22 replies to this topic

[Steve L]

Following on from the recent "Desert Island Books" thread, I have come to the conclusion that we have never had it so good with regard to the availablity of books on cars and motor sport of days gone by.

To perhaps give the publishers and scribes some feedback, I wonder which topics we would like to see covered next?

For instance, I would enjoy reading marque histories of firms such as Alta and Squire Cars, and would also like to learn more about the Delage and Fiat Grand Prix teams.

Maybe the last two mentioned will be covered in the enjoyable (and affordable!) Haynes range, which has so far looked at Alfa Romeo and Bugatti?

If any of the above could be ready for me to put on my Christmas list for next year, I would be most grateful......!

[David Beard]

I would enjoy a book called "The F1 Designers", covering the works of the leading F1 car designers. Not been done, has it? Drivers get lots of coverage in an idolatry manner....but there have only been a relatively small number in history that have made much difference to a team’s performance. The designers have always been much more important. It’s motor sport, after all.

I have always found those Rock Family Tree things fascinating. This book would ideally include a similar feature to demonstrate the movement of key people between the teams.

[JohnS]

I'd like to see a definitive history of the Targa Florio, packed with photos, stats, an account of each race, and memories of those involved.

Also on my wish list would be a book on non-championship Formula One races. I have a French volume which lists the results of all these races, but I'd like to know the story behind the statistics.

John

[dretceterini]

I totally agree. I would love to see a book on the Targa, similar to whay Orsini did on the Mille Miglia.

As to French GP cars of the turn of the century thru the 1930s, I would recomend the book "Blue Blood"

[ensign14]

A biography of Achille Varzi. Also the history of Osella. And a NASCAR picture archive would be nice - with all the nearly forgotten drivers of the 50s and 60s like Dink Widenhouse, Bill Champion, EJ Trivette etc.

[Vitesse2]

Steve beat me to Delage and Fiat and ensign beat me to Varzi.

A revised and updated edition of Johnny Lurani's book on Nuvolari would be round about the top of my list too, along with a definitive, official (pretty please, Bette/Damon) biography of Graham Hill.

[Geza Sury]

I would really like to see a Nino Farina biography and the reprint of the book titled 'A contact with death' covering the life of Francois Cevert. An English-text book about the carrier of Wolfgang von Trips would be nice as well...

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by JohnS
I'd like to see a definitive history of the Targa Florio, packed with photos, stats, an account of each race, and memories of those involved.

Also on my wish list would be a book on non-championship Formula One races. I have a French volume which lists the results of all these races, but I'd like to know the story behind the statistics.

John

Have you seen Brooklands Books' Targa Florio book? It's one of their compilations of contemporary magazine articles - great reading (as much to see how the mags have changed over time as anything else) and reasonably good reproduction.

I don't own a copy - yet - but I've had a good look at it, and I've got their similar Le Mans epics and they're superb.


pete

[Paul Parker]

I too would love an authorative tome plus proper pictures on the Targa Florio, but I fear the most one can hope for on this particular subject is a photographic book. Races like the Targa Florio suffered from inaccurate record keeping and associated problems together with a tendency for photographers to be too limited in their coverage simply because the course was so big. You would need the work of at least 6 snappers per race to catch the real flavour. Individual photographers like Geoff Goddard of course took some wonderful pictures in the 1950s/60s and after but it is such a difficult subject to capture properly.

Personally I would like to see a decent work with quality photography on the great mountain hill climbs, pre and post war. However these days books must be economically viable and anything too esoteric simply does not sell, even quite commercial subjects struggle. I could go on but as I have a vested interest in the subject matter, so to speak, I will say no more!

[Bernd]

A book coming up I'm looking forward to is Lotus 72 by Michael Oliver

A book I'd like to see is Jim Clark by Karl Ludvigsen.... If I keep at it, it will happen damnit

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Paul Parker

Personally I would like to see a decent work with quality photography on the great mountain hill climbs, pre and post war. However these days books must be economically viable and anything too esoteric simply does not sell, even quite commercial subjects struggle. I could go on but as I have a vested interest in the subject matter, so to speak, I will say no more!

That would be fascinating indeed. Although on a much smaller scale (at least as far as the hills go!), Chris Mason did a brilliant history of the British hillclimb scene called Uphill Racers in the early nineties. Some of the action shots in there are magnificent, and the text's great too.

pete

[Steve L]

There have been some great biographies of Grand Prix drivers of the 1930s including Rosemeyer and Seaman. I am also looking forward to the Jean Pierre Wimille book listed to be released soon.

Another I would like to see is a good english-language biography of Rudolph Caracciola.

[Don Capps]

As I read this thread I see that there are a number of excellent topics for books which we truly need to have written. There was a book published on the Targa Florio about 20 or so years ago by David Owen, I believe, and that is just about it outside the Brooklands collection of articles.

Driver biographies are needed for the many greats of the past who have either been ignored or have had little written about them in recent decades. All those listed and many others need to be tackled -- and perhaps reprints of those such as the Caracciola book and others like it.

I think there are certan areas which need to be covered which have either not been covered very well or not anytime lately. Knowing what we know now, the "Grand Prix" period up until 1916 warrants a re-look or at least an extensive revision of the TASO Mathieson book. In that same vein, American racing up until the domination of the board tracks is essentially an area of which there is little that covers the period as such. When Russ Catlin never published his proposed book based on the series in Speed Age few have been able to step up to the plate and fill that gap. Now that we have a new book on Jimmy Murphy, why not Tommy Milton? Dario Resta? and many others of the period?

