There's a new book out," Autocourse : 50 Years of World
Championship Grand Prix Motor Racing" that, based on just a glance,
looks like it does a good job of portraying the whole history, start
to finish.
Can anyone recommend a good book or two on Formula 1 history. Something
with some depth that talks about the history of the circuits, and
profiles the great drivers and teams? Local bookstores don't carry much,
and I hate to order books sight unseen without at least some idea of what
I'm ordering.
GPL, GP3, and the anticipation of F1WC2K has piqued my interest in F1
racing. Having lost a lot of interest in CART/IRL, and never caring much
for NASCAR, I'm seeking to fill that void.
Thanks.
"The Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing" - by Adriano Cimaraosti
"Howard Roark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (12 lines)
> Can anyone recommend a good book or two on Formula 1 history. Something > with some depth that talks about the history of the circuits, and > profiles the great drivers and teams? Local bookstores don't carry much, > and I hate to order books sight unseen without at least some idea of what > I'm ordering. > > GPL, GP3, and the anticipation of F1WC2K has piqued my interest in F1 > racing. Having lost a lot of interest in CART/IRL, and never caring much > for NASCAR, I'm seeking to fill that void. > > Thanks. >Uh, Cimarosti not Cimaraosti >8^)
"cbybee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:90bc4c$4tf$[email hidden]...
much,
> > and I hate to order books sight unseen without at least some idea ofwhat
Quoted text (7 lines)
> "The Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing" - by Adriano Cimaraosti > > "Howard Roark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > Can anyone recommend a good book or two on Formula 1 history. Something > > with some depth that talks about the history of the circuits, and > > profiles the great drivers and teams? Local bookstores don't carryQuoted text (10 lines)
> > I'm ordering. > > > > GPL, GP3, and the anticipation of F1WC2K has piqued my interest in F1 > > racing. Having lost a lot of interest in CART/IRL, and never caring much > > for NASCAR, I'm seeking to fill that void. > > > > Thanks. > > > >
"Howard Roark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Just for pure statistics, course histories and driver bios, check out "The
Encyclopedia of Formula One" by Bruce Jones, a former editor of Autosport.
It has complete stats through the 1999 season and is quite well done. You
cannot go wrong with either of Rainer Schlegelmilch's books, "Grand Prix -
Fascination Formula 1" or "Portraits of the 60's Formula 1" and finally,
take a look at Nigel Snowdon's "Formula One - Through the Lens, Four Decades
of Motor Sport Photography".
--
don
New GPL Programs for the Converted Tracks:
http://www.ianparker.co.uk/gpl/bapom/
Quoted text (11 lines)
> Can anyone recommend a good book or two on Formula 1 history. Something > with some depth that talks about the history of the circuits, and > profiles the great drivers and teams? Local bookstores don't carry much, > and I hate to order books sight unseen without at least some idea of what > I'm ordering. > > GPL, GP3, and the anticipation of F1WC2K has piqued my interest in F1 > racing. Having lost a lot of interest in CART/IRL, and never caring much > for NASCAR, I'm seeking to fill that void. > > Thanks.The best Grand Prix racing book ever written (IMHO of course) was "The Cruel
Sport" by Robert Daley. Written in the early 60's, with stories of the cars
and drivers of the late 50's up to Phil Hill's championship season in '61.
Great b&w photos, very good prose, from an era when "men were men" and
sudden death was always a possibility in every race.
The book is long out of print, but shows up in rare book sales occasionally.
Doug Gordon
"Howard Roark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (12 lines)
> Can anyone recommend a good book or two on Formula 1 history. Something > with some depth that talks about the history of the circuits, and > profiles the great drivers and teams? Local bookstores don't carry much, > and I hate to order books sight unseen without at least some idea of what > I'm ordering. > > GPL, GP3, and the anticipation of F1WC2K has piqued my interest in F1 > racing. Having lost a lot of interest in CART/IRL, and never caring much > for NASCAR, I'm seeking to fill that void. > > Thanks. >I'll second the Cimarosti book -- it's relatively inexpensive, fairly
exhaustive, and has more track maps than any single book I've ever seen.
It goes by era, and track maps are updated (like Monza, Monaco, Spa,
etc.) to reflect their differing configurations over the years. A LOT of
info for very little money.
For the technical side of things, the two volumes of Doug Nye's
"Autocourse History of the Grand Prix Car" are fantastic, but cover only
post-war GP cars up to 1991; the incomparable LJK Setright in his "The
Grand Prix Car 1954-1966" covers the post-war era only up to the first
year of the 3-liter formula, but his writing is so stylish, it's my
favorite of all GP histories. Nye's books are both (I think) still in
print and available, Setright's books (he has another, "The Grand Prix",
which covers some later stuff than '66, but not in as much technical
detail) are OOP, but generally available for reasonable money. Three
other general histories I like very much are Ivan Rendall's "The Power
and the Glory" (companion book to the BBC series, which is till
available -- I think -- on videotape), Rendall's "The Checkered Flag:
100 Years of Motor Racing", Mike Lawrence's multi-volume GP histories
(post-war to near-present) and also by Mike Lawrence "The Directory of
Grand Prix Cars 1945-65", and the Rainer Schlegelmilch/Hartmut Lehbrink
coffee-table books ("Grand Prix", "Grand Prix -- Portraits of the '60s",
"Grand Prix Monaco", "Formula One Ferrari"), which are fantastic value
for money. Also, the various Guinness data books are excellent
references, as are the FIA Yearbooks, Louis Stanley's
highly-personal(and highly-opinionated) annuals from the late 50s and
60s and, of course, the "Automobile Year" series for post-war to the
late 70s, and the Autocourse annuals from the late 70s on.
Another great general read is Anthony Pritchard's compilation "Grand
Prix Racing: The Enthusiast's Companion", which uses contemporary
accounts linked by Prichard's editorial comments, and covers -- lightly
but very entertainingly -- the 100 years from the 1890s to the 1990s.
For pre-war stuff, the motherlode is, of course, the Laurence Pomeroy
volumes, long OOP and expensive. Cimarosti's book covers the pre-war
scene fairly well, as do the Rendall books in less depth. If you're a
big fan of racing art and graphics, as I am, Rupert Prior's compilation
book of the Khachadourian Gallery's collection: "Motoring, The Golden
Years: A Pictorial Anthology" is a marvelous snapshot of the pre-war
racing years, especially in Britain.
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, it was written:
> >Can anyone recommend a good book or two on Formula 1 history. Something
> There's a new book out," Autocourse : 50 Years of World
> Championship Grand Prix Motor Racing" that, based on just a glance,
> looks like it does a good job of portraying the whole history, start
> to finish.
There is also a new book out by Karl Ludvigsen which covers the front
engined GP cars from (iirc) 1906-1960. Available in USA from our
publisher, <http://www.sae.org> Haven't read it yet, but Karl usually
does an excellent job.
