Racing Books

As an avid runner, I started doing triathlons last year. The first thing that I noticed is although I was able to pick up on how to ride a bike, I did not know much about the maintenance and precision of triathlon bikes. This book helped me understand the differences between road bikes and tri-specific bikes. It also gave me a good idea on how to maintain my bike and prepare it for races. The book also gets into fitting and does a thorough job of identifying and detailing all aspects and parts of a bike. A must have for any triathlete, regardless of skill level.

If you are looking for a no nonsense approach to your bike, this book is for you. Everything you would want to know and great for the novice to teh experienced rider. Excellent!!!

I've waited 40+ years for a book which properly covers this era of Grand Prix racing. Mr. Whitelock has done a stellar job. The book is complete and in depth. There is year-by-year coverage that details each race. He has even added results of minor races contested during that time. Also included are separate circuit, chassis, and engine chapters. I found the chassis section particularly engrossing because of the fantastic details, including the chassis number and track record for each car. Incredible research! Only two complaints. The book has no color photos. Yes, they were somewhat rare at that time and would make the book more expensive, but Grand Prix racing is colorful and needs to be presented appropriately. And in his personal ratings of the drivers, Whitelock rates Jim Clark as #1. Agreed. But Stirling Moss (who raced for only just over one season before his career-ending accident) and Dan Gurney are rated above Graham Hill! Silly. Hill was the life of the party, World Champion in 1962 and runner-up in '63, '64, and '65. Nonetheless, a great addition to the aficionado's bookshelf.

You have just got to hand it to the author of this book he has managed to cover this topic in both illuminatory detail alongside top notch story telling. As an experienced cyclists myself I can to a degree relate to the incredible athleticism of the cyclists but the truth is that this book goes further in to the pain and anguish of the riders than you sometimes would like, but the lyrical writing and gripping nature of the storytelling pulls you out the other side exhausted and exhillerated - I almost felt as if I had cycled the 1000 miles myself!!! A great book, but don't just take my word for it YOU MUST get this book if you are vaguely interested in riding or sport in general.

There have been many books published with greatest racehorses as a basic theme, but this one is different from the usual, being based on favorites selected by polling readers of a racing newspaper. Inevitably, this results in a different selection of horses but the journalistic approach is also a little different. I'll use Julian Wilson's excellent book (The great racehorses, which I've already reviewed) as a comparison.

Julian's book covers the greatest horses of all time, including those from different eras (going all the way back to Eclipse 250 years ago) and different countries (you'll find horses from North America and Australia in his book). Understandably, Julian's book is biased towards horses that he has seen at first hand in Britain, therefore horses from different eras or from other countries are under-represented but such horses scarcely get a mention in this Racing Post book - that's not a criticism, just what you'd expect given the method of selection. 70 of Julian's 100 horses raced on the flat - partly a reflection of the longer tradition of flat racing and partly a reflection of the higher status of flat racing among racing professionals. The Racing Post book features many more steeplechasers and hurdlers than Julian's book, as well as featuring horses of modest ability that nevertheless endeared themselves to racing fans.

Within the 100 selected horses, Julian's book made no attempt to rank them and gave them all approximately equal treatment. The Racing Post book, being based on a poll, has a ready-made ranking and the most popular horses get much more coverage. All the photographs in this book are black and white. Julian's book contained mainly black and white pictures but there were some colour pictures too.

The poll was taken early in 2004 so horses that became popular in that year had no chance of getting votes while others (like Moscow Flyer and Best Mate) who enhanced their reputations that year are more popular than their ranking suggests.. However, the book took several months to prepare for publication, allowing time for a chapter to be added listing those horses (including Attraction and Ouija Board) that might have made the top 100 if the poll had been able to take their achievements into account. Perhaps a second poll could have been organized and published in this chapter but it wasn't.

By now, you'll realize that even if you've got Julian's book or another equivalent book, you're not wasting your money buying this book. Having realized that it is about popular horses rather than strictly the best horses, I wasn't especially surprised at the 100 selected although there were some notable omissions. I was surprised but pleased to see Golden Miller here, because he raced in the 1930's - his presence is a reflection of his legendary status. I was also surprised at the inclusion of Katy Nowaitee (87th on the list), a good filly but not one that anybody would expect to see featured in a book like this. I assume that the timing of the poll, taken when she was fresh in the memory of voters, helped her.

