Books for Christmas

“Cape Cold to Cape Hot,” by Richard Pape. 256 pp. 9 in by 53/4 in. (Oldhams Press Ltd., 96 Long Acre, London, WC2. 18s.)

This is a book by a journalist rather than a writer, a record-breaker rather than a traveller. Those who might be misled by the title into expecting a genuine travel book will be disappointed, but those who like a racy action story will find it to their taste, even though they may question the writer’s method of attaining his goal.

This is the account of the first motor journey from the North Cape in Norway to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. That it was accomplished in a British car justifies in the author’s eyes a spate of law-breaking, bullying and bad manners that must have considerably lowered British prestige en route.

Pape is a man with a genius for getting other people into trouble. Not content with hurling his first co-driver into a ravine and depositing the second in hospital, he involves his third unfortunate partner in a court-martial. Does he pause to help this hapless man out of his troubles ? No, British prestige is at stake. A British car must be first at the Cape no matter who suffers. Possibly I have misjudged the author’s attitude, but the general impression I got of his character is of a flag-waving bull in a china shop.

The story is written in newspaper style with the accent on sensation and the popular Press-man’s disregard for consistency. For instance, one asks how it is that while one volunteer driver is turned down because he cannot pay his way, another is taken on who not only lacks funds but needs to be subsidised. One is also puzzled as to how the rejected driver, minus funds, is able to find himself another car and companion so rapidly that be becomes a competitor. Since the whole subsequent action hinges on this point it would have been interesting to know the answer. We are also mystified as to how Pape, driving alone, managed to overtake the other car with its two occupants and beat them “by several weeks,” when they were thought at one time to be days ahead. Either they were never ahead at all, or they broke down, or Pape is a superman. Since the “race” is stressed throughout, thie point needs clearing up.

His determination to blast his way to the Cape at all costs is illustrated by Pape’s formidable collection of weapons. There are numerous firearms (with which he jogs the teeth of a Spanish customs officer and shoots a dog for no obvious reason), a sword (with which he dispatches two cats, pokes the behind of a praying Moslem and defends himself from a hostile Sahara crowd) and, last but by no means least, a collection of gas shells “for temporarily blinding and suffocating aggressors.” As a motorist who has driven from one end of Africa to the other without a single firearm, let alone gas bombs, I cannot help marvelling at this arsenal.

Pape has survived the rigors of the desert and the terrors of the jungle, but colons and semi-colons floor him. His commas are scattered at random over the page like sequins on an evening gown. In a book of this price one expects something better. The photographs are excellent. —Jill Donisthorpe.

“The Motor Road Tests of 1956 Cars.” 123 pp, 111/2 in by 81/4 in. Soft covers. (Temple Press Ltd., Bowling Green Lane, London, EC4. 7s 6d)

“The Autocar Road Tests of 1956 Cars.” 127 pp. 111/2 in by 81/4 in. Soft covers. (Iliffe and Sons Ltd, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, SE1. 7s 6d)

The approach of winter brings these two fascinating books for prolonged study during the long evenings. Each reprints in full the year’s road-test reports of these august journals, 30 in the case of The Motor publication, 33 in that from The Autocar.

Which to buy, if you cannot encompass both ? Well, whereas both books report on Austin A30 Countryman, Austin A105, BMW 501, Ford Consul Mk II, Hillman New Minx, Hudson Rambler, Humber Hawk estate car, MG MGA, Morris Isis, Paramount, Rover 90, Standard Vanguard III and Standard Vanguard Sportsman, you must read The Motor book for comments and figures, covering Austin A90 Countryman, Citroen 2 cv, Ford Squire estate car, Ford Zodiac Mk II, Hawker Super Snipe, Jaguar 2.4-litre, Morgan 4/4 Series II, Nash Metropolitan. Packard Clipper. Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. Land Rover, Standard Family Eight and (tuned) Ten, Triumph TR3, Vauxhall Cresta, VW and Volvo 444K. The Autocar, on the other hand. offers exclusively tests of AC Aceca, Bentley S-series, BMW lsetta, Daimler One-o-Four. Ford Zephyr, Ford Thunderbird, Jaguar Mk VII, Jaguar XK140, Jensen 541, Lagonda, Peugeot 403, Plymouth Savoy, Porsche 1,600, Riley Pathfinder, Rover 60, Simca Elysee, Sunbeam Rapier and Wolseley 6-90.

