23 replies to this topic

[Doug Nye]

Sadly, motoring writer and author Leonard Setright died yesterday morning. He had been suffering from cancer. I understand that in accordance with Jewish practise his funeral is being held today in Bushey, Hertfordshire.

DCN

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Sadly, motoring writer and author Leonard Setright died yesterday morning. He had been suffering from cancer. I understand that in accordance with Jewish practise his funeral is being held today in Bushey, Hertfordshire.

DCN

Oh NO NO NO. That is awful news. Truly, awful.

Sorry for being so inarticulate, but I honestly don't know what to say without resorting to cliches. This has just stopped me in my tracks.

[Macca]

Very sad to hear that - his erudite writing was always a pleasure to read.

Interesting interview here:

http://www.granta.co...004/12/setright


Paul M

[petefenelon]

Definitely one of the most distinctive voices writing about cars, motorcycles and motorsport -- not always the easiest read (his breadth of learning and willingness to show it off often made his digressive and discursive style a little congested!) but always highly opinionated....

Although there's not as much Setright on my shelves as some other "greats", what there is always comes across as written out of a real passion to inform and occasionally provoke. He was always a writer who looked beyond the nuts and bolts to try to understand the meaning and romance of machines, and the social context in which they operated.

At his best he wrote about racing and racing cars as well as anyone -- (The Grand Prix, The Grand Prix Car 1954-66, Pirelli History of Motor Sport) -- and in The Designers he achieved a level of insight into the minds and processes that gave rise to some of the great cars.

My favourite Setright book, though, and the one Palawan Press volume I own is the "cooking" edition of Drive On!. Setright brings his formidable and slightly scary intellect to bear on the whole issue of the car and its relationship with culture, society and technology -- and wins. It's a tough but delightful read, beautifully illustrated, and it's a book I commend to any motoring enthusiast.

I can't forgive anyone the title Bahnstormer for the BMW bike book though ;)

(And I'm reminded of DCN's wonderful DSJ/LJKS anecdote.... Presumably they're somewhere up there now tyre-kicking the Trossi-Monaco and coming out with radically different but equally convincing arguments about why it'll never work.....)

[Macca]

"wonderful DCN/LJKS anecdote...."

Quick edit needed, I think, to 'DSJ', not DCN


Paul M

[ian senior]

"The Designers" was perhaps one of the less formidable Setright works - the erudition is still there, the prose is still good, but it's not as intimidating as some of his stuff. I learned an enormous amount from that book. It's not just educational - it's actually quite a lively read and wouldn't deter the less committed reader.

[jarama]

Paul,

very nice stuff in this article. We can say he was a bit reactionary, isn't it?


A sad loss, certainly.



Carles.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Macca
"wonderful DCN/LJKS anecdote...."

Quick edit needed, I think, to 'DSJ', not DCN


Paul M

You're right - fixed.

[2F-001]

How sad - I somehow thought of him as immortal, so firmly was he set just askance from the routine.
If one didn't particularly share his point of view on some matters, his writing could still be enjoyed.

My first awarness of this wordsmith came with reading, in the very early 70s, an article in one of those motor racing annuals you were given at Christmas... it was a piece looking at how Grand Prix racing might be some years hence. He had Emerson F as an established past-champion driving an alcohol-burning Mercedes with a V10 engine. I agreed on his vision for Emerson, but the V10 sounded more fanciful (but how little I knew!)... I must now see if can find that book...

[Hans Etzrodt]

Within my book shelves I keep a few of the fine works by Setrigh, who obviously was highly intelligent and a respected writer, despite the fact that his books have always been a hard read for me. May he rest in peace.

[David Beard]

Originally posted by Macca
Very sad to hear that - his erudite writing was always a pleasure to read.

Interesting interview here:

http://www.granta.co...004/12/setright


Paul M

Very sad, but an interesting article. It refers to him writing for "Car" magazine for years, but I think perhaps I first discovered him when "Car" was still "Small Car". His writing was something quite different to what I read before, but worth the challnge it presented to this teenager...

[ian senior]

He also, I am fairly sure, wrote in Cars and Car Conversions. An unlikely home for Leonard you would think, but I distinctly remember an article in that magazine (in 1970 or '71) the first copy I ever bought, featuring "profiles" on all CCC's regular contributors. I seem to recall it said that he had been featured in "Pseud's Corner" in Private Eye. No comment!

I guess he didn't have much in the way of a television career, but I did see him once on "Wheelbase" (?) in 1973 or so, giving a Gilbern Invader a good thrashing and providing useful insights on exactly what that car was like to drive.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally posted by 2F-001
My first awarness of this wordsmith came with reading, in the very early 70s, an article in one of those motor racing annuals you were given at Christmas... it was a piece looking at how Grand Prix racing might be some years hence. He had Emerson F as an established past-champion driving an alcohol-burning Mercedes with a V10 engine. I agreed on his vision for Emerson, but the V10 sounded more fanciful (but how little I knew!)... I must now see if can find that book...

