This was the defining decade for the Le Mans 24 Hours. It started with six consecutive victories by Ferrari, overwhelming Aston Martin and Maserati. But then Ford threw its all-American dollars at the race and won it four times in a technically exciting period that also brought the competitive emergence of brands such as Alfa Romeo, Matra, Porsche and Renault. The participation of great automobile manufacturers spurred the development of many iconic racing cars: Ferrari Testa Rossa and GTO, Ford GT40 and Daytona Cobra, Porsche 904 and 917. The machines that were specially built for Le Mans evolved through the decade from front-engined brutes to mid-engined monsters. By the end of the period, many of them could achieve more than 200mph (300kph) on the awesome straights that defined the race, thrilling as many as 300,000 spectators at trackside. Almost 50 companies built cars that were raced at Le Mans in the 1960s. The 24 Hours became an annual cauldron of corporate rivalry and a high-speed proving ground for innovative automobile technologies.Above all, it became an incomparably arduous and complex challenge to man and machine that captured the imagination of the public the world over.

The Le Mans 24 Hours is the ultimate endurance race, a true test of man and machine. It is a classic feature of the motorsport calendar, attracting more than 230,000 people to the track every year to see one of the greatest spectacles in racing. Shot over two years, this book's specialist panoramic photography gives a real sense of the many aspects that make up the Le Mans experience: the sun setting on night time qualifying, brake discs glowing in the dark, sprawling fan camp sites, and the elation as battered cars complete the epic race. The photos in the book were taken at the height of the battle between Audi and Peugeot for dominance of the track. Featuring the R15, 908 and R18, as well as the other great marques of Le Mans, including Aston Martin, Corvette, Ferrari, and Porsche, this book is a timeless tribute to the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Sam Posey raced a huge variety of sports cars, saloons and open-wheel machines in numerous racing arenas - Can-Am, USRRC, Trans-Am, IMSA, Indy, NASCAR, Formula 5000 and Formula 1 - against rivals and friends such as George Follmer, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney, David Hobbs and Brian Redman. Sam's Scrapbook gives a first-hand account of a romantic era in racing, through pictures no one has seen and stories no one has heard. Running alongside the images, Posey's commentary is fascinating and thoughtful, and in turns both amusing and emotional. This is an unusual and engaging memoir by one of America's best-loved racing heroes that will appeal to all motorsports enthusiasts.

For nearly two decades 'A Twist of the Wrist' has been the high performance rider's bible of cornering. Enthusiasts worldwide have used Keith Code's unique perspective on the cornering art to improve there own skills and enjoyment. When Keith began his investigations into cornering in 1976 he left no stone unturned. Code translated his research into the world's number one rider training organisation, The California Superbike School. In addition, his private tutoring work with dozens of roadracers who later became champions is part of the sport's history. This studio recorded, 4 CD audio set is read by the author and contains dozens of new notes and comments that enhance the original work and includes four time World Champion Eddie Lawson's comments on the text.

Between 1997 and 2014, Tom Kristensen won the world's toughest motor race, the Le Mans 24 Hours, a record nine times and finished on the podium on five more occasions. Every time his car made it to the finish, in fact, he was in the top three. It is no wonder that this great sports car driver is known as 'Mr Le Mans' to motorsport fans around the world. Now retired from racing, Kristensen shares in this book his deepest personal reflections and insights from inside and outside the cockpit. He looks back on more than 30 years spent striving for perfection in racing and tells of the battles and setbacks that sometimes seemed impossible to overcome, including a terrible accident in 2007. Voted 'Sports Book of the Year' when originally published in Kristensen's native Denmark, this thoughtful memoir is now available in English.