Some of these omissions are made good of course, in earlier volumes and we obviously refer to the 1956 editions.

The Motor gives full tabulated data, summarised performance data, drag and urge curves, two forms of dimension diagrams, maintenance data and specification and coachwork/equipment tables for each car tested. Most but not all of their reports include layout diagrams of instruments and controls.

The Autocar gives rather less tabulated data, certainly less on servicing matters, but the usual tabulated performance data and an easier-to-read single diagram of each car’s controls and instruments.

The Motor tests all occupy four pages but The Autocar, although testing more cars, deals with ten of them in three pages apiece, and one in but two pages. The Motor tests average 5.9 photographs per test, The Autocar 6.9 per test.

Both books contain introductions explaining the test methods used and both conclude with a tabulated summary of performance recorded, from which we find that the best mean maximum speed recorded by The Motor was 113.4 mph from the Packard Clipper. The Autocar quotes one-way absolute maximum speed, its highest recorded being 1291/2 mph for the Jaguar XK140 coupe. The most economical car tested by The Motor was the Citroen 2 cv, at 49.7 mpg, by The Autocar the BMW Isetta which averaged 61 mpg, the heaviest being 14.5 mpg by the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud tried by The Motor and 14 mpg for the S-series Bentley tested by The Autocar. The big Americans being somewhat more economical ! From The Motor’s servicing data the interesting fact emerges that of the cars they tested the easiest to lubricate, apart from the Rolls-Royce with its automatic chassis lubrication, is the Rover 60, which requires greasing at four points every 3,000 miles, the Morgan 4/4 Series II running it close with two points requiring attention every 2,000, with a further seven to grease after 5,000 miles. Worst in this respect was the Austin A30, calling for attention to 15 points every 500 miles, although the Packard Clipper runs it dose with 28 points to lubricate every 1,000 miles. Being curious to see whether discrepancies arise between these two journals’ tests of identical cars we took at random the reports on the Ford Consul Mk II, for which the following figures are published :—

From which we deduce that The Motor testers have the heavier throttle-feet !

These books are an invaluable source of reference and excellent fun for prolonged study on many occasions throughout the year.—WB.

“Mare Moja,” by Lars-Henriek Ottoson. Translated from the Swedish by Nancy Briggs. 256 pp, 83/4 in by 51/2 in. (Jonathan Cape, Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, London WC1. 21s)

This is an account of the first motor journey from the North Cape to the Cape of Good Hope, made by two young Swedes in 1953 in VW Microbus, thus anticipating Pape’s similar journey (on which, counting the run to the start, he consumed two Austin cars) by two years (the Swedes inverted their vehicle, but the VW Microbus was merely scratched). These adventurers covered 40,000 miles through 34 countries, crossing 135 parallels of latitude in their modestly-powered, air-cooled ‘bus. The account is well written, without the bombast of Pape’s story and there are excellent photographs which give a good indication of the places; and peoples encountered on this epic journey, the VW and the author appearing in very few of them.

Just the sort of travel book with which the motorist will enjoy Christmas—the title is derived from a Swahili phrase equivalent to tout de suite or “as quickly as possible,” and thus sets the tempo. —WB.

“The Antique Automobile,” by St John Nixon. 236 pp, 83/4 in by 51/2 in. (Cassell & Co Ltd, 37/38, St Andrew’s Hill, London EC4. 25s.)

We did not realise when we asked in the “Book Review” section as recently as last October to be spared further books dealing with Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler that very shortly just such another book would come along for comment I However, as St John Nixon sets out to describe the early history of the automobile and to describe the origins of most of the pioneer manufacturers, he obviously could not omit the story of these German automobile pioneers, even though we have had it so frequently before in other books, including one or more from Mr Nixon’s own pen.

“The Antique Automobile,” which, rather confusingly, shares the same title as the excellent quarterly of the Antique Automobile Club of America, will find a ready sale in the States and it is a very useful addition to the library of those who seek clarification and quick reference to the days of the automobile prior to about 1904.

