Description
Author: Arthur Owen, Hardbound, 243 Pages, ISBN: B0000CKAK4, First Edition, 1959 - Second Hand book in perfect unread condition !
The glittering succession of victories won by Cooper racing cars since tile war has contributed as much as any other achievement to the renaissance British motor racing in recent yeas.
Now Arthur Owen, himself a Cooper driver, gives us a fast-moving, entertainingly written, and comprehensive account of this unparalleled "success story", from the day in July 1946 when the very first Cooper "500" snarled up Prescott hill-climb to the Casablanca Grand Prix of October 1958.
No book has told the story before, and this one does so with the authority lent by the full co-operation and blessing of Cooper father and son.
After a brief biography of Charles and John Cooper up to the time of the foundation of their enterprise, the author gives us a blow-by-blow account of the career of the fabulous 500-c.c. cars. This section is virtually a history of this capacity Class and of the sprints and hill-climbs of the time, for from the very beginning of their racing career Coopers have competed in every race possible.
We read the full story of the Cooper sports cars from the Bristol engined machine of 1952, and of the phenomenally successful Grand Prix cars from the Cooper-Bristols which dominated the old Formula H to the sleek little bullets which shocked the motor racing world during 1958.
Full details of the cars and of their development—anecdotes of drivers—exciting accounts of the races and their results—all are here.
Coopers did not only make cars; they also made drivers. Charles Cooper was responsible for discovering the talents of Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins and many other "stars", who were given their first big chance in Cooper Cars.
To round off the story, the author tells the story, largely first-hand, of the achievements of the cooper record-breakers which have taken so many international honours at Monthery, Monza and elsewhere !