Autodelta

Alfa Romeo Racing 1963-1983

By Maurizio Tabucchi, £75, giorgionadaeditore.it, ISBN 978 88 7911 713 5 Although the late motoring historian Maurizio Tabucchi’s Autodelta tome was published in Italian in 2012, only now has this wealth of work become available in English. Although a straightforward, chronologically told history of the works-backed Alfa Romeo racing department, there’s passion here too – Tabucchi was involved with the Registro Italiano Alfa Romeo for nearly 20 years. As Marco Tullio Giordana explains in his foreword, the highly successful, genuinely exotic and beautiful racing cars created by Autodelta under the Alfa banner, described by Tabucchi with reference to the testimonies of drivers and engineers alike, are almost unique in their direct connection to road cars that most enthusiasts can actually contemplate owning, unlike Ferrari.

It’s relatively expensive, but it’s authoritative, large-format and beautifully illustrated. It’s a shame that there will be no more to come from Tabucchi now. Driven: An elegy to cars, roads and motorsport By John Aston, £12.99,

veloce.co.uk, ISBN 978 1 787114 39 5 John Aston’s Driven makes for a surprising and entertaining diversion from lengthy autobiographies of great motor sport figures. In essence, it’s the autobiography of a lifelong motor sport enthusiast, but Aston writes with such erudition, wit and lawyer’s logic that, at times, the book feels it could form the basis of a manifesto for better racing.

Autobiographical chapters explaining the origins of his passion quickly give way to deep analysis, travelogue-style reportage and occasional polemic. At other times, it’s refreshing to read his frank observations on the demographics of the crowds and competitors at assorted events, and the effects this has on the atmosphere at the venue.

Read this book and you’ll get the strong sense John Aston speaks for a great many of us. Rolls-royce Camargue: Crewe Saviour By Bernard L King, £49.99,

completeclassics.net, ISBN 978 0 9565671 3 0 A penny short of fifty quid looks like a colossal amount of money for a pocket-sized book, but this little hardback has an astonishing amount of data crammed into its 224 glossy pages, and an air of high quality about its research and execution that would probably merit a quarto-sized upscaling, frankly. Not least because its subject is one of the world’s most decadent cars – the Rolls Camargue.

Bernard L King tells the Camargue story from the perspective of both the Crewe workforce and, thanks to access to Italian sources including stylist Paolo Martin, Pininfarina. The truth of the tortuous styling process, decisions as to whether there should be a Bentley version, sketches of a proposed four-door saloon and the high-performance Turbo which remained a one-off are all revealed.