930 to 935 - The Turbo Porsches

By John Starkey ISBN 0-9665094-1-2

Published by Renwick &Starkey Ltd, $59.99

Books such as this are a labour of love. When the subject matter you have chosen is narrowed down to not just a single marque but almost a single model then you can imagine the level of research that goes into producing a 240-page tome.

Starkey’s book – despite showing obvious passion for the car that stamped its mark on sportscar racing two decades ago – is primarily a work of reference, with approximately half of those pages devoted to an exhaustive record of every 930 to 935 chassis that raced around the world.

The other half however details the evolution of Porsche’s turbo-charged ‘customer cars’, with Starkey’s philosophy based upon the belief that these were some of the most important cars Porsche ever built. Not because of their race record, but because they were, in its truest sense, a test bed for the manufacturer’s ground-breaking turbo road cars. Starkey’s book is truly laden with technical information but, despite contributions from drivers of the time, rather too light on anecdotal narrative. It will stand as a useful reference point for the myriad dedicated Porsche racing fans but don’t buy it expecting a ripping motoring yarn, it’s just not that kind of book.