Book Review: The History of Motorsport by Jörg Walz
Positives
Negatives
There have been plenty of F1 & motorsport history books published, but few have tried to cover the history of motorsport categories together. Jorg Walz’s ‘The History of Motorsport’ is an attempt to trace the early history of motor racing from 1894 to 2018 with the futurist Roborace driverless championship.
With each year from 1894 to 2018, Walz looks at a key development & cars in motor racing:
- 1894 Paris to Rouen
- 1920 Bugatti Type 13
- 1906 birth of Le Mans
- 1919 first Indy 500
- 1934 reign of the Mercedes W25
- 1937 BMW 328 sportswear
- 1947 birth of the Ferrari 125
- 1950 start of the F1 world championship
- 1954 Jaguar D-Type
- 1956 Porsche 550A
- 1961 Sir Donald Campbell’s Bluebird
- 1963 Ferrari 250 LM
- 1964 Mini Cooper
- 1965 Alfa Romeo Guila Sprint GTA
- 1969 Porsche 917 Le Mans
- 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo
- 1980 Volkswagen Iltis Dakar rally jeep
- 1985 Audi Quattro Sport
- 1991 Sauber Mercedes C291
- 1996 Indy Reynard 961- Honda
- 1999 Opel Astra V6 ice racer
- 2000 Mercedes CLK DTM
- 2001 Audi R8
- 2007 Dallara Renault GP2
- 2010 Venturi Buckeye Bullet
- 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid
- 2017 emergence of Formula E
Coverage of F1 is actually quite limited but most of the iconic cars are covered – 1962 Lotus 25, 1966 BRM P83, 1971 Lotus 72, 1976 Ferrari 312T2, 1978 Lotus 79, 1981 McLaren Cosworth MP4, 1983 Brabham BMW BT52, 1984 McLaren MP4/2, 1989 Ferrari 640, 1982 Williams Renault FW14B, 1995 Benetton Ford B194, 2002 Ferrari F2002, 2005 Renault R25, 2009 Brawn BGP 001.
The photo selection is excellent, particularly the early pre-1950 era machinery – the B&W photos are crisp and reproduced in high resolution.
If you’re a general fan of four wheel racing categories from F1, Indy, Le Mans, sports cars, touring cars – this book is a neat compilation of historic cars across each category. Don’t expect the narration to be in-depth or technical – its not – the book is really a photo album of historic race cars across categories.
Wow Factor/Money Shot: (pg 86) Cistalia Grand Prix Type 360, Opel rocketcar 1928
Suitable for: Motorsport fans
