racing Career Like No Other

by Steve Kinser with Dave Argabright

The most successful sprint car driver of all time retired from competition with a reputation for being able to outfox defeat in seemingly impossible-to-win situations. What made him tick?

Grid to Glory: 75 Milestone Formula One Moments

by Alex Jacques

Reading this colorful book you can easily have the author’s high-energy broadcast voice in your ear. It must have been hard to distill 75 years into 75 “moments” but apparently there are some never-before-told stories in the mix.

Auto Racing in the Shadow of the Great War

by Robert Dick

Motorsports evolve constantly; that the era discussed here witnessed “significant” change is kind of inevitable considering that there was not much precedent for anything, be it circuits, roads, cars, regulations, organizations, even goals. And yet, this era is often neglected in the literature. This book fixes that.

Ferrari 275P 0816: The Only Ferrari to Have Won Le Mans Twice

by Keith Bluemel

That title tells you why this car is special. But did you know that your Le Mans record books say something different? A BIG story in a BIG book.

The First American Grand Prix: The Savannah Auto Races, 1908–1911

by Tanya A. Bailey

Savannah, Georgia may be a hotbed for many things, but racing?
International participants declared the course America’s greatest and the author is certainly its greatest fan.

Formula One, The Champions: 75 Years of Legendary F1 Drivers

by Maurice Hamilton

A handy guide to the 34 men who have won the F1 World Championship so far, a few of course multiple times. Between the competent text and the benchmark-setting photography of father and son Cahier, this book is a winner.

Auto Racing Comes of Age

by Robert Dick

It is nothing short of amazing that the transition from rickety horseless carriage you could outrun on foot to fire-snorting record-breaking racecar took so little time. This excellent book examines the European and American history of the origins of motorsports.

Formula Atlantic: Tales from the Champions & Top Competitors, 1969–2009

by Gordon Kirby

If you follow F1 or IndyCar you’ll find an all but forgotten part of the backstory in this book. Lots of people, cars, places make an appearance here and you’ll surely recognize many, but from different contexts.

Formula 3000: Where Legends Earned Their Stripes

by James Newbold

Quicker, cheaper, more open racing—F3000 was supposed to bring all that. It lasted some 20 years so something must have been missed.

Twice Around the Clock – The Yanks at Le Mans, 1980–1999

by Tim Considine

This is the second installment (of three) that will cover a hundred years of American cars, drivers, teams at the 24 Hours. Lots of interviews and photos make the subject approachable and at least a little bit relatable—endurance racing is a peculiar activity!