Racing Books

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.

Agility is a dog sport which depends on human/dog body language and interactions, and AGILITY START TO FINISH is the perfect place to cover that interaction process. Four sections cover all aspects of agility, from training puppies to handling dogs through courses and understanding how obstacles are set up. All levels of dog owners will appreciate the detailed coverage, making for a top recommendation for any library strong in pet training titles.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a very good book for all those who really want to excel at agility. My daughter is a beginner and there was a lot of foundation info in the book for her to learn. The book covers obedience basics which is very important for anyone wanting to do agility. There are good photos to back up the text. This is not just a beginners book though. My dog and I compete at the Masters level in USDAA and Excellent in AKC and I picked up a lot of useful information in the book. The book covers necessary psychological concepts such as operant vs classical conditioning, clicker training, shaping and targeting. They do a good job of covering groundwork and the diagrams are very useful. There is some extensive info on jump training including jump circles and drills. There is coverage of all the obstacles. Contact training is included but most of the info is for the 2 on 2 off method. One of the authors, Ali Canova, has a very good Running Contact DVD out but none of that info is really in here, they just mention running contacts. I have the DVD and Running Contacts for Dog Agility by Ali Roukas Canova recommend it too. There are two sections on weave pole training which really cover it all. The first is weave pole introduction and the second section is the advanced weave pole system. This really helped me a lot as we had problems at shows weaving. One of the authors , Joe Canova, has a World Class Weaves DVD out World Class Weaves for Dog Agility by Joe Canovaand the book is a very good companion to that.
Overall I highly recommend this book for anyone new who wants to learn properly from the start as well as serious competitors who want to excel at agility.

This book tells the tale of the rise of one of Ireland's greatest professional cyclists, Stephen Roche. It is co-authored by David Walsh, who also wrote the definitive biography of Ireland's other great professional cyclist, Sean Kelly.

Roche describes his humble beginnings as a milk man apprentice for his father through his rise through the ranks to become only the second cyclist to win the "Triple Crown," the Tour of Italy, The Tour of France and the World Championship in 1987.

Packed with details only an insider would know, Roche and Walsh have written a highly entertaining and informative book about the world of professional cycling, the greatest sport in the world.

Ainslie writes with wit, grace, clarity, and conviction. That he is the acknowledged master of handicapping theory in his generation is also significant. His gentle humor and dignity is unmatched in today's handicapping writers. If you are new to horse racing and paramutuel betting, you can do no better than starting with the best.