Sports Racing Cars - Expert Assessment Of Fifty Motor Racing Greats

By: Anthony Pritchard .

Sports racing cars — built specially for competition work — date back to the 1920s when manufacturers first modified production cars for long-distance endurance racing. Early examples were the Lorraine- Dietrich 3.5-litre that covered the highest distance at Le Mans in 1925 and 1926, and the Aries 3-litre that came so close to beating Bentley in 1927.

Focusing on 50 particularly important cars, Anthony Pritchard traces the evolution of these muscular machines from the pioneering days through the Alfa Romeos, Delahayes, Bugattis and Delages of the 1930s to a new generation competing just after the Second World War. By then Enzo Ferrari, whose design aspirations had been restricted when he left the works Alfa Romeo team in 1938, was free to build cars under his own name. His Tipo 166 V12 cars were soon winning major events, including the 1949 Mille Miglia road race and Le Mans.

It was not long before Ferrari was joined by other major contenders. Most notable were Jaguar (whose six-cylinder cars won Le Mans five times between 1951 and 1957). Aston Martin, Lancia. Mercedes-Benz and the American Cunninghams. Then other smaller contenders entered the fray, among them Lotus and Lola. The 1950s proved to be a golden age for the sports racing car and 19 of the cars covered in this book date from that decade.

By the mid-1960s Ferrari was taking on the financial might of the American Ford company and battles also raged between the staggeringly fast Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512S cars. This fascinating story is brought up to date with a detailed account of the exploits of the Jaguar and Mercedes- Benz entries of the late 1980s. the Nissan GTP ZX and NPT1-90 that dominated American IMSA racing between 1989 and 1991, and the Bentley EXP Speed 8. celebrated For its spectacular victory at Le Mans in 2003. This detailed history has over 200 illustrations, including cutaway drawings and colour plates.

Anthony Pritchard, a respected automotive historian, is the author of Haynes's successful Scarlet Passion: Ferrari's famed sports prototypes and competition sports cars 7962-73 and Maserati: A racing history.

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