Formula 1 75 Years: At Speed with the World’s Greatest Motorsport

by Codling, Roberts, and Mann

If you take 1950 to be the start of F1 as we know it then 2025 is the 75th anniversary, and this is a fine book to paint a pretty full picture. If you count differently, because you know better, this is still a fine book, because of the photos.

Early Funny Cars, 1964–1975

by Lou Hart

Does your car have 10,000 horses under the hood? Funny Cars are pretty serious machinery in terms of engineering parameters, and also aerodynamics.

Chevrolet Corvette C6 2005–2013: Essential Buyers Guide

by David Smitheram

It’s not just the exposed headlamps that set a C6 apart from its predecessors. The model is basically reliable and parts are easily found, but not every model year is equally good. Spare yourself nasty surprises and read this book first!

IMSA 1990–1999: The Turbulent Years of American Sports Car Racing

by Raffauf, Raffauf, Silbermann & Ingram

Read the book prior to this one for the backstory why/how IMSA became “The World’s Greatest Sports Car Racing Series.” The decade examined here shows how much went then wrong. Gripping stuff, written by people who were there.

Drag Racing’s Rebels, How the AHRA Changed Quarter-Mile Competition

by Doug Boyce

Drag racing in all its many forms is inherently a sport that attracts people who yearn to color outside the lines. Still, a sport needs rules. Rules require agreement, compromise—or ruthless power grabs.

Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle: The Man Who Invented the Turbo-jet

by Robert L. Evans

High speed, long range, high altitude—there was a time when aircraft couldn’t achieve any of these let alone all. Whittle developed a theoretical solution, but the materials didn’t yet exist to actually build an engine. Besides, no one thought his scheme was practical. Or so they said.

Forever Young: Six Lost Talents of Motor Racing

by Wagstaff, Marriott, Saltinstall & Banks

A tribute to drivers who were on their way to a promising career but died doing what they loved before seeing it fully blossom.

Building Dutch Air Power in World War II

The Role of Lend-Lease and Aircrew Training in the United States

by Nicholas M. Sambatuk

When the Dutch lost territory to foreign invaders they sent their aircrews to the US to train. What makes the Dutch flying school different from any other is that it remained a fully autonomous Dutch base on foreign soil with limited interaction from American forces.

Hot Rod Mavericks: The Builders, Racers, and Rebels Who Revolutionized Hot Rodding

by Tony Thacker

If hot rods leave you cold, realize that the influence of the five dozen folks presented in this excellent book touches every aspect of automotive activity, up into current times.

Mercedes-Benz C 111

The Definitive History of the Mysterious Supercar That Never Was

by Heidbrink & Hack

It’s not the car that is mysterious but the circumstances that kept if from becoming the hit for which scores of 1969 auto show visitors wrote blank checks. M-B owns all the cars it ever made, and this is the one book that covers them.

Drag Racing in the 1960s: The Evolution in Race Car Technology

by Doug Boyce

One of drag racing’s finest and most colorful periods because the NHRA’s fuel ban that began in 1957 and lasted until 1964 accelerated the development of supercharging. Gasser wars, cam wars, plastic fantastic—lots of words to add to your vocabulary.

Formula One The Circuits: Then and Now

by Frank Hopkinson

Some race tracks survive for long times but not usually in the exact same layout. Here, vintage images are juxtaposed with modern ones to show those changes, often enough brought about by safety concerns and the ever-rising capabilities of race cars.