Jacky Ickx is one of the true greats of motor racing. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, he was both highly successful and hugely versatile, racing at the highest level in a wide variety of categories - including Formula 1, sports cars, touring cars and rally raids - and winning throughout. Among many accolades, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours an unprecedented six times and twice finished runner-up in the Formula 1 World Championship. This exhaustively researched book has been written with his full co-operation and outlines every one of the 565 races that he contested in cars and on motorcycles, forming a detailed and insightful record of his racing life supported by over 850 photographs, many of which have never been published before. This is a racing driver's biography of exceptional depth that all motorsport enthusiasts will treasure. Key content * Starting in motorcycle trials, Ickx was twice crowned Belgian champion before switching to four wheels; he immediately proved himself a winner in touring cars and single-seaters, becoming European Formula 2 Champion in 1967. * From 1967, he established himself as a star in sports cars, driving blue-and-orange Gulf Mirages and Ford GT40s to numerous successes, culminating in his first Le Mans victory in 1969 with its famously close finish. * Snapped up by Ferrari for 1968, he achieved a heroic first Formula 1 victory in that year's rain-soaked French Grand Prix, confirming his career-long reputation for peerless driving in wet weather. * Other than one season with Brabham, Ickx spent his best Formula 1 years with Ferrari, achieving eight wins in the period 1968-72, and twice finishing second in the World Championship standings, with Brabham (1969) and Ferrari (1970). * Post-Ferrari, his Formula 1 fortunes waned but he thrived in sports cars, claiming three successive Le Mans victories, with Mirage in 1975, then with Porsche. * After his fifth Le Mans win in 1981, the rebirth of sports car racing in the Group C era from 1982 saw Ickx as anchorman in the all-conquering works Porsche team, a four-year period that brought his record sixth Le Mans victory, 12 wins in total, and two World Champion titles. * After retirement from circuit racing, his later career took him into entirely different motorsport adventures in rally raids, where his Paris-Dakar record includes victory in 1983 (driving a Mercedes-Benz) and second places in 1986 (Porsche) and 1989 (Peugeot).

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is an endurance ride that takes participants across the United States. Riding 20 hours a day or more for 7-12 days straight, they traverse back roads, brave dangerous conditions and battle mental and physical exhaustion. Fewer than 10 percent of participants are women. They take on the challenge and they excel! Chronicling the journeys of 14 women who participated in the Hoka Hey (Lakota for "Let's do it!") from 2010 to 2013, this feminist cultural analysis relates their often harrowing stories of life on the road and draws comparisons to women in other sports.

Christopher Hilton documents the race that caused the worst crash in motor racing history in this new and full study of the fateful day. Through a host of interviews - with drivers, team members, journalists and spectators - and original research at Le Mans, Hilton examines the aftermath of the crash that has affected what we see of motorsport on our television screens today. The worst crash in motor racing history - killing more than 80 people - was produced by a ferocious and haunting combination of circumstances: nationalism, raw speed, the nature of a 24-hour race, and chance. The crash drew in Mike Hawthorn, the blond playboy from Farnham, in a Jaguar, and Juan-Manuel Fangio, one of the greatest drivers of all, in a Mercedes. A crowd of 250,000 watched hypnotised as Hawthorn set out to break Fangio, the two cars going faster and faster...and faster. Another English playboy, Lance Macklin, was caught up in the crash in his Austin-Healey, along with a 50-year-old Frenchman driving under the assumed name of Pierre Levegh. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It cost him his life, even as his car was torn to pieces that scythed into the dense crowd. After 6.2 7pm on 11 June 1955 nothing would ever be the same again and the consequences of the momentous crash are still being felt. In this new and full study of the fateful day, Christopher Hilton sets the race itself in the context of the 1950s. Through a host of interviews - with drivers, team members, journalists and spectators - and original research at Le Mans and in the Mercedes archive in Stuttgart, he recreates every aspect of the race and the crash. Much of the material has never been seen before. He examines the aftermath - the bitter blame game, the conflicting testimonies, the direct threat to motorsport in Europe - and chronicles the beginning of the culture of safety that has affected what we see of motorsport on our television screens today.

Max Verstappen is Formula 1's sensational new superstar. Born into motorsport, Max started karting aged four and in 2015 became the youngest driver ever to race in F1, less than six months after his 17th birthday. Following his first Grand Prix victory in 2016, he quickly established himself as a future World Champion and by 2021 his goal was in sight. Like a true Dutch Master, he has brought fresh artistry into F1 and made this most glamorous of sports even more exciting. This unauthorised biography, written by a leading Dutch F1 journalist, examines Max's remarkable rise to worldwide fame, covering every step of his career in detail as well providing insights into his spirited character and supreme talent.

