Ferrari Formula 1 Car by Car book review

A daunting task, describing every F1 Ferrari, yet Stuart Codling manages to make his list of every model of grand prix contender (to use a phrase which avoids a definition clash with the Formula 2 years) that Maranello has fielded a much more readable project than you might think from the title. Inevitably only a few pages can be devoted to each model, not a great deal to work with, yet he gets the story and the context of each machine neatly packaged with a decent selection of photos. Bold typography helps you navigate among the model years, and a simple spec table for each sums up the metalwork.

The text is necessarily concise yet doesn’t feel cramped, giving the origin of each device, all its drivers and how it performed, good or bad. Ferrari politics and background earth tremors aren’t left out: beginning the 1960s chapter, Codling says, “Enzo [inset] ceased to attend races following the death of his son Dino. Into this vacuum crept those who would exploit Enzo’s absence for their own ends, selectively filtering information back to him as he directed the wider operation from his Maranello office.” That’s a set-up line worthy of the best TV drama.

He also neatly outlines earthquake events such as the 1961 ‘palace coup’ and the Spygate affair when Ferrari drawings made their way to McLaren. Thus it serves as a running history of Ferrari in a condensed way. There are a few diagrams to augment the photographs, mainly about front suspension design, plus a list of every Ferrari result up to 2020.

Turn over the pages rapidly and it’s almost like a flicker book, watching the scarlet cars morph from the pudgy 125 through the drama of the 156 and the swelling curves of the 640 into today’s ludicrously exaggerated, chillingly efficient and frankly ugly missiles. Was the F2002 the last clean-limbed, decent-looking Ferrari? Designers like to use the phrase “If it looks right, it is right”. Which only proves that designers aren’t always right.

Ferrari Formula 1 Car by Car – Every Race Car Since 1950
Stuart Codling

Motorbooks
£40
ISBN 9780760367773

November 2021 book reviews in brief

The IROC Porsches
Matt Stone

Conceived as a TV package, the International Race of Champions (IROC) intended to pit Indy (USAC), NASCAR, Can-Am and F1 drivers together to establish an overall ‘best’ among disciplines. Though a good promotions package, the first 1973/74 season promised something that didn’t carry through. Never again would the grid feature the likes of Fittipaldi, Donohue, Hulme, and AJ Foyt. Nor did the car choice last – it began with 15 identical factory-built Porsche RSRs in different colours, possibly the best-matched one-make machines ever. A shame that despite being an early TV success, with Jackie Stewart a star presenter, IROC declined into a sort of NASCAR featuring Camaros, Dodge Daytonas and Pontiacs before withering away.

Stone’s book is about those IROC cars, their four races and the men who drove them. Yes, just four races, but Stone has plenty to tell us about these drivers (Donohue was the series star), the men behind the series including the far-sighted Roger Penske, and histories of the cars. Smartly designed and sparkily written, it’s a fine tale of a great idea. Heat winner George Follmer writes the foreword; it sounds as if he loved it.

Motorbooks, £45
ISBN 9780760368251

Fiat in motorsport since 1899
Tony Bagnall

Fiat has been competing since it was F.I.A.T. and that’s some 120 years – not bad for a company whose main business is building small family cars. The badge has graced grand prix cars, rally winners, record cars, one-make series and by extension a host of ‘etceterinis’ – countless devices with Fiat bits. Bagnall works through all of these from what he titles the Heroic Age and the Glorious Twenties to the multiple Rally championships, with diversions to record cars and those lovely 8Vs, and includes the AAC 815, Enzo’s first-born, for its Fiat parts. It’s quite a lesson see the marque’s achievements gathered together.

Veloce, £35
ISBN 9781845851859