Ranking the 10 best motorsport books about cars and their designers
In the second instalment of this new three-part series delving into the best motorsport books to have ever been published, IAN TITCHMARSH gives his verdict on those dealing with racing cars and the technical wizards responsible for them
More sumptuous books have been published about racing cars than any other aspect of motorsport, which makes choosing the top 10 an extremely difficult task.
Should an average book about an iconic car take precedence over a book with high production values about less exotic machinery? The quality of the writing has also been an important factor.
The role of an individual designer may no longer be as central as it once was, but there are certain people whose impact at the highest level of the sport has been ground-breaking and the story of whose cars deserves to be told. The list reflects this, and ranges from Vittorio Jano in the 1930s to Adrian Newey at the top of the tree today.
If the Cooper and HWM teams, in their differing ways, blazed the path for British cars and drivers in international competition in the decade following the Second World War, Colin Chapman’s arrival on the scene with his Lotus cars moved the science of motor racing to a significantly higher level. As first HWM and then Cooper faded away, the ever-innovative Chapman ensured that Team Lotus remained at the forefront of Formula 1 technology until his untimely death in 1982.
Author Gerard ‘Jabby’ Crombac (above left), as one of the most … Read More