Among those that were selected, it was no surprise to see that four of the top five horses are steeplechasers and the other is a hurdler. Arkle, Desert Orchid, Red Rum, Istabraq and One Man all spent several years racing, building up their popularity with their exploits on the racecourse. As my favorite flat horse has always been Mill Reef (who ranks 13 in the list), I was a little surprised to see that the highest-ranking flat horse (at 6 in the list) is Brigadier Gerard, but I'm pleased that both of the 1971 2,000 Guineas rivals linger long in the memory of so many racing fans.

Brits sometimes like losers too, hence the inclusion of Amrullah (at 92 on the list). The book is a little unkind to him, saying that he had a semblance of ability. As I remember Amrullah, he was better than that description suggests, coming close to winning several times in good company. However, even when dropped in class, he always found a way to lose - that was his appeal to me. The book mentions Quixall Crossett (who didn't make the top 100) in the piece on Amrullah, but he was just a slow horse who never looked likely to win - not like Amrullah at all.

Giant's Causeway, who contested nine Group One races as a three-year-old, winning five and finishing a close second in the other four, made the top twenty. He is one of several horses in this book that raced in America's Breeders' Cup. Americans who follow breeding will recognize the names of a few other horses here, especially Britain's last triple crown winner, Nijinsky, who was bred in Canada, trained in Ireland and retired to America where he became an outstanding success as a stallion.

Elsewhere, this book includes all (well, nearly all) of the popular horses that raced in Britain over the past forty years - Sea Pigeon, Double Trigger, Tingle Creek, Captain Christy, Flagship Uberalis, Viking Flagship, Bula, Pendil, Persian War, Persian Punch, Pebbles, Dancing Brave, Aldaniti, Crisp, Dawn Run, L'Escargot, Monksfield, Night Nurse, Shergar, Wayward Lad, Mtoto, Sea Bird, Troy, Grundy and Lammtarra among them.

This may not be the most scholarly book about racehorses but it is most enjoyable and allows fans of British racing to read about some of the popular racehorses of recent times.

The Indianapolis 500 Yearbooks are a valuable addition to any Indianapolis 500 memorabilia collection. There are various authors such as Donald Davidson and Carl Hungness but all of the authors did an excellent job on these yearbooks. They should be in your collection too.

I am a follower of Autocourse Annuals since the early 80's and have not seen any books coming close to its quality (Pictures, content & layout) over the years. Many attempts were made in recent years to "dethrone" Autocourse's status in F1 annual publication and success stories are rare.

In 2002, another such attempt was made by this "2001 Formula One Annual" with Nigel Mansell as Editior-in-Chief. To be honest, I was again tempted to compare it to "Autocourse 2001-02" page by page. To my surprise, I found this book quite interesting to read even if I have a copy of Autocourse by its side. I do not intend to judge which one is better but this book gave me a refreshing look at the 2001 F1 season.

This book is divided into 5 sections:-

(1) Introduction
(2) 2001 Drivers
(3) 2001 Team Reviews
(4) 2001 Race Reviews
(5) 2001 Technical Reviews

The presentation is quite refreshing whereas the "technical reviews" is something extra comparing to Autocourse. This book really shows some potentials and I hope the next one is even better.