After examining the claims of the true pioneers in horseless-carriage construction, de Rivaz, Siegfried Marcus, Edward Butler and John Henry Knight, the author outlines the work of the subsequent founders of the present vast industry, from Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Emile Levassor to Serpollet. Another chapter covers the origins of six American makes and seven horrible early designs, like the Pennington and Victoria Combination, get a chapter to themselves.

There is a compact history of motor-racing from 1894 to 1904. a sort of “pocket Gerald Rose” and in his concluding chapter St John Nixon covers the veteran car era, devoting far more space to Edmund Dangerfield’s museum of 1912/14 than to the existing Veteran Car Club, for he is clearly completely museum-minded and against the use of old cars for club runs and competitions, about which we comment elsewhere.

This book could be a useful but inevitably dull historical reference work were it not for the fact that St John Nixon, who commenced driving in 1900, puts in a considerable number of delightful anecdotes to leaven his learned text. Thus the reader never knows where he will find a charming story of a fatuous personality or a description of a roadside calamity to capture accurately the atmosphere of the automobilism of veteran times.

The illustrations are old but good, most having appeared before. Those who like early history and the veteran era will welcome St. John Nixon’s latest work. Others may feel that it is very much “the mixture as before,” although Nixon has the advantage over other authors in the prevailing “race to get published” of being a good and painstaking writer who grew up with the vehicles about which he writes and who adds some fresh facts as well as the aforesaid anecdotes to this comprehensive and decidedly pleasing study of the dawn of motoring.—WB.

“The Racing Car—Development and Design,” by Cecil Clutton, Cyril Posthumus and Denis Jenkinson. 288 pp, 9 in by 6 in. (BT Batsford Ltd, 4 Fitzhardinge Street, Portman Square, London, W1. 25s.)

It may be said of this book, and its authors freely admit it, that it covers the same ground as “The Grand Prix Car,” by Laurence Pomeroy. But, whereas Pomeroy’s classic is in two volumes which cost a total of 138s, “The Racing Car,” which covers the period 1895 to 1956, is in one compact volume and is available for 25s. It is a book in the Batsford car-series, uniform with “The Vintage Car” and “Veteran and Edwardian Motor Cars” and Batford’s system of indexing the illustrations is retained. The authors need no introduction, Cecil Chilton, as a noted vintage-car exponent, dealing with the period 1895-1915, Cyril Posthumus, Associate Editor of Autosport, taking the account on from 1919-1933 and Denis Jenkinson, Continental Correspondent of Motor Sport, concluding the volume by describing the racing cars of 1934-1956.

By racing cars the authors imply road-racing and Grand Prix cars, other machines, with the exception of outstanding Indianapolis designs, receiving scant mention and sprint and track racers none at all. This is essentially a technical discourse, so that drivers are seldom mentioned. Clutton’s section is enthralling, for it unfolds the efforts of the pioneer designers and each page leads on to the next with the thrilling story of how design nearly, but never quite, met completely the prevailing racing rules and conditions. Posthumus’ section is the most complete. Jenkinson’s the most technical and erudite. Dealing with the nineteen-twenties and early ‘thirties, Posthumus includes not only classic cars such as the Bugatti, Ballot. P2 Alfa. Romeo, V12 and straight-eight Delage four and eight-cylinder Talbots, Maserati, etc, but does not forget such interesting, if never outstandingly successful, racing cars as the Schmid, Rolland-Pilain, Rumpler-Benz, Ricart-y-Perez, twin-six Maserati, twin-six Alfa-Romeo, front-drive 12-cylinder Dale, Nacional Pescara, and others. His section recalls the two-stroke Fiat racer and the 1927 twin-six Tipo 806 Fiat that ran once, and once only, when Bordino used it to win the European Grand Prix of 1927 at 94.57 mph. This car has a parallel in Jenkinson’s section of “The Racing Car,” in the two 11/2-litre W165 Mercedes-Benz built specially for the Tripoli race of 1939, when two of these cars, which developed 260 bhp at 8,500 rpm and were completed in six mouths, finished first and second, never to run again.