Henry Neil "Soapy" Castles grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and became involved in its pioneering auto racing scene at an early age. Graduating from soapbox derby cars to midgets and sprints and finally to stock cars, he sometimes crashed, sometimes won, saw friends die horribly, and became a champion. Eventually he left the racetrack for Hollywood where he became a stuntman working alongside such stars as Rory Calhoun, Elvis Presley, Kenny Rodgers, Richard Pryor and Andy Griffith. In the 1990s, groundwater contamination at Castle's truck repair business from an Exxon oil storage facility cost him an eye and most of his lungs. His decade-long class action lawsuit won him millions in compensation. Now in his mid-eighties, Castles is still going strong, procuring vehicles for movie and television projects.

Ever since its launch in 1959 the original Mini has been a stalwart of the motor racing scene. Even today, there is a bewildering array of formulae that it can compete in. This book explains how to prepare a historic mini to the original pre-1966 Appendix K standard, which provides the racer with the largest choice of national and international events to compete in. The contents include regulations and safety; sourcing a suitable car; every aspect of preparation including body, engine, transmission, electrics and ancillaries; setting up and race preparation and testing and racing.

Best known for his extraordinary skills at the wheel of racing cars, Stirling Moss was also an extremely effective rally driver. He entered many rallies from the early 1950s on, usually achieving top ten results in a variety of makes, initially Sunbeam-Talbot and in later years Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Saab. He very nearly won the Monte Carlo Rally at his first attempt in 1952, losing only narrowly to Sydney Allard, and then went on to join the exclusive club of rally drivers who won a coveted Coupe d'Or on the Alpine Rally, one of the toughest events in the calendar. His contribution to pace notes, based on the technique used in his astounding Mille Miglia win with Denis Jenkinson, is told here, together with his abortive attempt at the East African Safari Rally with his brother- in-law, Eric Carlsson. Africa was not kind to Moss - he nearly died on another rally when stranded in a remote part of the Sahara Desert and was lucky to be rescued. The cars he drove, the teams, the co-drivers, all are covered in this record of the amazing and often overlooked rally driving career of the legendary Stirling Moss.

An L.A. hot-rodder with a high school education, a family to support, and almost no money, Craig Breedlove set out in the late 1950s to do something big: harness the thrust of a jet in a car. With a growing obsession that would cost him his marriage, he started building in his dad’s garage. The car's name was Spirit of America. Through perseverance and endless hard work, Craig completed Spirit and broke the land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats, setting a new mark of 407 mph in 1963. He went on to be the first person to drive 500 and 600 mph, breaking the land speed record five times. In the early 1970s he turned to rockets and set an acceleration record at Bonneville that stands to this day. He built a jet car in the 1990s, Spirit of America–Sonic Arrow, to go head to head against Britain’s ThrustSSC to be the first to Mach 1. Craig’s subsequent crash at 675 mph remains the fastest in history. Even today, at the age of eighty, he is going strong with plans for yet another Spirit of America racer. The ultimate goal: 1,000 mph. Ultimate Speed is the authorized biography of Craig Breedlove, with a foreword by Craig himself. A candid revelation of one of motorsports' most interesting figures, the book is based primarily on countless hours of interviews with Craig and dozens of people connected to his life.

This complete racer's reference is the perfect resource for all drivers from novice to expert. The fundamentals of fast driving are revealed in this definitive how-to book for racers. You will find the competition-proven methods of instructors and of professional drivers that will give you the know-how to work up the track and stay at the front. Interested in the world of racing? Just think, you can have all of the lessons and insights from Skip Barber instructors and from professional racers compiled in one handbook. This racing reference reveals the secrets of mastering car control, reducing lap times, as it takes the reader inside the world of racing. Going Faster! is the definitive book for the active race driver, the racer-to-be, and the auto-racing fan who wants to know what driving a racecar is really about.

