Book Review: Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing by Adriano Cimarosti
Positives
Negatives
At over 500 pages, in the early 2000’s I used to refer to Adriano’s Cimarosti’s “The Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing” quite regularly during the F1 season. Although it only covers 1894 to 1996, the author managed to pack in loads of information for each season alongside excellent archival photos, circuit diagrams and […]
At over 500 pages, in the early 2000’s I used to refer to Adriano’s Cimarosti’s “The Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing” quite regularly during the F1 season. Although it only covers 1894 to 1996, the author managed to pack in loads of information for each season alongside excellent archival photos, circuit diagrams and technical drawings. In some aspects (B&W technical notes) it resembles the layout of Autocourse’s well-known ‘History of the Grand Prix Car 1966-1985‘ but there is also a healthy mix of colour artwork, maps and tables as added information.
The strength of this book is definitely the coverage of the early grand prix era from 1900-1950. The resolution and reproduction of most of the B&W photos are excellent. While there is the occasional full page colour postcard or photo print, the page layouts cram lots of maps, diagrams and B&W photo thumbnails together. Fans of Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Bugatti and the Silver Arrows will enjoy studying the photos and technical drawings.
The chapters covering the 1960-1990’s seasons have a more uniform look with coverage of technical developments, results tables and new circuit diagrams. Most of the more recent F1 history books cover this period more than adequately, so you won’t see anything here that won’t have been covered in more detail in other books.
Wow Factor/Money shot: Signatures! Not many books have compiled driver and team personnel signatures and Cimarosti has managed to include many key figures from 1900’s (Felice Nazzaro, Ferdinand Porsche, Carraciola, etc.) up to the mid-90’s (Adrian Newey, Michael Schumacher, etc).
Suitable for: Pre-1950 era grand prix fans
