[Books] Books - My Top 20

[John Turner]

I've checked old threads and don't think anyone has done it in this form; recently anyway. I wanted to list, from my collection, my current selection of favourite motor and motor racing books! Some are predictable and some no doubt are not the best on the particular subject, but they are the ones that over the last couple of years have interested and entertained me. Next year, after reading others, or rereading old favourites the list might change, but anyway, in no particular order, here goes:-

1) Roesch and the Invincible Talbot - Anthony Blight
2) The French Sportscar Revolution - Anthony Blight
3) Brooklands - The Complete motor Racing History - 'Bill' Boddy
4) Stirling Moss - My Cars, My Career - Moss with Doug Nye
5) Derek Bell - My Racing Life - Bell with Alan Henry
6) My Life Full of Cars - Paul Frere
7) The Certain Sound - John Wyer
8) Martini Racing Story - Paolo D'Allessio
9) Aston Martin, 1913-47 - Inman Hunter
10) Sportscar Heaven-DBR1 v Testa Rossa - Chris Nixon
11) Racing with David Brown Aston Martins Vol 1 & 2 - Chris Nixon
12) Unbeatable BMW - Jeremy Walton
13) Maserati - A History - Anthony Pritchard
14) Ferrari 250 GT Competition Cars - Jess Pourret
15) Targa Florio - David Owen
16) The Mille Miglia - Mike Lawrence
17) Echoes of Imola - David Tremayne
18} Chasing the Title - Nigel Roebuck
19) Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken-My Autobiography - Murray Walker
20) Life at the Limit - Prof. Sid Watkins

Well, there it is! I started to put comments by each one, but then decided I would probably be here all day, so gave up on that. What are your choices?

[BillyT]

For me i like the bike autobiographys so here is my list of top 5:

1)Steve Hislop - Autobiography
2)Formula 1 Fanatic - Koen Vergeer
3)Dale Earndhardt Jr - Autobiograpghy
4)Neil Hodgson - Autobiography
5)Alex Zanardi - Autobiography

[ensign14]

Different books for different needs.

For stats, Sheldon's Black Books are essential. If I had to pick one volume, it would be 2, covering a forgotten era. (And I have copy number 3.)

For a story, Cooper Cars by Doug Nye, from cut & shutting Fiat Topolinos to the World Title and back.

For a rollicking read, The Story of March by Mike Lawrence, terribly indiscreet but very well told. "When Robin Herd received the letter announcing he had been awarded the OBE, his reaction was 'Christ, Mark Thatcher wants a drive'."

From a sheer literature perspective, the Blight books mentioned above and anything by William Court. The latter is the closest we have to a Motor Racing Laureate. Court was a barrister and I believe Blight was a solicitor - something to legal accuracy and verbiage?

Best autobiog is probably Wyer's, or maybe Alf Francis'.

Best oral history is American Zoom by Peter Golenbock.

Honourable mention to Greg Fielden for his indefatigable NASCAR work and Gerald Rose for his first motor racing history.

But if I had to choose one book to rescue from a fire, it would be Janos Wimpffen's Time & 2 Seats. Talk about a labour of love! Stats wonderful, photos magnificent - and covering some of the obscurities as well, captions irreverent, text entertaining. Runner-up would be Georgano's Encyclopaedia from 1970ish but that's a lot commoner on ebay...

[Slippy Diff]

All Arms and Elbows-Innes Ireland.

[Knowlesy]

Perry McCarthys book is a blast.

And any Nigel Roebuck book.

I've got so many books I couldn't make a top 20, so many quality volumes out there!

[lj79]

Champion Year - Mike Hawthorn

[M Coupe]

In no particular order:-

Mon Ami Mate - Chris Nixon
Racing The Silver Arrows - Chris Nixon
Auto Union Album 1934-1939 - Chris Nixon
Rivals Lacia D50 & Mercedes W196 - Chris Nixon
Klemantaski & Aston Martin - Chris Nixon
Rosemayer - Elly Beinhorn Rosemayer & Chris Nixon
Lotus 49 The story of a Legend - Michael Oliver
Lotus 72 Formula One Icon - Michael Oliver
Jim Clark - Graham Gauld
Quicksilver, An investigation into the Development of German Grand Prix Racing Cars 1934-1939
Rallye De Monte Carlo - Maurice Louche
Le Grand Prix de Provence & Marseille - Maurice Louche
Seven Year Twitch - Marcus Chambers
Rally - Rheinhard Klein
All Arms and Elbows - Innes Ireland
Dynastie Pilette Dynasty - Pilette

[Hip Priest]

I quite enjoyed Gerald Donaldson's books about Gilles Villeneuve & James Hunt. I purchased his "Auto-biography" of F1 recently too, which is a great book for dipping into and reading a few funny stories or interesting anecdotes.

