Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1845037 in Books
• Published on: 1992-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

One of Doug Nye's best
Doug Nye is a particularly noted Grand Prix author, having numerous superb titles to his credit. History of the Grand Prix Car is no exception. Nye discusses all the teams which entered the Formula One championship trail from 1966 to 1991 (the original edition of this book covered 1966 to 1985).

He naturally writes about the Grand Prix cars themselves, their successes or failures, but also sets up the story behind their design, as well the drivers behind the wheel and the managers who ran the team. At times, it is real nuts and bolts affair, but Nye adds a humourous touch to his writing.

The first several chapters are based upon the development and racing history of particularly successful Grand Prix cars, from the Lotus 49 to the Tyrell 003 to the Ferrari turbos of 1982-83 to the successful lowline McLaren MP4/4 and the first non-turbo championship winning car in 6 years, the MP4/5. The development of the Cosworth DFV also gets a chapter.

The following chapters are then a potted history of all the teams that have entered Formula One since 1966. Although the England based teams or successful teams (eg BRM, McLaren, Brabham, Ferrari) has the most coverage, what sets this book apart is the amount of detail provided about the minnows of the sport, particularly those not based in England, such as ATS and Zakspeed. Nye has a particular fondness for the English "garagistes" such as LEC or Connew, which does shine through in his discussion of those teams. I should also note that there is also an appendix of F1 results for the period which the book discusses.

A true gem of a book, which will be picked up and perused for many years to come. It is so easy to just pick it up, and start reading from any random page. Highly recommended for serious history of F1 buffs.

Great for the enthusiast
If you want to know exactly what happened in the garages, this is the ultimate resource. Far too dense for the casual fan, and full of British Dullness -- when you see the phrase "poor Smythe-Warrington," you know it will be followed by "smote the banking at Grickles, killing himself and four nuns, and ending the service life of chassis 73/01."

Having said that, I must also say that I have read and referred to my copy so many times that the binding is destroyed and I am looking for an undamaged copy.