Who are today's hot rodders? Where do they come from, what do they value, and why? Do gearheads and old metal have any place in tomorrow's transportation landscape? What will be left behind? What will be carried forward? Over an eight year period, gearhead/geographer David Miller crisscrossed America in his home-built 1958 Chevy Apache custom truck interviewing hot rodders who are thoughtful and passionate about what they do, willing to speculate about why they do it and about what lies ahead. This book is a collection of their stories and a celebration of how they roll. It is a testament to what will be lost unless rodders can defy the trend towards mechanical cluelessness, anonymous vehicle styling, driverless vehicles, and a "get back in line and wait to be served" mentality that increasingly permeates our transportation landscape.

The subject of this book is Ferrari's racing history from 1960 to 1965, a period that was one of the most successful in the marque's history so far. In this era, which began with completion of the transition from front-engined to rear-engined configuration, Scuderia Ferrari won just about everything with a variety of iconic machinery that included the 'shark-nose' 156 and the fabled 250 GTO. Driving Formula 1 Ferraris, Phil Hill and John Surtees delivered two World Championship titles in the space of four years. Ferrari sports cars racked up a string of six consecutive victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours, a feat subsequently surpassed only by Porsche. This book covers this period in detail for the first time and exclusively features the work of one of the greatest racing photographers ever.

Set amid the glamour and bravado of 1980s Formula 1, The Power and the Glory tells the story of a rivalry unsurpassed in motor-racing history. By the mid-80s Alain Prost had firmly established himself as leader of the F1 pack. Winning Grands Prix almost at will, the French ace radiated invincibility. But then came the emergence of Ayrton Senna, sparking a decade-long battle for supremacy out on the track. Although chalk and cheese in terms of character and background, the two men were driven by the same burning desire: to become Formula 1's heavyweight champion of the world, its undisputed king. Senna and Prost would both go on to win multiple world championships in what was a golden era for F1 racing. Their Suzuka showdowns of 1988-90 attracted record worldwide audiences and popularised the sport as never before. An intimate portrait of two unique competitors, The Power and the Glory is a supercharged story of acrimony and sheer ambition.

The Spanish rider Carlos Checa triumphed in the 2011 World Superbike Championship aboard the Italian Ducati. Second and third places in the standings went to the excellent Marco Melandri, in his first year in the SBK series, and to Max Biaggi, winner of the 2010 edition. The 2012 season opened at Philip Island in Australia, inaugurating a championship that will also see a race in Russia at the brand-new Moscow Raceway. Once again, this edition of the Superbike World Championship Official Book is intended as the reference volume for the world of production-derived" racers, the bikes that have for many years now represented the beating heart of motorcycle sport, combining fierce competition with high technology, without neglecting the close ties with road-going machinery. Race by race, the book describes the 2012 season, above all through the spectacular photos taken by Fabrizio Porrozzi, complemented by the ever-pertinent texts of his brother Claudio. As well as reporting on the major championship, the book also features chapters devoted to the other categories (Supersport, Superstock 1000, Superstock 600) completing the packed World Championship programme.

Delve into Formula One's most iconic rivalries with stunning photography, insight from celebrated F1 journalist Tony Dodgins and a foreword by nine-time grand prix winner Mark Webber. At the heart of Formula One lies the blistering contests and feuds between the drivers. The drama, personality and thrill of the sport is borne of these fierce duels, where only the fastest and savviest survive. The rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is one of the fiercest we have seen in Formula One in decades. Incendiary both on and off the track, the battles between the seven-time world champion and the hard-driving Dutchman have only served to highlight the importance of these dramatic conflicts to the sport. In Formula One: The Rivals, Dodgins identifies the most prominent rivalries since the championship's inception in 1950, including the feud between Hamilton and Verstappen. This highly illustrated book explores the dramatic collisions between drivers vying for the top spot, the bitter wars of words as tension runs high and the controversial decisions that have captivated viewers and delivered truly thrilling racing. From the slow burn of intense dislike between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost to the verbal barbs dished out by Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet to the clash between James Hunt and Niki Lauda that inspired a Hollywood blockbuster, the rivalries include: Hakkinen vs Schumacher Hill vs Schumacher Alonso vs Schumacher Pironi vs Villeneuve Mansell vs Piquet Prost vs Lauda Prost vs Senna Hunt vs Lauda Hamilton vs Rosberg Hamilton vs Massa Hamilton vs Verstappen Vettel vs Webber And many more This book is a must-read for all fans of the sport, whether you have been following F1 for decades or are a new fan drawn by the intensity of recent seasons.

