motor sport

Rallyworld edited by Peter Foubister. 160pp. 121/2 x 91/4. (Tudor Publications, 97-99 Botanic Avenue, Belfast BT7 1JN. £11.95).

Annuals quite often leave us cold. It’s an effort to trundle through the statistical stats, but we always do it just in case someone has picked up a point which we may have missed from our own records.

Often they are no more than rehashed collections of stories published throughout the year, and we often wonder whether the opinions expressed are genuine, or whether they have been conceived merely for the sake of giving birth to something which appears intelligent.

The price of some annuals is high, but production costs are high too, especially in the case of large-format hardbacks with heavy, glossy paper and lavish spreads of colour photograph, More reasonably attainable than most is this volume, which, at less than £12, offers excellent value.

This may be explained by a certain amount of advertising content, but other annuals do the same and cost far more. A large-format softback, it offers a good selection of photographs and stories, which says much for the skill of editor Peter Foubister, who managed to gather the pieces even though he was laid low at the crucial time by the need for spinal surgery.

There is much international material, of course, including interviews, statistics, specifications, reviews and an interesting insight into World Champion Biasion’s home life, but British rallying hasn’t been forgotten, and there is a chapter on the various home series. Such events as the Pike’s Peak hillclimb, Paris-Dakar and even the Pirelli Classic Marathon also feature. GP