William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909–1913  

by Michael L. Bromley

Impressively documented re-appraisal of oft-maligned president, with special emphasis on autos. At an important early stage, Taft, in the face of opposition, articulated a national interest in the auto industry and the social advances of widespread motorization.

Lee Noble, Supercar Genius

by Christopher Catto

Noble Automotive started out building kit cars and did it so well that soon enough customers asked for complete cars. Of the many models over the decades are some that moved the needle so decisively that established automakers had to do some hard thinking. This is the first book to tell the full story.

HOTOL: Britain’s Spaceplane 

by Dan Sharp

It’s the 1980s and the concept of a reusable winged launch vehicle is (once more?) top of mind in the space industry. HOTOL considered new solutions to old problems, problems that are still not solved today. In Earth’s atmosphere you need jet propulsion, which requires air, which does not exist in space. Now what?

Novi, The Legendary Indianapolis Race Car, Vols 1 + 2

by George Peters and Henri Greuter

Fan favorites, powerful, and certainly capable of winning, no Novi-engined racer ever won the one event they were designed for, the Indy 500.

Racing with Rich Energy: How a Rogue Sponsor Took Formula One for a Ride

by Elizabeth Blackstock & Alanis King

Race teams are always looking for funding because pro racing is ruinously expensive. Sponsorships are an obvious choice. But do or can teams vet sponsors? Smoke and Mirrors: here is a case of a multimillion-dollar deal gone very wrong.

It’s A Gas! The Allure of the Gas Station

Texts by Sascha Friesike

This book has been out for several years already so you may have seen reviews of it. Ignore. None of them used the right rotation in their kaleidoscope.

F1® The Movie

directed by Joseph Kosinski

If you watched actual F1 racing in 2023/24 you might have espied an extra pit box—for the fictional team at the center of this movie. Its $200,000,000 budget rivaled that of some real teams but did it buy the best racing film ever?

Formula 1: All the Races 2016–2024, Liberty Media’s Makeover

by Roger Smith

The more nano detail you carry around in your head the harder it is to recall precisely when something happened, or to whom or where. This book is a solid resource for serious folk—and probably an irresistible diversion for just about anybody.

Le Mans 2000–09, The Official History of the World’s Greatest Motor Race

by John Brooks

Here is the eight installment of the decade-by-decade coverage that is officially licensed with the race organizer.

The Kalamazoo Automobilist: 1891–1991

by David O. Lyon

You may have heard of a Wolverine, but probably not in an automotive context. Checker is a big name, of course. How about Barley, Blood, Cannon, Cornelian, Dort to name just a few of the makers you’ll encounter in this book. Street names are in many cases all that remains.

The Stylish Life Grand Prix

Texts by Elizabeth Smith

No matter what you take the title to mean, there’s a good chance you’ll be surprised by what’s in this book, not least the wide variety of photos. Some of them will really put your motorsports knowledge to the test.

The Story of a Stanley Steamer

by George Woodbury

This is not a company history but the saga of one specific 1917 model that a retired college professor took a shine to, returning a derelict to operational status. It was a complicated task in 1950 when this book was written, and would be harder now.

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