Anatomy And Development of the Sports Prototype Racing Car

by Ian Bamsey. GT Foulis & Co, £19.99.
With the present uncertainty over the future of Sportscar World Championship Racing this may not be the most opportune time for a book on the subject. However, the future does not detract from the interest generated by the super-fast, technically-advanced cars which have contested these contests up to the end of the 1991 season and Ian Bamsey has sorted out their complex anatomy and development in his usual effective and clear style.

From the early days of this type of racing sports car, and after explaining the regulations governing them from 1952 and the changes made in 1962, 1968, 1972, 1977, and in the ’80s, Bamsey sets about their evolution, from the early days, and through the entry of Porsche, how wings and ground-effect techniques affected those SWC cars, the Southgate revolution, how the 250mph target was achieved, with a case-study of the Nissan participation and so on. The five famous engines which played such a part in this class of racing, the stock-block Chevrolet V8, Porsche flat-six, V12 Jaguar, Mercedes V8 and Nissan V6, get the author’s expert coverage and the book includes discussions on structural, transmission, brake and suspension-system changes, with relevant illustrations. There is no index, though blank pages for one are provided. WB