Grand Prix racing world

Driving forces – The Grand Prix racing world caught in the Maelstrom of the third Reich by Peter Stevenson ISBN: 0-8376-0217-3 Published by Bentley, £19.99

This title left me sceptical upon initial acquaintance, appearing to offer little new to an area of motor racing history around which a small industry has grown and thrived. But Stevenson’s book has a formidable trick up its sleeve. Not merely a stale account of forays of Mercedes-Benz and Auto-Union into GP racing on the ’30s, but history in terms of those who made, and were made by, it Concentrating on the comparative fortunes of Rudolf Caracciola and Bernd Rosemeyer, the story contains a pageturning quality more commonly found in novels. Motor racing history rarely lends itself to gripping narrative; the Nazi involvement is an exception and Stevenson’s book brilliantly exploits it. IM