[Books] Best Books - Your Recommendations

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Just acquired 1st edition of Touch Wood by Duncan Hamilton which I spotted in a secondhand bookshop window in Shrewsbury today. Complete with acceptable dust cover it cost me a whopping £9.50! A bit of a bargain, I reckon. I have read it before and an excellent read if I recall.

Lucky you! It's amazing what you can find in the most unlikely places & I invariably look in second-hand bookshops 'just in case'.

[John Turner]

Yes, John, I always take the opportunity to browse …….. when I'm allowed to!

[cg7aa]

I thought this might be of some interest to GPL racers:

https://www.rallyandracing.com/en/ra...r=sCampaign574

[P38 in workshop]

I haven't followed every post in this thread so this might be repetition.I recently bought the new edition of Peter Grimsdale's book High Performance.Not solely about racing cars but absolutely riveting.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by P38 in workshop

I haven't followed every post in this thread so this might be repetition.I recently bought the new edition of Peter Grimsdale's book High Performance.Not solely about racing cars but absolutely riveting.

Ah yes, I found that one very cheap in a Bookends or somewhere before Christmas so bought it outof curiosity but haven't read it yet. Must find it & do so!

A fascinating read for me recently was Romano Artioli's book 'A Bugatti and Lotus Thriller!

It is his life story & told me a lot I didn't know. Well worth a read - he certainly doesn't pull any punches!

[Kingair]

Just finished reading Brabham, by Tony Davis and Akos Armont.

A very enjoyable read, a great insight that era of drivers that were happy to drive Formula 1, Formula 2, sportscars, saloon cars and even Indy cars.

Always admired Jack, for his driving ability, running his own team and designing race cars.

On the weekend I got to have aclose look at the original BT1 on display at Longford, and you only then realise how basic and rudimentary those early F1 machines were.

[coppice]

Le Mans aficionados will probably enjoy Malcolm Cracknell's Taking the World by Storm . It's an alternative history of Le Mans 1997 , centred around a team which is a thinly disguised version of Lister.



It's an entertaining romp - my review is on speedreaders.info





My other recent review on the same site is Karl Ludvigsen's Fast Friends . KL knew everyone who was anyone in the car business , and motorsport too and his insights into Carlo Abarth , Larry Shinoda, Alex von Falkenhausen , Mario Andretti and 19 other big beasts are fascinating

[Kingair]

Brock at Bathurst, takes us back to 1969 when Peter Brock first raced at Bathurst up until his death in 2006.

Covers all his victories, the politics of motorsport, the co-drivers, the high and lows of heartbreak hill, team mates and the various cars.

A really great book, available online.

[Kingair]

Elfin The Spirit of Speed, just seen this listed in Auto Action.

Not cheap, but would be an interesting book.

The website is elfinspiritofspeed.com.au

[coppice]

My latest read , and a very enjoyable one too , was A Race With Love and Death by Richard Williams . This is a new biography of Richard Seaman , the British driver who raced for Mercedes until his death in 1939.



Very highly recommended - the book describes the almost military machines that the Nazi funded Mercedes and Auto Union teams had become, and it also evokes the feverish environment of mid-late 30s Grand Prix racing .Seaman was talented, posh , rich and ambitious and if he does not come over as a likeable man , his story is still a compelling tragedy.



As ever , my 'proper' review is on speedreaders.info

[S griffin]

In my time of lockdown I've had To Hell and Back by Lauda and Chasing the Title and Grand Prix Greats by Roebuck delivered. The latter two are great reads as I expected and I've started To Hell and Back, just need to find a moment to read some more

[Aysedasi]

Yes, I've got both of the last two. And the colour prints in Grand Prix Greats are excellent.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by coppice

Malcolm Cracknell's Taking the World by Storm

The Easter weekend under lockdown gave my the opportunity to sit in the sunshine and read my copy of Malcolm's book.

The story rolls along at a decent pace and isn't especially lengthy anyway (plus is printed on thick paper so I kept thinking I was turning over too many pages at once) so perfect for an easy read over a couple of days.

For good or ill it assumes the reader is familiar with Le Mans and sportscar racing in general.

The 'Notes from the real world' epilogue which details how the various tricks and scams in the story actually occured in reality is as interesting as the main story.

Well recommended for sportscar racing fans.

[justracing]

Sorry if this has already been covered in this thread but I'm reposting this from the Stirling Moss historic thread if anyone is interested, it's a superb read
One of the best reads recounting the bygone motor racing era in which Stirling participated, it relates some real eye openers of not only the race( the '57 Pescara GP) but the drivers and their antics:
The Last Road Race by Richard Williams

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by justracing

Sorry if this has already been covered in this thread but I'm reposting this from the Stirling Moss historic thread if anyone is interested, it's a superb read
One of the best reads recounting the bygone motor racing era in which Stirling participated, it relates some real eye openers of not only the race( the '57 Pescara GP) but the drivers and their antics:
The Last Road Race by Richard Williams

No, you are right - it is a great read. I originally read it about 15 years ago, so probably time for a re-read.

