SALUTE TO THE GODS

SALUTE TO THE GODS

by SIR MALCOLM CAMPBELL.

THIS latest addition to motoring fiction, which was published some time ago as a serial in one of the Sunday newspapers, deals with the adventures of a team of British racing cars, which take part in various Grand Prix races on the Continent the period being sometime in the past ten years. Mysterious crashes have haunted the team in the early part of the season, but Ellison, the owner of the firm and designer of the cars is determined to carry on and prove to the world that his cars are sound. . After rather a slow beginning, the reader is brought to the first race, fought on

the Auvergne circuit, and which is described in a thoroughly convincing manner, The author’s racing experience has prevented him from indulging in those “dicing with death” incidents which have marred so many motor books, and when an Ace driver again meets with a fatal accident, the reader feels quite convinced that some evil influence is at work. The scene then changes to Le Mans where the G. P. d’Europe is being held on the present circuit. Again a convincing account, and again an unaccountable crash, which puts the reader on

tenterhooks until the mystery is solved. Unfortunately, the solution, which is revealed after a final and exciting struggle at Rheims, comes as an unconvincing anticlimax and spoils very largely the good impression made by the descriptions of the actual races.

An uneven book which exhilarates only to disappoint, it demonstrates once more the difficulty of blending actuality and narrative. Published by Cassell’s at 7s. 6d., the effective cover by Roland Davies makes one wish that the slow parts of the contents could have been tuned to match the outside of the book.