Motorcycle Racing Books

I found this book to be the most complete history of Mike Hailwood's racing career I have read. The author's knowledge of his subject is encyclopedic and yet manages to be lively and interesting. Mr. Woolett illustrated his book lavishly with many photos that had not been published before. The listings of Mike's motorcycle racing career results in the back of the book will no doubt be used to settle many an argument among Mike's fans about what happened, when and where. My only criticism of the book is about this section. I was at the Canadian Motorcycle Grand Prix with Mike in 1967. It was on September 30th not September 24th as stated in the book. Memories can become confused. But,I have verified those dates with other sources. At the end of the racing on Sunday some of the factory team riders flew in a helicopter to the Toronto airport where BOAC (as it was in those days ) was holding its overnight flight to London. They flew all night and raced the next morning in the Race of the South at Brands Hatch on October 1 - not September 25th as stated in the book. As further confirmation I have Mike's trophy with the date engraved on it. These are the only dates on which I can give an opinion. I have no idea how accurate the other dates are. But, this is a minor flaw in an outstanding book. This is a wonderful tribute to a great man and his racing career. It is the perfect complement to Christopher Hilton's very personal portrait of Mike, A Man Called Mike. I am glad to see renewed interest in Mike coming just before what will be the 20th anniversary of his death, March 23, 1981 at the age of 40. But the legend lives on.

This is an excelent, in depth story of Kelly and Shawn Moran, and it is 99.9% true. If you like Speedway you truely MUST read this book!!!

This book contains 17 close-up, clear and current photographs of motocross riders in action. The book outlines the types of bikes used, the equipment necessary and safety measures. I feel it is a great book for a young reader interested in motocross. Although it is RL2, I would say it might be a higher reading level. There are words such as suspension, equipment and others that might be difficult for a young reader. The book is well constructed with a hard bound cover and heavy weight pages. It provides additional resources in the back via websites and other books.

I got this book because we were going to check out MotoGP in the Czech Republic. It gave us great info on the track and what the best places to sit would be to get the best experience. It also has info on the indivial riders which is always a good read. Rossi won the race.

Many enthusiasts, and many highly respected MotoGP riders, consider the 240-HP, four-stroke 990s that raced from 2002 to 2006 to have been the pinnacle of performance and spectacle in racing--the most powerful and demanding race machines ever created, even beyond the 180-HP 500-cc two-strokes that made such extraordinary demands on their pilots.

This book sets out to make the point, and the result is a compendium of terrific photos of the era, year by year, captured by 16 great race photographers from Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, professionals whose unique access to the men, machines, pits and tracks gives them the chance to create stunning imagery of the sport. Every reader will find favorites, and there are no bad shots. Nicky Hayden puts his own 2006 world championship into perspective in a thoughtful and insightful introduction.

No aspect of MotoGP is ignored, from the great tracks to the fans, the key men (no women, except for fans and umbrella girls--one of them naked under her wet tee shirt) who drive the sport, the portraits of many of the interesting characters, the agony of crashing and the conflicting emotions of riders who win or lose. Spectators may only see spectacle, but insiders know that top racers put their lives on the line every time they ride, even in practice, and you can see it on the page.

What is particularly striking is that Julian Ryder chose unique points of view and images unlikely to see print in any magazine or newspaper. These unusual views of the sport make the book essential for the enthusiast, a remarkable and memorable record of courage and commitment, daring and danger, the essence of great spectacle unmatched in sport.

Behind the 250-odd images reproduced with stunningly clarity on the page, one aspect of the work deserves consideration by readers: photographers shoot thousands of photos at every MotoGP event, and the ratio between great and `okay, interesting' and `no good' is one in hundreds, often demanding capture in a right-time/right-place thousandth of a second. Ryder has captured the spectacular, violent and fascinating aspects of the sport and its participants.

