Great Read

Murray Walker is a national treasure. For a quarter of a century his unmistakable voice brought Formula 1 into millions of homes: it could be said that he replaced roast…

He had a reputation for not being keen on testing. But there he was pounding round Estoril, in February. At seven days, this was the longest pre-season evaluation Williams, the…

"I’ll give you the same tip I gave to Jacky Ickx in 1973 when he was driving the Targa for the first time, in the Ferrari 312P,” says the voice…

Through my 20-odd years as a Grand Prix journalist, I have been repeatedly surprised by the drivers' lack of childhood enthusiasm for motor racing. Most, indeed, seem almost to have…

It seems hard to believe that Tony Rolt could be old enough to have raced at Donington, but the fact remains that, at the relatively tender age of twenty-one he…

Entering the final half-hour, Chinetti held a 21-second lead with Nuvolari, the 'Flying Mantuan', gaining. Chinetti stopped for fuel and the lead changed — again. WF Bradley of The Motor…

German Group 5 saloon car race, Nurburgring, 1976 I've had a funny career. I started like gangbusters, and always came very close but never got all I wanted. So to…

Seeing it lined up, in the Goodwood paddock at the Revival Meeting, with such as the Dino 246, the 250F and the Mercedes-Benz W196, it struck me again how small is the Lancia D50, how astonishing…

When Mateus goes to bed he settles down on the kitchen floor beside the cooker. There are seven people living in two rooms. It is hot and there is no…

Lifetime achievement awards are usually consolation prizes for people who made a career out of finishing second. John Cooper so rewarded by the historic racing world is clearly an exception.…

Teatime in McLaren’s paddock palace, The Brand Centre. ‘Team Button’ – father John and manager Richard Goddard – are having a natter. They might be talking business, but just as…

The formation finish, staged for the benefit of the cameras, has become commonplace at Le Mans thanks to a certain manufacturer from Germany. Before Audi’s domination of the event, though,…

It is purely an age thing, I suppose, this, peculiar tendency we have to forget whole swathes of people who did their stuff before a certain age. An atrophied sense…

Bonneville and the Black Rock Desert; before Daytona Beach or Pendine Sands in Wales, the Land Speed Record belonged to an exclusive turn-of-the-century holiday resort — Ormond Beach, Florida. Ormond…

Take out of the equation those pedal-to-metal laps around the old eight-mile Spa-Francorchamps or the pre-Hella Licht-S Osterreichring, and a Porsche 917 couldn't live with a Formula 1 car in…

Just as it finally seemed within his reach, a broken titanium component crushed Peter Revson's F1 dream Peter Jeffrey Revlon Revson had it all. Good looks, breeding, an attractive personality…

It is early afternoon on Saturday November 1, 1980. A call is placed to the Brabham headquarters in Chessington, Surrey. The conversation goes something like this: “’Allo?” “Ah, hello. Could…