I have that too, 'Motor racing the international way - Number 1' edited by Nick Brittan, published in 1970. The article entitled 'Setright's Crystal Ball' is a preview of the 1975 British GP.
Ickx on pole in the 18 cyl 3-litre Fiat-Ferrari on Michelin tyres, Andretti in the Lotus Ford gas turbine, Emmo in the turbocharged wankel rotary, alcohol burning Merc and Stewart in the unsupercharged V10 Matra, with hydraulic self levelling suspension. He envisaged them lapping Silverstone at an 'astonishing' 227km/h. The formula at the time would be a 'fuel consumption' formula - fair to petrol, diesel, blown, gas turbines etc. Rules based on the energy content of various fuels. Each car to be allowed as much of the chosen fuel as would contain 5 million B.t.u, with no refuelling in the race.

[soubriquet]

Originally posted by ian senior
I guess he didn't have much in the way of a television career, but I did see him once on "Wheelbase" (?) in 1973 or so, giving a Gilbern Invader a good thrashing and providing useful insights on exactly what that car was like to drive.

IIRC, it was something like "an obsolete car which drives just like one...", referring to the separate body/chassis.

I always enjoyed his pieces in Car, wasn't aware he wrote for CCC. RIP.

[2F-001]

Thanks for that reminder Andrew! (Looks as though I had memories of a few of the cars jumbled up though!)

[David Birchall]

Very sad news. For a while he had a column in an American magazine-Car and Driver?-but it was totally the wrong setting for a man of such erudition. I am surprised no one else has mentioned his obsession with Bristol cars and engines; it cannot be described as anything else and he would interject a mention of Bristol into virtually anything he was writing. What an interesting writer he was.
David B

[paulhooft]

This is really sad, I have many of his books, standard work... The Grand Prix Car 1954 - 1966, The Grand Prix (an eyeopener..) , The Designers and others..
Another great one gone.
Paul Hooft

[rl1856]

RIP

His GP Car 1954-66 was one of the seminal works in kindling my interest in F-1 and Classic GP cars and history.

Best,

Ross

[Dave Ware]

I also enjoyed his writing, and regret his passing.

I think he did write for Car & Driver. I remember an article in which he suggested appropriate rules for a passenger in a motor vehicle, and I don't remember details, but he suggested that the passenger was to be completely subserviant to the driver. So if the driver wanted to smoke a cigarette, it was the passenger's duty to light it and hand it to the driver in such a way that the driver could take it from the passenger's hand with a minimum of movement. That sort of thing. Great reading, and it certainly definfed for me my role as a driver and how I require my passengers to behave.

There was another article in which he and his brother were in some sort of low two-seater. One of them went to knock, on the ground, the ashes out of his pipe, and since the car was so low, misjudged and knocked the whole end of the pipe off.

Neither of these sound particularly interesting when I write them, but when he did, it made for good reading.

Dave

[Roger Clark]

I have several of his books and always enjoyed his articles in Car. I have no doubt that he often set out to be controversial, but there is nothing wrong with that and I would far rather it be done with his style and his views than the laddish approach of the Top Gear crowd.

I have no idea whether Bristol cars were anywhere near as good as he said they were, but the qualities he ascribed to them were unusual, even unique in post-war cars, and enough to turn me into an admirer.

Setright's style was very much in the Pomeroy tradition, I see them both as analysts rather than historians; not necessarily the books you would turn to for unbiased facts, but certainly the place for an unashamedly subjective view as to why things were as they were. They also shared the view that motor racing is primarily an engineering, rather than a sporting exercise, a view which is regrettably unfashionable today.

I seem to remember that he was an accomplished musician, possibly playing with professional orchestras. Can anybody confirm this? I certainly remember articles about racing engines and the tuning of inlet and exhaust pipe lengths which he illustrated by comparing them with woodwind instruments. There are not many writers around who could do that.

I don't know whether he had any family, but if he did our condolences should go to them. In either case, may he rest in peace.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Very sad news, indeed. I enjoyed reading him as much for the challenge of his prose as for the knowledge imparted. I have his volumes on Bristol, Ferrari and Drive On! and will now treasure them all the more.

Jack

[vandem]

Very sad news.

LKJS was the reason I bought CAR for a period in my late teenage years, even though it was triple the price of the Aussie mags Wheels / Modern Motor. He was the writer that made me realise that engineering can be a form of art.

I can't afford a Bristol, but I still plan to own a Scirocco one day as a tribute.

[john aston]

Deeply saddened. By far the most erudite, articulate and searingly bright motoring journalist of them all .Of course he could infuriate, of course his erudition veered too close to arrogance and of course he never compromised.But reading LJKS was always a delight, even if it so searingly illustrated the gulf that existed between him and so many of his peers.Bulgin was one of the few who could inspire too, if for very different reasons. But they both could WRITE.
Favourite LJKS phrase- the one that always sticks with me is when he described 'the great vortex of acoustic spume ' which his early morning E type blat created.It comes far too close to the ridiculous but I never forgot it. Not the sort of language that one sees in Top Gear magaazine- I imagine- I don't read it myself.(he said superciliously..)

[Maindrian Pace]

Very sad news. He and Russell Bulgin gone in the space of three years...