Books and Models

The latest reads and miniatures

Ferrari: Race to Immortality £11.99, universalpictures.co.uk

Daryl Goodrich’s documentary film is powerful, but there is no other way to describe its subject matter other than tragedy. The raw facts are hard to stomach – during the period 1955-59, all of Ferrari’s works Grand Prix drivers were killed. Following Asif Kapadia’s lead with Senna, Goodrich’s film is entirely made of period footage voiced by a deliberately select cast of expert-witness interviewees, creating something that’s timed and plays like a vivid drama.

There’s no avoiding the horror of the subject material. Some of the period footage hasn’t been aired before, and it’s unrelentingly graphic. Enzo Ferrari hangs over the piece like a funeral pall – obsessive, manipulative, emotionally non-committal. If you’re a Tifoso, it’s a must, but prepare to have your preconceptions regarding the ‘glory’ of your chosen marque shattered.

Racing & Recipes By Jürgen Barth & Rüdiger Mayer, £29.95, rmp-rm.de, ISBN 978 3 9819070 1 8

Now here’s a motor sport memoir with a difference. Jürgen Barth is best known as a racing driver inextricably associated with Porsche. His mastery behind the wheel, under the bonnet and at the boardroom table led to the creation of classic racing cars, Le Mans victories and entire race series. But he has another talent, too – he’s a rather good cook.

In Racing & Recipes Barth takes us on an unusual tour through his racing life, from a time when drivers ate what they liked at local restaurants rather than under orders from the team nutritionist. Each memory is accompanied with a recipe, usually something Barth ate before, after or even during an endurance event.

There are more in-depth memoirs elsewhere – technical details and lap-by-lap recollections are absent – but Barth’s take on the whole thing is unique. Probably the only car book you can keep in the kitchen.

Austin-healey 3000: The story of DD 300 By Simon Ham, £20, porterpress.co.uk, ISBN 978 1 907085 70 3

This is the first book in a new series for the Porter Press – more affordable, but just as in-depth as its more prestigious large-format books.

Ham’s subject is a remarkable Austin-healey that began life as a works racer before passing into privateer hands. What’s particularly gratifying about the story of DD 300 is that its history is continuous.

Its existence chronicles the evolution of British club racing in beautifully-illustrated, clearly-researched detail, from the post-le Mans decline to the joyously lurid Modsports era of the Seventies and finally the emergence of historic competition in the Eighties.