There is a real need for a companion series or a revision of the Fielden NASCAR series in which there are more pictures, revised stats, more driver profiles, and generally just much, much more on the early days of the series. Somewhere out there being written is a biography of Curtis Turner, something which is long overdue in my opinion. I am definitely looking forward to it. How about biographies of Fireball Roberts, Fred Lorenzen, Ned Jarrett, the Flocks (there is one on Tim, by the way), Herb Thomas or any number of others similar to the excellent book recently published on Junior Johnson? Personally, one of the books I would dearly love to write is the history of Petty Engineering/ Petty Enterprises. There was a well-intended but relatively poor book published some years ago on the cars of Richard Petty -- some nice pictures, but the drawings were embarassing and absolutely useless. I make no secret of my admiration for the Petty family.

We can go on and on and on, but there is a serious void (in English at least) on South American racing, on racing in Eastern Europe, African racing, or any number of other subjects.

[Paul Parker]

On further thought a thoroughly researched and photographically rich biography on Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez is surely long overdue. Most people are familiar with the legendary exploits of Pedro in the John Wyer/Gulf Porsche 917s, but his younger brother Ricardo was demonstrably the faster driver, especially in single seaters. He was surely headed for the absolute top, Clark or no Clark until he was killed in Rob Walker's Lotus 24 during practice for the non-championship 1962 Mexican GP.

I believe that Ed McDonough has a Pedro book in the pipeline, but more detail on Ricardo and his extraordinary career (he began racing cars aged 15 in 1957 and finished 2nd at Le Mans 1960 sharing a Testa Rossa Ferrari with Andre Pillette) would be most welcome.

[JohnS]

Originally posted by Don Capps
As I read this thread I see that there are a number of excellent topics for books which we truly need to have written. There was a book published on the Targa Florio about 20 or so years ago by David Owen, I believe, and that is just about it outside the Brooklands collection of articles.

I have both of these, Don. The Owen book is certainly comprehensive, but I found it a bit of a struggle to plough through.

The Brooklands books on the other hand are terrific. It's fascinating to read contemporary reports, but frustrating when you look at the photographs and imagine how wonderful they would look properly printed.

John

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Paul Parker
I believe that Ed McDonough has a Pedro book in the pipeline

Some Mexican TNFers won't like this line ;)

[Fred Gallagher]

Targa I agree!

European Mountain Championship of the 50s and 60s - Borgwards, BMWs, Porsches, Ferraris and so on - but it would have to be crmmed full of classy photos.

Has there ever been a proper history of the Porsche Sports racers?

And what about an RAC Rally (GB!) equivalent of Maurice Louche's magnificent Monte book.

Then there's the TT, and the Safari, and the Le Mans test days and.............

.........an enormous stats book on rallying 1946 to 1972 (when most modern histories start with the advent of the makes' WRC) that Iwould do if I could find the time!

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Fred Gallagher
Targa I agree!


Has there ever been a proper history of the Porsche Sports racers?

Karl Ludvigsen's "Excellence Was Expected" was generally held to be the
definitive reference. Expensive secondhand.... (cheapest copy I can
find online is $150) and written in the late Seventies.
A new edition's on the way soon, apparently... I have a feeling this
will be THE Porsche book, especially for anyone interested in
the engineering side, in pretty much the way "Quicksilver Century" is
THE Mercedes book.

As far as other Porsche books are concerned...

Although it's not terribly "in-depth" I like "Porsche Story" by Weitmann
(and Cotton, in later editions) - it's basically a picture book with
extended captions (some of the translations are entertainingly stilted).
Covers everything (road, rally and track) from the early days at Gmund
to the first dyno tests of the horrific F1 V12... some very, very
interesting photos especially of the fifties and sixties.

Peter Morgan's recent "Porsche In Motorsport" is cheap (I got my copy
for a tenner, though the original price was about 25 quid), fairly
selective (it concentrates on a dozen or so specific models rather than
telling a "joined-up" history), nicely illustrated and well-written.

pete

[Racer.Demon]

Originally posted by Steve L
I am also looking forward to the Jean Pierre Wimille book listed to be released soon.

I was contacted by its publisher at Editions Drivers tonight. He gave me this link on the book, which has now been published. Did anyone read it yet?

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Racer.Demon


I was contacted by its publisher at Editions Drivers tonight. He gave me this link on the book, which has now been published. Did anyone read it yet?

Yes. The problem for me is that it is so chock-full of information fresh to me that I cannot vouch for its accuracy! Perhaps one of our 30s experts can assist?

There is the odd proofing error in the English text (at any rate), and some of the photos look like digitized images and so are not as clear as one would like, but if the info in it is gospel it is a definite must buy.

The authors got to speak to Madame Wimille and there are some poignant remarks about JPW's funeral. If I had a criticism of the text it would be that I would have liked more about his wartime activities, but there are some incredible stories as is and I assume much that could have been said is still being kept secret.

[Magee]

My kind of book would be one containing news reports of the races with pictures of the cars and drivers. The interesting part would be reading the hype that precedes a race compared to the actual results. Sebring in the 60s, for example, would be a super decade to begin to wave the green flag.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Magee
My kind of book would be one containing news reports of the races with pictures of the cars and drivers. The interesting part would be reading the hype that precedes a race compared to the actual results. Sebring in the 60s, for example, would be a super decade to begin to wave the green flag.

I'm sure Brooklands or Unique could be prodded into doing this kind of thing - after all Brooklands have done Le Mans, the Targa Florio and Can-Am (and, I think, the Carrera Panamericana). I've got their LM and LSR compilations and they're excellent. Given their small print runs I'm sure it can't be impossible.

I'd love to see Sebring and/or Daytona and/or the IMSA series done in their format.

Unique do similar things, but rather less pretty- theirs look like a bunch of photocopies bound together!

pete

[Bernd]

Does anybody have a release date for Olivers 72?