I've heard that Mon Ami Mate by Chris Nixon is a classic, but i haven't been able to find it anywhere. Perhaps somebody could point me in the right direction.

[Sheila M]

Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken - dear old Murray Walker
Life at the Limit - Sid Watkins (although I tend not to read the first chapter)
Beyond the Limit - Sid Watkins
Fangio by Fangio (priced at 3s 6d - no idea how we acquired that!)
James Hunt The Biography - Gerald Donaldson
The Grand Prix Book of Motor Racing Quotations (guess where I got my sig from!)

There are others, of course but I could be here all day listing them!

[alesi95]

Originally Posted by btracer

2)Formula 1 Fanatic - Koen Vergeer

A very under rated book. Got my copy brand new hardback from WH Smith for 25p! Really

Zanardi's book is also very good as is the James Hunt biography and Perry McCarthy's tragedy.

There is a Nigel Roebuck book i forget the name of, but i very much like Roebucks writing. and The Piranha Club is quite good.

Im currently reading the Gilles Villenuve biog

[BuzzedHornet]

My top 5 as of today...I'm sure this will change as I start reading more books recomended in this post. Great Topic John T.

The Unfair Advantage - Mark Donohue / Paul Van Valkenburgh
Cannonball!! - Brock Yates (I know it's not real motorsports but I love it)
Race Car Engineering and Mechanics - Paul Van Valkenburgh
Trans-Am - Dave Friedman
Can-Am - Peter Lyons

[John Turner]

Thanks Buzzedhornet and welcome! I have some of the books listed by others but must admit I'm also using them to give me some ideas about future reading material!

[TimD]

Lovely idea for a topic!

My favourites, in no especial order:

1. Touch Wood (Duncan Hamilton)
2. Archie and the Listers (Robert Edwards)
3. My Cars, My Career (Stirling Moss & Doug Nye
4. Mon Ami Mate (Chris Nixon)
5. Speed on Salt (George Eyston)
6. Napier First to Wear the Green (David Venables)
7. Brooklands (Bill Boddy)
8. Racing the Silver Arrows (Chris Nixon)
9. Vintage Specials (John Bateman)
10. Australia's Great Race (Bill Tuckey)
11. Only Here for the Beer (Gerry Marshall)
12. Down the Hatch (Tony Lanfranchi)
13. It Beats Working (Eoin Young)
14. Bentley The Vintage Years (Michael Hay)
15. Bentley From Cricklewood to Crewe (Michael Frostick)
16. Dino: The Little Ferrari (Doug Nye)
17. All Arms and Elbows (Innes Ireland)
18. Brooklands Giants (Bill Boddy)
19. Wheel Patter (Dudley Colley)
20. At the Wheel (Jim Clark)

All of this tells me two things;

First, I prefer a swashbuckling driver biog over a marque history as a rule and

Second, my goodness, Collectors Carbooks have done well out of me over the years!

[Rob29]

Have 197 volumes on motorsport.Too many to list here,but seem to agree with TimD above ;prefer driver biographies & circuit/race histories to marque histories-have only 3 of those 20 in 1st post!

[John Turner]

Great list Tim. Have you read either or both of the Blight books? Their titles tend not to convey the extent of the info. in them. They are mammoth tomes but superb history books with plenty of references to pre war motor racing and race reports/descriptions, especially in the second book on my list. I mention them again only because your list displays a strong interest in that period of motor racing!

[TimD]

I do actually have a copy of "French Sportscar Revolution" but I must confess it's been in the "ooh, I really must settle down to that one" shelf since purchase.

Think I'd better crack on with that one actually!

