PORSCHE RACING HISTORY

Thanks to Racecar Engineering magazine for its review of our "stunning two-volume set" on the history Porsche Racing Cars by Brian Long. The first volume covers 1953-1975 and the second covers 1976-2005.

"An excellent account of Porsche's racing history" – Racecar Engineering

Click to view larger image

THE RIGHTFUL KINGS OF THE ROAD

-PRESS RELEASE-


Take a trip back in time to see (or remember) what life was like on the roads in the 1950s, with this unique book from Veloce Publishing's Those Were The Days … Series. British Lorries of the 1950s by Malcolm Bobbitt is a well-researched historical account, which reveals much about Britain's commercial vehicle and road haulage industries of fifty plus years ago.

This book is a highly visual study of British lorries built during the 1950s, and contains 120 colour and black and white images, many contemporary. The photographic content extends to publicity material as well as the preservation scene depicting historic vehicles at work. All the familiar, and less familiar, names are described in great detail and the comprehensive text reveals much about life on the road in 1950s Britain, reminding us all of those marques that were household names at the time and now form a residual memory in the consciousness of many British citizens.

Malcolm Bobbitt has a lifelong interest in motor transport. In addition to contributing to various magazines, he is the author of thirty books, some printed in several languages, with subjects ranging from Bubblecars and Microcars, Motorhomes and British Police Vehicles to marque histories of Citroën, Fiat, Rolls-Royce, Rover and Volkswagen. The author, who is a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and the Society of Automotive Historians, is acclaimed for his biography of W.O. Bentley and a history of Rolls-Royce to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the firm's tenure at Crewe.



Coming soon! British Lorries of the 1960s
by Malcolm Bobbitt.

ANDRÉ LEFEBVRE BOOK CAUSES STIR AT CITROËN MEETING

Gijsbert-Paul Berk – author of André Lefebvre, and the cars he created at Voisin and Citroën – took the chance at the 75heurespour75ans event in Arras to show his advance copy of the book to a number of Citroën fans.


According to the organisers there were over one thousand Citroëns Tractions Avant in the historic centre of the French town. It was an impressive sight (see pictures). In the exhibition hall of Arras the Dutch Traction Avant owners club TAN had also organised an interesting overview of all the TA models made between 1934 and 1957, with some special bodied examples.




This biography of André Lefebvre gives a revealing insight into the work of a practically unknown aeronautic engineer who, after building and racing competition cars for Gabriel Voisin in 1933, created for André Citroën the revolutionary front wheel drive Traction Avant (light fifteen in the UK). He was responsible for the minimalist 2CV and the Citroën DS, which was the sensation of the automotive world in 1955, and is still an icon of original automobile engineering and avant-garde design today.
Click here for more info about the book.

STYLE YOUR GARAGE

Ever wanted to disguise your garage door for a wine celler? well now you can do just that with printed photographic tarpaulins from style-your-garage.com.


Or pretend you own a classic car ...


Or even a Formula 1 car!

CAST YOUR EYE OVER THIS

Diecast Toy Cars of the 1950s & 1960s by Andrew Ralston is well received by Octane magazine this month – "superbly illustrated softback."

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT?

Want to win £500 of track day fun and accommodation?



A great new publishing venture from the Discovery Media Group at www.motorsportcircuitguide.com is offering you the chance!

www.motorsportcircuitguide.com and Circuits 2010 magazine, provide complete and up-to-date information about motor racing circuits and tracks worldwide as well as local amenities and special offers.
It's time for you to have your say! Vote for "The Greatest Circuit in the World’ today and you could win over £500 of track day fun and accommodation. Email ben@motorsportcircuitguide.com with ‘Circuit survey' in the subject line and they will send you an entry form.

New! Motor Racing at Brands Hatch in the eighties by Chas Parker.
By the start of the 1980s, the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in Kent had become firmly established as one of the world’s classic tracks. It had grown from humble beginnings as a motor cycle grass track to become an internationally renowned facility, hosting top-class motor sport. During the following decade, under the stewardship of its entrepreneurial managing director, John Webb, this enviable position was reinforced, with the circuit hosting five consecutive Grands Prix, two at very short notice, from 1982-86, along with a host of other major international meetings as well as smaller, club events.

Chas Parker spent many years visiting the track, and amassed an impressive collection of thousands of colour transparencies, the majority of which are previously unpublished.
This book picks up where his previous volume, Motor Racing at Brands Hatch in the Seventies, left off. It offers a very personal account of visits to the world’s busiest motor racing circuit during a decade of excitement and change, both on and off track, in the form of a scrapbook using the author’s own photographs, taken as an ordinary spectator from the public enclosures.
Click here for more info about the book

HENRY SURTEES: A STATEMENT BY JONATHAN PALMER

“I am absolutely devastated that 18- year old Henry Surtees lost his life in an accident in the Formula Two race at Brands Hatch. This is the saddest time in my 35 years of motor racing and my deepest sympathies are with father John, mother Jane and their daughters Edwina and Leonora, together with other family and friends.” Read full statement here.

View a moving tribute to the life of Henry John Surtees (February 18, 1991 – July 19, 2009).

THE GLORY DAYS OF DODGE

-PRESS RELEASE-


Dodge Challenger & Plymouth Barracuda – Chrysler's Potent Pony Cars, a brand new book by Dodge specialist Peter Grist is an in-depth look at the highly collectable and much sought after cars that captured the imagination in the 1960s and 1970s when they featured as stars of both the big screen and drag strip. A Dodge Challenger R/T was famously used in Vanishing Point – the 1971 action-road movie starring Barry Newman.


Published by Veloce at £29.99 in hardback, and written in Peter's easy to follow and unpretentious style, this new book follows a chronological journey through the development of pony cars from the 1960 Valiant onwards. Fascinating design concepts and evolution are incorporated, featuring all sub-series and models. The book boasts 375 mainly colour pictures, including fresh new photos of original vehicles and rarely seen archive pictures and period adverts.

Along with the Ford Mustang, the Plymouth Barracuda was often referred to by the colloquial name "pony car", and although the Mustang went on to outsell the 'Slippery Fish' it was the first incarnation of the Barracuda that was released first on 1 April 1964, beating the Mustang to the dealerships by two clear weeks.

Peter has been writing about American automobiles for over 15 years, during that time writing for the Chrysler Corp Club UK, high street magazines, web-sites, his first books on Dodge performance cars, and the biography of American auto designer, Virgil Exner, also published by Veloce. Peter has owned a succession of American-built cars, including a 1955 Buick, a 1959 DeSoto, 1967 Coronet, a Shelby Charger, Jeep Cherokee and an R/T Neon; he currently owns three Dodge vehicles.

This 196-page book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.