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Behind every driver is a team, from design engineers to sweeper-uppers, but we don’t often get to hear from, or even about, them. Here’s a chance for the people who did the grimy stuff to have their moment in the sun – an unusual take on long-gone Can-Am, from inside the pits, the tow trucks and the motels where mechanics grab a few hours sleep after late nights in the pits – if they’re not pulling an all-nighter.

These 400 well-illustrated pages profile two dozen of the dedicated crews who for every round in the free-for-all series (or the earlier USRRC brand) turned out those thundering monsters to entertain and deafen us – people like Frank Lance, known as ‘the Colotti Whisperer’ due to his unique ability to coax those fragile Italian gearboxes into reliability.

I don’t think I’ve seen such comprehensive career stories of a bevy of mechanics before. Having spoken to all of them bar one the authors have done a sterling job in gathering such a comprehensive work, including listing all the drivers, cars and teams that each mechanic supported. They must have been assembling notes for years – the Peter Bryant bit mentions discussions with him; he died in 2008.

Many of these men started in the 1950s in stock cars or West Coast sports car racing before their commitment brought them to the biggest bangers of all, with all the effort that entailed. Take Roger Bailey who after time with Tyrrell went to the States with Cooper and then Alan Mann and the Shelby team before teaming up with Chris Amon and the Penske team, including Ferrari’s unsuccessful Can-Am effort. “We worked all bloody hours,” he says. “We’d start at 8am and we’d still be there at 11 o’clock at night and Penske would roll up having been to some fancy dinner and say, ‘This place looks like a pigsty.’” On the other hand, Bailey adds, “Bruce [McLaren] was one of the nicest human beings you’d ever meet. He could run with paupers and kings.”

Can-Am turned up some great characters such as Tony Adamowicz. Jack Deren (who helped build Penske’s notorious Zerex Special) says, “Tony could drive anything. If his car was a dog, when it came in it would be a dog panting with its tongue hanging out.”

Then there’s Bob McKee who began assembling transmissions for hotrods and ended making his own Can-Am machines (and the wedge car that Paul Newman drives in Winning). There’s a picture of him laying out components on a chalk chassis outline. In passing, the book says that Derek Gardner came over to sort the transmission of McKee’s four-wheel-drive car and apparently wanted to remain but there wasn’t enough work so he had to come home and take the Tyrrell job…

Most of the subjects recall the gruelling 16-hour days and the intense race schedule. “Towing to all the venues meant being on the road constantly for 10 months a year, while teams consisted of just two or three dedicated mechanics. It was a very hard life.”

But there’s also memories of the close bond among teams, and letting off steam – like Pete Bryant riding a motor scooter into a motel lift and on into the dining room. Altogether this adds rich light and shade to a distant era, while the authors have done well in pairing each engineer with one of their drivers, and capturing memories before they’re lost forever. After all, it’s 50 years since the end of ‘proper’ Can-Am. If you want to delve into the series’ history this is going to give you a grounding you’d struggle to find otherwise.

One Last Turn
Martin Rudow & David Gaddis
Dalton Watson, £105 ISBN 9781956309089

Brawn BGP 001/02
David Tremayne

This is a hefty book on the Brawn chassis that carried Jenson Button to the 2009 F1 world title and the controversies that dogged it. David Tremayne goes in deep on the team, tech and technicians, and especially that daring double diffuser that took them to court, giving credit to the engineer who spotted a loophole. There’s much input from Jenson, Ross Brawn and Rubens Barrichello plus Giorgio Piola illustrations and team documents, though it’s overweight on PR-type team pics. GC

Porter Press, £69 ISBN 9781913089979

Remarkable Motor Races
Andrew Benson

As the BBC’s Formula 1 correspondent, Andrew Benson is well-versed in writing for a broad audience, and that is the approach with this, his first book. The title is perhaps a little misleading. It’s actually an A-Z guide to motor sport venues and events upon which Benson recaps key highlights and collects anecdotes from a select range of drivers. Decent value at this price, we’d recommend it as a good present for a fan still new to the sport and who has a desire to learn more, rather than for the seasoned enthusiast. DS

Pavilion, £25 ISBN 9780008659691

Racing Legends: Lando Norris
Maurice Hamilton

“Can I have…?” – ah yes, the question asked by children whenever a shop is entered. Instead of idly reaching for a publication about Pokémon, Maurice Hamilton’s Racing Legends series offers an alternative – 170 pages of facts and figures to entertain young minds that have shown interest in F1. Lando Norris is a recent addition to the range; there is also Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. You may even learn one or two things yourself. LG

Macmillan Children’s Books, £6.99 ISBN 9781035043927