[MattC]

Came across a new Porsche book after reading the review by blogger Joe Sherlock, his review is below and another showing sample pics, book cover etc. Got mine on amazon.com, but they seem to be out of stock at the moment. It's real nice, mainly covers the air cooled 356 & 911, which are my favorites anyway, lol.

Book cover & pics

Joe Sherlock review

[VIVA GT]

I've just received this and am finding it a fascinating read.
A good thick book too so it should keep me entertained for ages.

[justracing]

One of the most enlightening motor racing books I have ever read:
Cars at Speed by Robert Daley.
Originally written in 1960 and subsequently reprinted numerous times, it gives an insight into many forms of motorsport and as importantly, the drivers of bygone eras and the perils encountered, sometimes tragically. The introduction in my edition, written by the author in 2007 is as entertaining a story I have ever read, the authors apprenticeship in early motorsport journalism is fascinating in itself.

[Kingair]

Niki Lauda The Biography by Maurice Hamilton, enjoyable read on Niki’s F1 career and business interests.

[chunterer]

I've been reading the Shadow book by Pete Lyons and Kar-Kraft by Charlie Hebry which is all about Ford USA's special vehicles division.

Both excellent.

[S griffin]

I recently bought A Race with Love and Death: The Story of Richard Seaman by Richard Williams and managed to finish reading it this week.

I've always been fascinated by the Richard Seaman character since I saw a Channel 4 Documentary on him in 2004 called Nazi Grand Prix. And I have to say this book is a great read. Plenty of detail into his life and helps clean up some myths about him too. Also makes you realise how, despite the threat of war, how much more camaraderie there was amongst drivers in the 30s. Just a shame it had to end for Seaman when he was at his peak. A case of what might have been.

Anyway, get the book if you can, it's money well spent. Especially if you want to know more about the Grand Prix racing of that era, as it's an era that in my view doesn't quite get the exposure it should get

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I recently bought A Race with Love and Death: The Story of Richard Seaman by Richard Williams and managed to finish reading it this week.

I've always been fascinated by the Richard Seaman character since I saw a Channel 4 Documentary on him in 2004 called Nazi Grand Prix. And I have to say this book is a great read. Plenty of detail into his life and helps clean up some myths about him too. Also makes you realise how, despite the threat of war, how much more camaraderie there was amongst drivers in the 30s. Just a shame it had to end for Seaman when he was at his peak. A case of what might have been.

Anyway, get the book if you can, it's money well spent. Especially if you want to know more about the Grand Prix racing of that era, as it's an era that in my view doesn't quite get the exposure it should get

Thank you for that - you've spurred me on to make the purchase! Been meaning to for a while.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I recently bought A Race with Love and Death: The Story of Richard Seaman by Richard Williams and managed to finish reading it this week.

I've always been fascinated by the Richard Seaman character since I saw a Channel 4 Documentary on him in 2004 called Nazi Grand Prix. And I have to say this book is a great read. Plenty of detail into his life and helps clean up some myths about him too. Also makes you realise how, despite the threat of war, how much more camaraderie there was amongst drivers in the 30s. Just a shame it had to end for Seaman when he was at his peak. A case of what might have been.

Anyway, get the book if you can, it's money well spent. Especially if you want to know more about the Grand Prix racing of that era, as it's an era that in my view doesn't quite get the exposure it should get

The full movie 'Nazi Grand Prix' is available on youtube if interested.
https://youtu.be/E8bxqBEHE8A

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I recently bought A Race with Love and Death: The Story of Richard Seaman by Richard Williams and managed to finish reading it this week.

I've always been fascinated by the Richard Seaman character since I saw a Channel 4 Documentary on him in 2004 called Nazi Grand Prix. And I have to say this book is a great read. Plenty of detail into his life and helps clean up some myths about him too. Also makes you realise how, despite the threat of war, how much more camaraderie there was amongst drivers in the 30s. Just a shame it had to end for Seaman when he was at his peak. A case of what might have been.

Anyway, get the book if you can, it's money well spent. Especially if you want to know more about the Grand Prix racing of that era, as it's an era that in my view doesn't quite get the exposure it should get

This was one (of a few) books that I was given for Christmas. I found it a very enjoyable & interesting read. Being born in 1956 life around WW2 has always interested me (or at least I presume my age is the reason) and this aspect, combined with the detailed racing coverage was fascinating.

[S griffin]

Got Maurice Hamilton's biography of Murray Walker for xmas. Have to say it's an excellent read, focused a lot on the memorable events Murray commentated on, like Australia 86, Japan 89/90 or the tragic Imola 94. His commentary from those events is remembered in great deal

I also have Murray's autobiography from 2002 and this latest biography is a nice extension of that IMO

Also got Adrain Newey's How to Build a Car at xmas, will hopefully read that sometime soon. Got quite a few books to read atm