An intimate insight into a racing life
Mike Hailwood is a legend. Arguably the world’s greatest ever motorcycle racer, he transcended eras and generations. His two-wheeled racing career began – and he initially made his name – aboard big, British single cylinder machines, then he took to Japanese and Italian four-stroke multis, before finishing on booming V-twins and two-strokes.
He went from the black-and-white era, from one-colour dark leathers and pudding basin crash helmets, to the multicoloured, full-face helmeted, sponsorship driven days of the late 1970s. He found time to do some car racing too, recording a third at Le Mans in 1969 driving a Ford GT40, winning the 1972 Formula 2 European Championship and competing in 50 F1 Grands Prix, his debut in 1963, his last in 1974.
Though the car stats are impressive, the motorcycle ones are astonishing – nine world championships, 76 GP wins, 14 TT victories, his TT victories separated by 18 years, the first 1961, the last 1979. On top of this he was awarded the MBE and then the George Medal for his bravery in rescuing fellow F1 driver Clay Regazzoni in 1973.
It is almost impossible to comprehend the tragic irony that the life of this man, who had risked and survived so much, a hero to thousands for his derring-do, was curtailed as he drove the family car to collect a fish and chip takeaway. That his daughter Michelle died alongside him adds an extra layer to the tragedy.
Mike’s son David survived the accident and here has allowed access to the family’s treasure trove of personal artefacts. These range from the mundane to the magnificent but together they tell the incredible story of Mike the Bike.
The American Odyssey of NASCAR’s First Black Driver
Hard Driving is the dramatic story of one man’s dogged determination to live the life he loved, and to compete, despite daunting obstacles, at the highest level of his sport.
Wendell Scott figured he was signing up for trouble when he became NASCAR’s version of Jackie Robinson in the segregated 1950s. Some speedways refused to let him race. “Go home, nigger,” spectators yelled. And after a bigoted promoter refused to pay him, Scott appealed directly to the sport’s founder, nascar czar Bill France Sr. France made a promise Scott would never forget – that NASCAR would never treat him with prejudice.
For the next two decades, Scott chased a dream whose fulfillment depended on France backing up that promise. Persevering through crashes, health problems, and money troubles, Scott remained convinced he had the talent to become one of NASCAR’s best.
Hard Driving documents a previously untold chapter in the history of integration, politics, and sports in America. It reveals how France, founder of the multibillion-dollar nascar empire, reneged on his pledge and allowed repeated discrimination against Scott by racing officials and other powerful figures. It details France’s alliances with leading segregationist politicians such as George Wallace, the reluctance of auto executives such as Lee Iacocca to sponsor a black driver; and the inspiring support Scott received from white drivers such as nascar champions Ned Jarrett and Richard Petty, who admired his skill and tenacity.
50 legendary cars from 25 movies! Includes the cars from the newest No Time to Die movie starring Daniel Craig and Rami Malek.
The perfect holiday gift for the James Bond fan in your life!
The vehicles featured in this book were driven by – or pursued – the world’s most celebrated spy. Stylish, fast, and specially equipped with state-of-the art gadgets, each is rendered in full color showing the key features that set them among the world’s greatest cars.
With facts and figures plus their key scenes and stunts, these are the cars that made Bond movie history.
The James Bond film series is one of the longest continually-running film series in history, having been in on-going production from 1962 to the present. In that time Eon Productions has produced 24 films, with the 25th – “No Time to Die” releasing November 2020. With a combined gross of over $7 billion to date, the films produced by Eon constitute the fifth-highest-grossing film series. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the series, the latest being Daniel Craig.
From Mind to Metal is the definitive book on the life and work of automotive artist Randy Grubb, who sold his first giant hot rod, the Tank Car, to Jay Leno. Grubb followed that up with a string of hits — the Indy Special, the B-702, Piss’d Off Pete, the DecoLiner, the DecoPods, the Decoson, Bob “Rocket Man” Maddox’s Pulse Jet Lakester, Tim “Frogman” Cotterill’s Rocket 3, and the Falconer Dodici: all have been appreciated internationally by gear heads, lovers of Art Deco and the Streamline styles, as well as by traditional American and European coach builders.
Aaron Robinson, executive editor of Car and Driver, wrote the foreword for the book, offering humor-injected insights into Grubb’s motivations for creating his extreme hot rods. Carolyn Pavia-Rauchman, copy chief of Car and Driver, signed on as editor.
Author Randy Johnson has documented Grubb’s sculpture since 2012, often visiting Randy’s Grants Pass, Oregon, garage several times a week. He produced the YouTube video series, Randy Grubb’s Garage, and was able to get the inside story on Grubb by accompanying him on two road trips in the extraordinary, Flash-Gordonesque DecoLiner. In researching the book, he interviewed Grubb numerous times, as well as the builder’s family, and many of his friends and collaborators.
Some records are made to be broken. Others stand for a lifetime. And sometimes the achievement of a lifetime is surpassed in days. In the world of motorsports, the one record that has proven the toughest to break is the motorcycle land speed record. Don Vesco rode a streamlined motorcycle to a record-breaking speed of 318 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1974. It was sixteen years before Dave Campos flew past that record at a speed of 322 miles per hour. And that record had stood for another sixteen years when, on Labor Day Weekend, 2006, a motorcycle daredevil and aspiring writer named Rocky Robinson rode a Suzuki-powered streamliner at an incredible 344 mph. How he got there–and how he faced his greatest challenge at his moment of triumph–is the story Robinson tells in Flat Out. Here is Robinsons epic decade-long quest to be the fastest motorcycle rider on earth, recounted in all its gritty detail–a compulsively readable account that captures the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication that go into being the worlds best, as well as the sheer terror of riding these two-wheeled rockets nearly six miles per minute.
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Here is the fourth book (preceded by Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach, Paramount Ranch), in Art Evans’ series of motor sport coverage in California during the fabulous fifties. All were developed by the use of reproductions of original documents and archival photographs as a foundation. The element that puts life into these books is the welcome reminiscent expressions from drivers who were there at The Golden Gate Park Road Race Circuit in San Francisco, California. Anecdotes by Jack McAfee, Pete Lovely, Jacques Bellesiles, Chuck Tatum and Phil Hill, to name a few, are scattered through this book. Other legends, Masten Gregory, Tom Carstens, William Snell, E.Forbes-Robinson are mentioned in the newspapers and magazines of the time. Years before, trees, shrubs, lakes, waterfalls, gave refuge to wild fowl and animals. No one, in 1870, when the sand dunes were converted, could vision a track of noisy engine carts. That was the year when John McLaren, a Scotsman, started on developing the new park based on research of the US, UK and Europe parks. Much later, these countries came together to race cars on The Golden Gate Park. Over the period of the three meets, each in 1952, 1953, and 1954, the organizers presented Cooper, Ferrari, Jaguar, OSCA, MG, Porsche, Aston-Martin, Allard, Simca, Singer, Crosley, Jupiter, and even US powered specials with Chrysler, Cadillac, Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln engines. Also, MG TC and TD filled many race positions. For instance, in 1952, there were about 20 MG’s and 25 other UK cars in the entry list of 100. Quite a bonus for the racing car builders in the UK, seven years or less after WW II. Art Evans has followed the same elements in the four “scrapbooks”. Historic racing continues to be popular and appealing when the authentic information is shone for the reader to discover. Seeing books on the shelf that take readers back to the mid 20th century years of motor sport attracts especially those of us wanting those days back.
