"Grand Prix"

Some time ago the story “Grand Prix,” by Stephen Black and James Boothby, which appeared in Lilliput, came under discussion in our correspondence columns, with especial reference to the technique of starting a four-wheel drift, as described by the authors.

At the time we had not read this story but since then a reader has kindly sent us clippings of it as serialised in the “A.M.” weekly. Although illustrated with some of the most lurid crash pictures we have ever seen, the story proved very acceptable during a homeward journey by British Railways. Presumably it was an abridged version, because no detailed four-wheel drifting is indulged in. “Grand Prix” tells of what befalls an Englishman, a Frenchman and an Italian in a Grand Prix race at Reims. It has the love interest and some “sob-stuff,” but it rings true, cannot be technically faulted, and vividly captures the true atmosphere of motor-racing. Which is more than can be said of recent motor-racing novels which have come into our hands. But when will someone write an effective motor-racing story or novel in which neither the hero nor his rivals is killed or injured in a crash? — W. B.