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Product Description
Product Description
Officially licensed with the ACO, the organisers of the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race, this sumptuous book will be the first in a decade-by-decade series that will eventually build up into an eight-volume set covering every race since 1923. Each year will be exhaustively covered in vivid photographs, a detailed race account, full results data and a glorious rendering of the official race poster. Compiled by an acknowledged authority of this legendary race, this series of books will be treasured by all enthusiasts of sports car racing.
About the Author
Quentin Spurring, a distinguished former editor of Autosport, is an acknowledged expert on the history of Le Mans. He has attended the race on 23 occasions, starting with Renault's victory in 1978.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I attended my first Le Mans 24 Hours race this year without much prior knowledge of the history of the event, or sports car racing in general. As anyone else who has been to the event can no doubt understand, I was instantly hooked and began looking for Le Mans-related books on my return to the UK. Soon I discovered this volume, the first in a series of tomes on the race's history broken down by decade.
As an introduction to each race of the decade, this book could hardly be bettered. Each race is allotted approximately thirty pages, and each report includes the full entry list and race result (in addition to other event-specific statistics). There is no single, overarching race report, but a brief summary followed by paragraphs on various important aspects of the race, usually arranged by marque or team. Thus the famous 1969 race has sections on the winning JW Automotive team, Jacky Ickx's protest against the "Le Mans start", and then the entries of the factory teams (Alpine-Renault, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lola and Matra). This is very much a photographic review, with hundreds of colour and b&w images sourced from the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and numerous other archives including the teams' own. The main body of the book is preceded by an introduction which contextualises each race within the decade as a whole, and the decade within the wider history of the event, and also contains useful technical information such as the equations used to determine the winners of the Performance Index and Thermal Efficiency Index awards, prizes almost as valuable as outright or class victory. There is also a statistical appendix which includes driver-by-driver results and other information such as fastest speed recorded during the event. I can't say how accurate all of the statistics are, as I was not previously familiar with the races, but as an official ACO book the information should be trustworthy.
To sum up, this book is an excellent introduction to people wishing to find out more about the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Those wishing for more detail should see if it is possible to track down the surviving individual yearbooks, or check out the official 1923-2010, three-volume history scheduled for publication later this year, which aims to show an individual photo of every entrant.
As an introduction to each race of the decade, this book could hardly be bettered. Each race is allotted approximately thirty pages, and each report includes the full entry list and race result (in addition to other event-specific statistics). There is no single, overarching race report, but a brief summary followed by paragraphs on various important aspects of the race, usually arranged by marque or team. Thus the famous 1969 race has sections on the winning JW Automotive team, Jacky Ickx's protest against the "Le Mans start", and then the entries of the factory teams (Alpine-Renault, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lola and Matra). This is very much a photographic review, with hundreds of colour and b&w images sourced from the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and numerous other archives including the teams' own. The main body of the book is preceded by an introduction which contextualises each race within the decade as a whole, and the decade within the wider history of the event, and also contains useful technical information such as the equations used to determine the winners of the Performance Index and Thermal Efficiency Index awards, prizes almost as valuable as outright or class victory. There is also a statistical appendix which includes driver-by-driver results and other information such as fastest speed recorded during the event. I can't say how accurate all of the statistics are, as I was not previously familiar with the races, but as an official ACO book the information should be trustworthy.
To sum up, this book is an excellent introduction to people wishing to find out more about the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Those wishing for more detail should see if it is possible to track down the surviving individual yearbooks, or check out the official 1923-2010, three-volume history scheduled for publication later this year, which aims to show an individual photo of every entrant.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Sitting somewhere between the annual books on each race (many of which I own) and Haynes' own excellent In Camera series (all of which I own) this is the first in a new series sanctioned by the ACO (owners/promoters/organisers of the race itself). As such it has been much anticipated.
First things first; there is no faulting the engaging and informative text, nor the variety of cars featured in the photographs. While not attempting to cover every car entered, there is a good repesentation of the many and varied shapes, especialy small French coupes, that characterised this era as much as the Ferraris and GT40s.
The design, functional rather fancy or full of flare, gives a less up market feel than the cover price might lead you to expect. In this regard I feel the aforementioned In Camera series, also split into editions covering each decade, has handled a very similar challenge better, but that's a personal taste thing.
While unashamedly a history book, the core is built around the photographs. These are always interesting, more so when taken as a whole with the accompanying text, but few have you wishing to tear them out and frame for the office wall. This merely confirms why this series has been so much looked forward too; it is a serious publication for those with a serious interest in the history of the sport and this extraordinary race in particular.
So while I recognise and admire it as much more than a picture book - hence 5 stars - there are still more black and white photographs than I would have liked, especially as they are chosen for subject matter rather than artistic merit. On balance it is an editorial slant I support, not least because I think buyers will be those with some pre-existing interest and knowledge of the race. This is no stocking filler your Aunt can pick up last minute at M&S. Nevertheless, I'd have liked to see more colour. Maybe I'll just have to wait the for the editions covering more recent periods with their inevitably wider choice of colour photographs for the editor to chose from.
This is a books to dip into time and time again. More than a coffee-table picture book, less than an exhaustive record, the best comparison is I can give is of a series of very good magazine articles (say from Motor Sport magazine) collected together in a hard back compendium. That is to say, something worth reading and worth keeping.
First things first; there is no faulting the engaging and informative text, nor the variety of cars featured in the photographs. While not attempting to cover every car entered, there is a good repesentation of the many and varied shapes, especialy small French coupes, that characterised this era as much as the Ferraris and GT40s.
The design, functional rather fancy or full of flare, gives a less up market feel than the cover price might lead you to expect. In this regard I feel the aforementioned In Camera series, also split into editions covering each decade, has handled a very similar challenge better, but that's a personal taste thing.
While unashamedly a history book, the core is built around the photographs. These are always interesting, more so when taken as a whole with the accompanying text, but few have you wishing to tear them out and frame for the office wall. This merely confirms why this series has been so much looked forward too; it is a serious publication for those with a serious interest in the history of the sport and this extraordinary race in particular.
So while I recognise and admire it as much more than a picture book - hence 5 stars - there are still more black and white photographs than I would have liked, especially as they are chosen for subject matter rather than artistic merit. On balance it is an editorial slant I support, not least because I think buyers will be those with some pre-existing interest and knowledge of the race. This is no stocking filler your Aunt can pick up last minute at M&S. Nevertheless, I'd have liked to see more colour. Maybe I'll just have to wait the for the editions covering more recent periods with their inevitably wider choice of colour photographs for the editor to chose from.
This is a books to dip into time and time again. More than a coffee-table picture book, less than an exhaustive record, the best comparison is I can give is of a series of very good magazine articles (say from Motor Sport magazine) collected together in a hard back compendium. That is to say, something worth reading and worth keeping.
Format:Hardcover
This Book is FAR better than most of the other Many & Expensive Treatises on this Race. When the SERIES IS COMPLETE AND YOU OWN THEM ALL YOU CAN STOP BUYING LE MANS BOOKS. All the Information is there and as the Years roll by, Bookwise, the increase in the Number of Colour Photos will increse, B/W was the Norm for many Years. It is to be Expected that when the Series IS Complete Haynes will use the Opportunity to make Available a BOXED COMPLETE SET OF ALL THE YEARS. ?
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