Book Club
As a photographer and fan of motorsport, I have a huge interest in photography from other eras of the sport. Therefore I love books that show photographs from other periods of motor racing. I am always fascinated to see images from years past of classic cars doing battle whilst the driver pushes the machine to its limits in a time when there were no devices to help the driver such as sequential gearboxes, traction control or ABS. I also find it amazing to see how great the photos are as the camera’s used are pretty crude compared to what you have now.
One of my favourite books is one titled ‘Motor Racing – The Early Years’ by Brian Laban and Getty Images. 350 pages charting motorsport from as early as the turn of the twentieth century through to the end of the fifties. The images are breathtaking and give a real insight into what it was like behind the wheel of these incredible machines. At the moment I am reading a book called ‘Track Record – The Motorsport Photography of Maurice Rowe’ This book charts the career, through images of Maurice Rowe starting from Formula one and sports cars in the fifties through to the late seventies. The book includes some stunning and also intimate images of the a golden era of the sport with the likes of Jim Clarke, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees and Graham Hill all captured on and off the track. Well worth a look if you can track down a copy.
I couldn’t talk about books without mentioning a very interesting book bought to my attention called ‘Go Faster’ by Sven Voelker. It looks into the graphic design of race cars and how racing liveries can shape and change the way racing cars look, perhaps something for the car designer in you.
This interest I have of racing cars of years passed, is why I head to the Goodwood revival each year. It’s a great opportunity to see classic racing cars doing what they were designed to do. Race. It’s nice to see the cars on display but you can’t beat seeing them take to the famous Goodwood tarmac and power round the circuit as they did many years ago. I hope that in many years to come, I will still get to see the current crop of racing cars in action as I feel it is important to keep history alive.
Grant Williams pushes a 1959 Mk1 Jaguar to the limit at Goodwood.
At this point, I’d like to hear from you. Are there certain books about motorsport that you like? Do you have any favourites you would recommend? I’m always looking out for books that interest me so it would be nice to hear from you.
Chris.