Racecar driver Earnhardt was at the top of his game-until a minor crash resulted in a concussion that would eventually end his 18-year career. In his only authorized book, Dale shares the inside track on his life and work, reflects on NASCAR, the loss of his dad, and his future as a broadcaster, businessperson, and family man. It was a seemingly minor crash at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016 that ended the day early for NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. What he didn't know was that it would also end his driving for the year. He'd dealt with concussions before, but no two are the same. Recovery can be brutal, and lengthy. When Dale retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but his ability to live a full and happy life. Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend that everything was fine, but the private notes about his escalating symptoms that he kept on his phone reveal a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to race again the following weekend. In this candid reflection, Earnhardt opens up for the first time about: The physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on his own terms His frustration with the slow recovery from multiple racing-related concussions His admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all His determination to share his own experience so that others don't have to suffer in silence Steering his way to the final checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race and most rewarding finish of his life.

The world of Champ Car auto racing had changed. As cars became more sophisticated, the cost of supporting a team had skyrocketed, making things difficult for team owners. In an effort to increase purses paid by racing promoters and win lucrative television contracts, a group of owners formed Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1978. Soon after, CART split from its sanctioning body, the United States Auto Club (USAC). Though champ cars ran on numerous tracks, the Indianapolis 500 was the payday that supported most teams through the season. From the beginning, CART had most of the successful teams and popular drivers, and they focused on driving a wedge between the track owners and the USAC. Over the next 30 years, the tension between CART and USAC ebbed and flowed until all parties realized that reunification was needed for the sake of the sport. This book details the fight over control of Champ Car racing before reunification in 2008.

Storming the beach at Normandy 70 years ago, little did a 19-year old farm boy Spartanburg, South Carolina, know the incredible times that were in store for him. Fighting for his country at war, Bud Moore earned five Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars, captured with his jeep driver in enemy headquarters of more than 30 German officers and soldiers, and survived to return home and launch a career of enormous fame and wealth. Beginning as one of NASCAR stock car racing's true pioneers, Bud Moore won countless races in the rough and tumble days of the sport and continued on to win three Grand National Championships, a Grand American Championship, and the Sports Car Club of America Trans Am Championship. He won all those while victorious in three Southern 500s, the Daytona 500, and dozens of other major NASCAR events. A Who's Who of America's best drivers have chauffeured Bud Moore machines such as Buck Baker, Buddy Baker, Joe Weatherly, Joe Eubanks, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, George Follmer, Lloyd Ruby, Tiny Lund, Darel Dieringer, Billy Wade, Peter Revson, Geoff Bodine, Jack Smith, Speedy Thompson, Fireball Roberts, and many many more. But racing also had a very high price as in less than a year his drivers Joe Weatherly and Billy Wade made the ultimate sacrifice of being killed in their primes piloting Bud Moore racecars. So ever since he entered the sport, Bud Moore continued to find ways to improve the cars making them not only faster, but safer. His innovations were immediately adopted by NASCAR and the automobile manufacturers and many are still in use today. Bud Moore did it all while providing for his wife of 63 years and helping raise three wonderful boys. Very few men or women have had the opportunity to serve their country and excel in their chosen field as did Bud Moore has. Now a gentleman farmer, he tells it all here; the danger and the daring, the heartbreak and the triumph, and the winning the ultimate honor that his sport can bestow.

From the 1950s through to the 1970s, Hughie Hancox worked at the Triumph Meriden factory in various capacites - a fitter, a member of the famous Royal Corps of Signals Motorcycle Display Team, in the experimental department (where he actually worked on the prototype Bonneville), and eventually as one of the legendary Triumph testers.This latter role provided countless unique experiences with some of the most iconic British motorcycles ever manufactured. The story of production testing at Meriden has never before been published, and this intimate and pragmatic account comes straight from a man who was at the heart of it. With many previously unpublished pictures and service bulletins, plus helpful advice on problems that still exist with the bikes today, this is a unique book about a fascinating time and place in British industry.