McLaren – 50 Years of Racing

Maurice Hamilton & Paul Fearnley

Given our sport’s all-consuming obsession with lightness, it’s ironic that so much associated literature weighs more than a Lotus Seven. In this instance, though, it’s worth jarring your back to raise it from the coffee table and drag it to the closest armchair. First, though, we suggest you pour a suitable accompaniment – a 12-year-old Macallan, perhaps.

Covering the first half-century of the company Bruce McLaren founded, the prose is as polished as you would expect from the accomplished quills of Messrs Hamilton and Fearnley – authoritative, but with a light touch whenever appropriate – and much of the photography is sublime.

For lovers of all things collectible, a limited edition run of 1963 copies – signed by Jenson Button, Martin Whitmarsh and Sergio Pérez, and featuring an individual “chassis” plate – is available from the eStore at www.mclaren.com for £150.

The only curiosity is the choice of cover subject: given McLaren’s pedigree and countless touchstones, a soft-focus shot of Peter Gethin driving an M14 in the rain seems a trifle odd as an introductory image (although the car is at least Kiwi Racing Orange), but everything beyond makes perfect sense. SA

Published by Prestel, ISBN 978-3-7913-4813-1, £99.95