Although Jenkinson rather curtly dismisses the voiturettes of 1934-1939 and scarcely recognises post-war F III cars, Posthumus is kinder to the pre-war 1,100 ccs, including reference and illustration of the straight-eight Salmson and Amilcar Six.

It may be said that we have had all this racing-car history previously, commencing with a series of articles written for Motor Sport in 1942 and 1943 by Cecil Clutton, Anthony Heal, Laurence Pomeroy, and the late Flt John Scafe, that the theme of many earlier motor-racing books runs through it, or that there are some serious omissions for a book on the technical development of the racing car, such as no reference to early attempts at front-wheel-drive by Spyder and Christie or to the pioneer eight-cylinder racing can of CGV and Weigel. There is no reference to the axle breakages which eliminated two of the Fiats from the 1922 French Grand Prix and killed Biaggio Nazzaro, although the Preface remarks that “the racing car has always been about as fast and as reliable as the metals available for its construction would allow,” and this was an instance where an expert might have told us whether fatigued metal or inadequate design caused these retirements. Indianapolis is claimed to have popularised the “central-steering single-seater racing car,” but, if it did, Brooklands, especially in respect of Vauxhall and Sunbeam, ran it close. In discussing the merits of chain-drive on the early racing cars, Chinon could have added the ease with which the final-drive ratio could be varied merely by using different-size sprockets. The exact size of Bugatti’s 1911 straight-eight seems to have become a bit mixed up, for this is quoted as 2.8 litres on page 60, but as 2.6 and 2.9 litres on page 81.

Doubt is expressed by Posthumus as to whether Mercedes ran a supercharged 28/95 car in the 1921 Targa Florio, and he corrects the statement made by D Scott-Moncrieff in “Three-Pointed Star” that a Mercedes won the Coppa Florio of that year, even to saying there was no separate race of this name in 1921. He continues with the statement that two supercharged 11/2-litre Mercedes ran in the 1922 Targa Florio, whereas Scott-Moncrieff, in his book, has it that two supercharged 28/95s and one supercharged 11/2-litre started . . . Turning to Pomeroy (“The Grand Prix Car,” Vol II), this author agrees with Scott Moncrieff about the 1921 race and with Posthumus over the 1922 entries. Pity, Sir, the conscientious historian !

The index seems to have been compiled hurriedly, for while the body of the book has but few printing errors, Voisin is rendered incorrectly in the index, which attributes four-wheel-drive instead of front-wheel-drive to Alvis, while failing to join Miller and Bugatti to Cisitalia in respect of the former system.

When all is said and done, however, this is a quite splendid book, the merit of its contents enormously enhanced by the very clear print, the excellent illustrations, including some commendably “new” photographs and the page-drawings, nearly but not all of a high standard, by George A Oliver, the high-class gilt binding and superior stitching and, last but by no means least, the very nice coloured dust-jacket by Roy Nockolds.

“The Racing Car” is a book with which the authors, the publishers, and the purchasers should all feel pleased. If you can afford another 42s add George Monkhouse’s “Grand Prix Facts and Figures” and you will have a decently comprehensive reference to Grand Prix racing in two compact volumes.—WB.

“The Life Story of Juan Manuel Fangio,” by Ronald Hansen and Frederico B Kirbus. 78 pp, 51/2 in by 81/4 in. (Edita SA, Lausanne, Switzerland.)

This second book on the World Champion Grand Prix driver is written by two men who live in Argentina and give the story of the great man as told to them over numerous cups of coffee in a Buenos Aires sporting café, by the man himself. This story gives in great personal detail the effect that Fangio has had on the Argentine, and for that matter the effect it has had on him. Whereas the previous book about Fangio merely told us what he had done over the past years, this one makes a much better attempt for it often tells us why he did certain things, either by his own word, or from those of two men who have known him well.

Unfortunately, many of Fangio’s exceptional exploits in Europe are not dealt with in detail, for he told the authors himself, and he is naturally modest, but the book does give a good impression of the quite unassuming character that is World Champion for 1956. the third time running and the fourth in total.—DSJ.

Charles Meisl informs us that the captions to the drawings in “Motor Racing Sketch Book” which we reviewed last month, are his own work and not translations.