"The Racing Fifteen-Hundreds"

“The Racing Fifteen-Hundredshi lbyid Venables. 263 pp, 10 in 7 in , Transport Bookman Publications Ltd. 0, South Street, Isleworth, Middlesex. 111-7 7130. £24.001

Sub-titled “A history. of yoiturette racing from 1931 to 1940”, this book is quite a good idea, in as much as the intense pre-war period of I ‘Akre racing his been collected together, although plenty has been written about this aspect of the overall ming game previously, in other books. in MOTOR SPORT during the war, etc. There is also the danger that if writing has to rely on contemporary Press reports it may not be entirely accurate. However, author Venables has collected a very large amount of information and pictures together, including maps of various circuits, biographies of the more important drivers iif the smaller racing cars, tabulated results tit the leading voiturette events etc and has written to a number of prominent people clarifying some of the points invoved. The 200 or so photographs, some (if them “new”, enliven the text very nicely. So this is a useful history, es,cially as

Britain did particularly well in 11/2-litre racing before the war, with ERA, MG and other makes. The work seems to have been meticulous, the maps ower all the important circuits (there is even MC of Littorio, showing its two banked corners, and there is a section devoted to racing cars and their makers. I liked this one. In case of difficulty, Chater & Scott can supply copies. — W.B.