[richard_sykes]

Being 18 I don`t tend to be a huge fan of reading!

But I decided to learn a bit about working in F1 as that ulamatly is my goal.

In doing so I have bought and read the three Steve Matchett Books.

What this post is really about it Amazon.

They have thousands of these motorsport books!

Some of them cost 1p! Yes 3 pound postage but still!

Cheack it out.

Perry McCarthy book is amazing, he is a funny bloke considering!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...929400-2421437

[adstubbs]

One of my faves is the McLaren F1 book, Driving Ambition - always leaves me slightly in awe of the single-minded approach they had to the project. Another good one is Into the Red, the one with the CD. The sound of the V16 BRM still gives me goosebumps, sounds great on headphones. Zanardi's autobiography is not always a pleasant read, but fills me with admiration for the way he came back from such a horrendous setback. Perry McCarthy's book on the other hand is just one of the funniest things I've ever read!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by adstubbs

Another good one is Into the Red, the one with the CD. The sound of the V16 BRM still gives me goosebumps, sounds great on headphones.

Yes, a great book with a great sound! Slightly off thread, but oh to see a V16 racing in historics and firing on all cylinders for the duration. My driver? How about Willie Green?

[Pete Fenelon]

No particular order.

The Encyclopedia of Motor Sport - Georgano/Bochroch et al
The Certain Sound - John Wyer
Four Guys And A Telephone - Mike Lawrence
Time and Two Seats - Janos Wimpffen
Autocourse History of the GP Car 1945-65 and 66-91 - Doug Nye
BRM - Doug Nye
Cooper Cars - Doug Nye
Colin Chapman: Wayward Genius - Mike Lawrence
Chevron: The Derek Bennett Story - David Gordon
Best Damn Garage In Town - Smokey Yunick
Portraits of the 60s - Rainer Schlegelmilch
Rally Cars - Reinhard Klein
Mon Ami Mate - Chris Nixon
Racing the Silver Arrows - Chris Nixon
It Was Fun - Tony Rudd
Quicksilver Century - Karl Ludvigsen
Villeneuve - Gerald Donaldson
Lotus 72 - Michael Oliver
Jenks: A Passion For Motor Sport - Denis Jenkinson
Power & Glory - William Court

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally Posted by John Turner

12) Unbeatable BMW - Jeremy Walton

I really wanted to like this more than I did - the 2nd edition is very 'bitty', and includes far too many pics taken at concours and historic events. BMW's involvement in IMSA GTP is covered in a mere 4 pages (then again the book's subtitle is "Eighty years of engineering and motorsport success"...) and the F2 results stop at the end of '78 - so the Honda challenge isn't documented properly. Naturally (!) there's no mention of BMW engines used in Group 6 and Group C.

It also really rushes the F1 engine story - the BMW turbo was the most fascinating and awesome piece of kit, and it's dashed off in a couple of chapters. There's more about it in Nye's Autocourse History of the GP Car!

As a book on BMW in touring car racing, it's great. As a balanced overall history of BMW in motorsport, I think it's very flawed.

The second edition feels like a rush job, it could've been so much better!

[Tom V]

In no particular order:

Endurance racing: 1982 - 1991 - Ian Briggs
Prototypes: the History of IMSA GTP series - Martin & Wells
CAN AM - Pete Lyons
Porsche 917: The winning formula - Peter Morgan
Porsche 956: The enduring champions - Peter Morgan
24 Heures de Spa: 50 éditions - J.P. Delsaux
Dynasty Pilette - Bernaerd Geeraerd
The complete history of GP motor racing - Adriano Cimarosti
March: The rise and fall of a motor racing legend - Mike Lawrence
Colin Chapman: Wayward genious - Mike Lawrence
The forgotten Races - Chris Ellard

[jna]

Tom V

May I trouble you to post further information about the book "Endurance racing: 1982 - 1991 - Ian Briggs", for example who it was published by and the ISBN number. I expect that it is currently not in print, but as this is my favourite era for sportscars I would like to find a copy from somewhere.

Many thanks.

John

[ensign14]

Basic gen on the Briggs book here. Am amazed at the price...

[richard_sykes]

HOW MUCH!

They will keep there vaule though, like the Driving Ambition book.

Dave Richards has a new book out too.