"Classic Racing Cars"

By Cyril Posthumus. 160 pp. 11 3/4 in. 8 1/2in. (The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., Astronaut House, Feltham, Middlesex. £4.95.)
This is another coffee-table tome (these days you need a whole battery or line-up of such tables to hold them, and no space for the coffee-cups) but as it comes from the skilled pen of Cyril Posthumus, it merits mention. The scheme is a brief resume of 40 top-class racing cars covering 70 years of motor-racing history, depicted rather nicely in 75 cutaway and detailed drawings and more than 130 very good photographs. It is rather amusing to find that these illustrations come from so many sources—the colour pictures from the alas defunct “Profiles”, from the Pomeroy “Grand Prix Car” books, others from the weekly and monthly motor journals, including Motor Sport, from hand-out sources, from Rex flays’ model-car books, Cyril has tapped them all. The result, though, is very effective and to this generous display of previously-seen illustrations, many in colour, is added the talented author’s opinion of how each of the 40 cars he has included, from 1906 GP Renault to McLaren-Ford M23, fits into its particular niche in history. This is a very worthwhile book to give as a present to any young son or nephew who is anxious to learn all about the history of the racing car. Those aunts or uncles who order early for Christmas or have presents to send abroad, might do much worse than buy this Hamlyn tome. The best thing about it, from my point of view, is the cryptic quotation above each chapter, such as “At last we had got a crack-a-jack Grand Prix car” (Stirling Moss on the 2 1/2-litre Vanwall), “The Lotus is a completely scientific study. Colin Chapman is a fine designer” (Enzo Ferrari on the Lotus-Ford 49), and the conflicting ideas by Autocourse and Sports Cars Illustrated as to whether the Ferrari Dino 246 was a good-looking or an ugly car …—W.B.