I own several of these Le Mans annuals by Christian Moity. Let me just say that they are REQUIRED for any fan of endurance racing. Most of the editions are in English but be careful.....some are in French and ONLY available in French (1982 is a prime example). The earlier editions from the late 1970's through early 1980's feature mostly black and white photos but there's NO SHORTAGE of them: Every page is full of detailed pictures from that year's 24 hour race. The newer editions from the mid-1990's forward are in full color and the photos are FANTASTIC! The 2002 "Special Edition" gives you more pages than the other annuals. This edition follows the 3rd victory by Audi Sport UK in a row with the same three drivers (Kristensen, Biela, Pirro). It looked like it would go Audi's way right from the beginning and it did. The Cadillacs were lackluster, the factory Panoz team suffered all kinds of problems, Team Oreca's new Dallara SP1/Judd V10's did well but still could not reach the podium. The new Prodrive Ferrari 550GTS held off the Corvettes until it caught fire in the night. GT was an all Porsche podium. Each book gives you an in depth look at the men/women and machines that take part in the gruelling race. The books usually start off with a historical section devoted to some sort of significant achievement at Le Mans. For example, Cadillac returned to La Sarthe in 2000 for the first time in decades so the historical section was devoted to Cadillacs at Le Mans. The same has been done for Corvette, Bentley, Aston Martin, etc. If there are no particular marques making a historic return to the race, then the section usually talks about what happened decades ago. For instance, if you have a 2002 annual you'll be able to see all the things that happened in years ending in 2. The books show you the complete entry list for the year (One car per page) as well as the drivers, sponsers, etc. Detailed statistics are provided regarding practice times, qualifying, the race itself (Hour by Hour), and finally the race results. The books are so well detailed they even give you the hour by hour pit stops of each individual car along with mountains of additional information. These books are well worth the price of owning them but be warned.....the older they get, the harder they will be to find and they will be EXSPENSIVE! (Yes, these books do appreciate in value) I have a rare English version of the 1979 race that has never been opened.....try finding one of those! The easiest edition to find right now is the 2003 annual (Won by Bentley). Anything older than 1999, however, is practically impossible. Try to buy them the same year they come out; that way you can be reasonably sure about finding a copy.

I never would have thought about using some of the things that are mentioned in this book but they sure do help to save time and money.

I own several of these Le Mans annuals by Christian Moity. Let me just say that they are REQUIRED for any fan of endurance racing. Most of the editions are in English but be careful.....some are in French and ONLY available in French (1982 is a prime example). The earlier editions from the late 1970's through early 1980's feature mostly black and white photos but there's NO SHORTAGE of them: Every page is full of detailed pictures from that year's 24 hour race. The 2004 race saw Audi triumph for the 4th time in 5 years, but the teams were all privateer entries after the withdrawl of Bentley and Audi Sport UK Team Joest. In the end, it was an all-Audi podium with the Audi Sport Japan Team GOH #5 crossing the finish line first. The LMP2 field was a small one that year, but top honors went to the little Intersport Racing Lola B2K-40/Judd V8 simply because it outlasted the competition. GTS was a tough battle too: 2 factory Corvettes against 5 Ferrari Maranellos! In the end, the yellow triumphed over the red by giving the Corvettes another 1-2 victory. The newer editions from the mid-1990's forward are in full color and the photos are FANTASTIC! Each book gives you an in depth look at the men/women and machines that take part in the gruelling race. The books usually start off with a historical section devoted to some sort of significant achievement at Le Mans. For example, Cadillac returned to La Sarthe in 2000 for the first time in decades so the historical section was devoted to Cadillacs at Le Mans. The same has been done for Corvette, Bentley, Aston Martin, etc. If there are no particular marques making a historic return to the race, then the section usually talks about what happened decades ago. For instance, if you have a 2002 annual you'll be able to see all the things that happened in years ending in 2. The books show you the complete entry list for the year (One car per page) as well as the drivers, sponsers, etc. Detailed statistics are provided regarding practice times, qualifying, the race itself (Hour by Hour), and finally the race results. The books are so well detailed they even give you the hour by hour pit stops of each individual car along with mountains of additional information. These books are well worth the price of owning them but be warned.....the older they get, the harder they will be to find and they will be EXSPENSIVE! (Yes, these books do appreciate in value) I have a rare English version of the 1979 race that has never been opened.....try finding one of those! The easiest edition to find right now is the 2003 annual (Won by Bentley). Anything older than 1999, however, is practically impossible. Try to buy them the same year they come out; that way you can be reasonably sure about finding a copy.

In the 50s and 60s we had the Coventry Climax 750cc race engine for cars. The present day equiv. is the Reliant 750/850. This book covers that engine completely and in depth.