Since the mass production of Henry Ford’s Model T, car enthusiasts have been redesigning, rebuilding, and reengineering their vehicles for increased speed and technical efficiency. They purchase aftermarket parts, reconstruct engines, and enhance body designs, all in an effort to personalize and improve their vehicles. Why do these car enthusiasts modify their cars and where do they get their aftermarket parts? Here, David N. Lucsko provides the first scholarly history of America’s hot rod business.
Lucsko examines the evolution of performance tuning through the lens of the $34-billion speed equipment industry that supports it. As early as 1910, dozens of small shops across the United States designed, manufactured, and sold add-on parts to consumers eager to employ new technologies as they tinkered with their cars. Operating for much of the twentieth century in the shadow of the Big Three automobile manufacturers—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—these businesses grew at an impressive rate, supplying young and old hot rodders with thousands of performance-boosting gadgets.
Lucsko offers a rich and heretofore untold account of the culture and technology of the high-performance automotive aftermarket in the United States, offering a fresh perspective on the history of the automobile in America.
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Even more of the most beautiful and successful Formula 1 race cars in history, presented in a way they have never been seen before. Formula 1: the pinnacle of motorsports. This is the world’s most popular form of racing, featuring the world’s greatest drivers competing in the most technologically advanced cars ever created, machines designed and built by some of history’s most brilliant engineering minds. For the original edition of Art of the Formula 1 Race Car, master automotive photographer James Mann brought a selection of these spectacular machines into the studio, portraying not just their engineering brilliance, but also their inherent beauty– the fascinating results of Formula 1’s mix of competition, creativity, and human ingenuity has made these vehicles into works of art. Now, in this new and updated edition, Mann has gone behind the lens once again to bring you even more of history’s most astounding racing vehicles, from the Alfa Romeo 158 that carried Giuseppe Farina to the first F1 world championship in 1950 all the way through to the present day, with models from Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren, and all of racing’s premier Formula 1 engineers. With historical and technological profiles by Formula 1 writer Stuart Codling and insightful commentary from designer Gordon Murray, creator of multiple championship-winning cars, the revised and updated Art of the Formula 1 Race Car continues its tradition as the ultimate homage to the ultimate breed of race car. Discover what Road & Track magazine called “the perfect blend of pictures, analysis and the racing history of these remarkable racing machine
“This definitive record of Ayrton Senna’s racing life provides detailed coverage of every single race in which he competed, including karting, Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 1, in addition to one-off appearances and tests in other categories, such as the World Sports Car Championship and Indy Car. The engaging text features insightful new material drawn from interviews with many of Senna’s rivals and colleagues and is accompanied by a rich array of high-quality period photographs. This lavish book provides a fitting tribute to a Formula 1 legend whose legacy today extends far beyond the world of motor racing.
The fabulous photographs in this book were captured through the lenses of Sutton Images, where brothers Keith and Mark Sutton between them followed Senna’s meteoric career from the very beginning. Their contribution starts with his very first race win and ends with poignant images from Imola ’94.
The karting years: racing in Brazil and South America between 1973 and 1977, and Senna’s efforts to win the elusive karting World Championship between 1978 and 1981.
Formula Ford 1600 and 2000: racing with the Van Diemen works team in 1981, before progressing to FF2000 in 1982, dominating the British and European championships.
Formula 3: the battle with Martin Brundle for the 1983 British F3 Championship.
Formula 1 baptism with Toleman: nearly winning the rain-shortened Monaco Grand Prix, and qualifying third at Estoril, behind Piquet’s Brabham and Prost’s McLaren.
The Lotus years, 1985–87: Senna’s first wins, at Estoril and Spa in 1985, two more wins in 1986, and his final Lotus year, with wins in Monaco and Detroit, before signing for McLaren for the 1988 season.
The McLaren years, 1988–93: first world title in 1988 followed by an acrimonious year with team-mate Alain Prost in 1989.
Two further world titles in 1990 and 1991, as Williams emerges to dominate with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, Senna winning five races in his final year for McLaren.
The final season: driving for a no-longer-dominant Williams, struggling to take the fight to Benetton and Michael Schumacher, before tragically losing his life at Imola.
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