...and in books

if you want a novel with cars in it, Happer Collins have published Knowing Max by James Long. The plot is based on finding an old trunk full of ‘Max’s’ documents and photos, and the pursuit of the dead man’s life story, finding that he was “an upper-crust bounder, a spy, living in Monaco and St Moritz, consorting with the Duke of Windsor, before joining the London underworld, his brother’s wife being killed in a ghastly accident at the Brighton Speed Trials in a Lister-Jaguar”. The speed trials are accurately described, as are the areas around Brighton. A readable book, but not literature, more for the aeroplane, with the usual quota of love, sex, an ex-prostitute, drugs and drama, but lots of cars. The date of the horrific Brighton accident is given as 14 September, 1963. The Financial Times revealed that James Long admits that ‘Max’, his brother and wife were real persons and there was such an accident, but! believe involving a Tojeiro-Jaguar.