The book title is ironic. `In camera' is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as `in secret or private session, not in public,' but what could be more aggressively public that MotoGP? Yes, and we are the beneficiaries, at the track and in this magnificent book. Get it!

This book focuses solely on the premier 990cc class of MotoGP motorcycle road-racing and is full of beautiful color photos of bikes, riders, and paddock/umbrella girls. Many pages consist of large, full-page photos and the emphasis is as much on the artistic quality of the sport as on the raw race data and results. There are also several full-page advertisements, and even double-page spreads, from MotoGP sponsors. Fortunately, these are done in such a way as to make them appear part of the annual, but it is dissappointing to pay so much for something with advertisements.

After a Forward by "King" Kenny Roberts, the premier class World Champion in 1978-1980, the next 10 pages (3 of them advert pages) are devoted to a text and photo overview of the 2006 season. The next 6 pages (1 being an ad for the MotoGP Xbox game) cover the Riders' Rider of the Year award and its winner.

The next 9 pages are really sweet, consisting of a detailed technical and photographic look at the Honda RC211V ridden by 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden. This is followed by 14 pages and 1 ad page covering the 7 motorcycle models, which were raced in 2006. Each bike has a 2-page annotated photo of each bike, wiith text and sub-photos, except the Ilmor, which gets only a single page.

The next 15 pages (4 of them ads) take a look at each rider during the season, including Wildcard and Replacement riders. Each rider feature includes a text bio, a photo, and a chart showing the qualifying and finishing position for each round during the 2006 season. The top riders get more space, while the replacements and wildcards get considerably less and lack the chart of the regular riders.

The heart of the book is devoted to the races and covers pages 63-200, including the index. Each round gets 8 pages, six filled with photos and a narrative of the race, and two filled with charts and stats, with only a couple small photos in one corner of the two-page spread.

The information contained on these two pages includes:

1. Race stats (date, length, distance, weather, winner, fastest lap, and previous lap record)

2. A detailed track map, including the names of significant corners and both the speed and gear used at all corners and the fastest spots on the track.

3. A color-coded "lap map" shows the position of each rider on each lap crossing at the finish line, allowing an easy way of identifying which riders DNF'd and any major position battles during the race. It also shows the rider number next to each rider name for easy reference.

4. A Qualifying chart, showing the name, nationality, team sponsor, qualifying time, and how far behind their time was from the pole and the position in front of them.

5. A Race chart, showing the rider name, bike model, full race time, amount behind the race leader, fastest lap time for each rider, and average speed of each.

6. A Championship chart showing the points standings after the race.

7. A small paragraph describing the race from the perspective of each rider, in their finish order.


The final 9 pages consist of 4 pages on the Riders for Health program, 4 pages of adverts (tho one is a full page photo of World Champ Nicky Hayden) and a page showing the final season standings for the riders, the manufactures, and the teams. It also contains two a small photo with all three MotoGP champions and the final season standings for the 125cc and 250cc classes.


Overall, this is an excellent look at the premier class of MotoGP, motorcycle racing's premier circuit. It is full of beautiful color photos and contains a nice mixture of text and stats. The layout is superb and the book can be enjoyed as a photo album, a good read, or as a reference of the 2006 MotoGP season. Highly recommended to any racing fan.

This book was realy good. I learned alot about dirtbikes thats why I recomend this book to anyone that likes dirtbikes especially bigginers. It tells you about the clutch throttle etc. So if you like dirtbikes check out this book.

I am building a dragster motorcycle and with the book I saved many hours of search in magazines looking for this kind of motorcycles, the book is the only one that I know of the subject, very well ilustrated and very informative, always you learn something new!

i read this book about 25 years ago. i have not read it since but can remember it being a fantastic book about a 'driven' young man's career in the heady days of the european motocycling circus.

if you are into motorcycles and history it is a great read.

enjoy.

paul brown.

This book is full of colorful pictures and info that you would never find online or in other publications. Will be buying the 2006 edition also..