Rare Book Review: The Great Challenge – the Senna Era by Rainer Schlegelmilch and Dieter Streve-Mulhens
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It’s taken more than 5 years but finally the 200th book review milestone on this site is here! I figured I had better save a decent book for the 200th review and decided that Volume 4 (The Senna era) of Rainer Schlegelmilch and Dieter Streve-Mulhens excellent “The Great Challenge” book series would be a worthy […]
It’s taken more than 5 years but finally the 200th book review milestone on this site is here! I figured I had better save a decent book for the 200th review and decided that Volume 4 (The Senna era) of Rainer Schlegelmilch and Dieter Streve-Mulhens excellent “The Great Challenge” book series would be a worthy title (not to detract from the excellence of the other 4 volumes).
The Great Challenge series was a 1800 limited edition print run published by Rainer Schlegelmilch in the early 2000s. Each volume is basically a photo book covering the key drivers from each decade in F1. The Senna era volume features Gerhard Berger, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Each of these drivers are given chapters with photos that chronologically cover their F1 careers. 33 other drivers (including many lesser lights – Fabi, Comas, Suzuki, Ghinzani, etc.) from the same era are given shorter 1-2 page photo spreads at the rear section. If Rainer is thinking about another book, he should publish a dedicated book featuring back of the grid drivers and teams.
Text by long time collaborator, Hartmut Lehbrink is provided in German and English with photo captions and a biographical narrative for the key driver sections. Special guest writers include Prof Sid Watkins, Josef Leberer, Sir Frank Williams, Neil Oatley, Jo Ramirez, Nigel Mansell, Ricardo Patrese and Ruben Barrichello with the preface by Gerhard Berger.
Being a limited edition, the book’s presentation is high quality. It comes in a hardcover slipcase which mirrors the famous yellow, blue and green Senna helmet livery and uses a square album format. The front cover includes a lenticular image of Senna in his McLaren cockpit with and without his helmet. This one is strictly for the coffee table or collector’s library…
Are there any exclusive photos in here that don’t appear in other Schlegelmilch books? Quite a few of the one page panel photos are iconic or recognisable race photos or portrait shots, particularly the Senna ones since he was one of the most photographed drivers. That said, there are plenty of other photos to appreciate.
Wow Factor/Money shot: The binding and quality paper and photo reproduction. Photos gallery of Stefan Bellof and Riccardo Patrese. Signatures of all the drivers!
Suitable for: Collectors
