CRAZY HORSES: The History of British Drag Racing

By Brian Taylor
ISBN 978-1-84425-425-5
Publisher: Haynes
Price: £25.00

THEY SAY

‘Crazy Horses’ is the first detailed published account of how the American sport of drag racing burst on to the restrictive Sixties British motorsport scene and changed it forever. Tweed jackets were out, and colourful racing jackets and T-shirts were in. At the time this had the feel of rebellion. But it wasn’t an easy road – the establishment didn’t give in straight away. And as drag racing, a very individualistic sport with highly enthusiastic participants, can be volatile, its history is lettered with conflict.

WE SAY

Although not a rabid fan of the holy quarter mile, after reading some of the flannel, I was convinced I was going to dislike this book because of all that Sixties rebellion poppycock. I mean honestly, tweed will never go out of fashion, man...
    However, this is a fascinating book which has genuinely tapped into an subject which has not yet been exploited. It is authoritatively written, packed full of research, covers many different types of drag racing and the scores of period photos make this a book which is genuinely hard to put down. Consequently, I've learnt about the origins of the sport – being an amalgam of US rodding influence and 19th Century British sprinting. As well as its development through to the 21st Century thanks to characters such as Sydney Allard.

CARS: FREEDOM, STYLE, SEX, POWER, MOTION, COLOUR, EVERYTHING

By Stephen Bayley and Tif Hunter
ISBN 978-1-84091-535-8
Publisher: Conran Octopus
Price: £12.99

THEY SAY

The car is the most evocative of all contemporary objects and car design is one of the distinctive, even defining, art forms of the 21st century. This is not a book about compression ratios – this is a about contemporary culture and the meaning and interpretation of contemporary culture’s most familiar product. Stephen Bayley scrutinises the most meaningful and evocative car designs from the 1908 Ford Model T to the 2003 BMW 5, in this pocket-sized gift book for all car enthusiasts and design admirers.

WE SAY

Even if you’re not familiar with Bayley’s copy, the title of this book will give you a clue about what to expect.

    Tif Hunter’s photographs are rather nice, although there are a couple of cars which do sport unsuitable aftermarket details for a book devoted to the topic of automotive style – bolt on wires on a MkII Jaguar...? Minilights and mudflaps on a P1800? No, no, no!

    The photographs though – which concentrate on proper retro classics – fair far better than the copy, because I feel there are many mistakes in this book, which when combined with the written style manage to comprehensively irritate me. Indeed, I’m not talking about oily-fingered nitty-gritty, but big howlers in the book’s raison d’etre – design.

    How can you talk about the VW Beetle without mentioning Hans Ledwinka? Claim that the Rover P5 was replaced by the P6? Say that Albrecht Graf von Goertz designed the Datsun 240Z or present the highly subjective remark ‘The MGA was the last admired product of the famous Oxfordshire company’ as fact? Tell that to all the people who drool themselves dry over the MGC GTS and to the people of Abingdon who only became part of Oxfordshire in 1974 – just six years before MG was closed by BL.

RALLY GIANTS: FIAT 131 Abarth

By Graham Robson
ISBN 978-1-84584-182-9
Publisher: Veloce
Price: £14.99

THEY SAY

Full, detailed history of the Fiat’s rally career. Complete story of concept design and development. Unrivalled coverage of people and influences behind the cars. Step-by-step account of technical evolution... Packed with pictures. Comparison with rivals...

WE SAY

Another motoring book from the prolific author Graham Robson – he is accredited with writing over 130 books – this 130 page softback book covers most of the bases for those with a 131 Abarth obsession.

    I find a good way of testing a book is, especially if I’ve researched the subject car for a feature, does it tell me something I didn’t know? Whilst the background to the car was more or less familiar, all the details of its impressive rallying career weren’t so familiar.

    Generally, getting hold of decent in-depth books, covering a specific Italian single model in English, can be a bit tricky – but once again Robson has produced the goods. The only bit of serious info lacking is a comprehensive 131 Abarth tech spec. On the whole, a thoroughly good value read.

     I can’t help but feel that sentences such as ‘The Twingo jumped the species barrier and became an enjoyable product, rather than a prosthetic sexual device’, when garnished with indulgent quotes from Tom Wolfe act somewhat as padding to take the place of research.

    Just be careful to whom you give this compact book, because contrary to the claims – this is not ideal for all car enthusiasts. It’s more suited to people who buy coffee table books and who only have a very brief knowledge of cars.

    On the plus side, it does prove that with only five post Nineties cars being featured, classic chic is the undisputed champion of stylish automotive design.