GIFT ONE OF THESE GREAT READS FOR GEARHEADS
Christmas is just around the corner. If you're shopping for a gearhead, you can't go wrong with a good book wrapped up under the tree. Here are a few suggestions, starting with a fantastic book called Riding the Continent written more than 100 years ago by Canadian naturalist Hamilton Mack Laing.
Riding the Continent
In 1915, Laing rode his Model 11-F Harley-Davidson, nicknamed Barking Betsy, from New York to San Francisco to visit the World's Fair and then north to Portland. Over the winter of 1915, Laing used handwritten notes gathered in a set of journals to produce a manuscript that never got published. It wasn't until 2018 that B.C. freelance writer Trevor Marc Hughes became aware of the long-languishing manuscript held in Laing's papers at the B.C. Archives in Victoria. Hughes photographed every page of Laing's story, transcribed, and edited the work. He added an afterword and shopped it around to publishers. In 2019, Ronsdale Press in Vancouver printed the book, Riding the Continent, about Laing's travels aboard Barking Betsy (ronsdalepress.com).
More than just a story of an adventurer riding an early motorcycle across America, Laing was filled with wonder about flora and fauna, and his book is replete with vivid descriptions of his surroundings. For example, well into his journey, Laing writes, “The desert night air did not come chill as I had anticipated, and at dawn I was wakened to the tune of woods birds. At the farmhouse a little distance up the road, a wren was singing his chattering, explosive songs with unusual abandon; a robin song full of the cheer that is beloved from coast to coast drifted about and enlivened the morning; from the poplars came the ripple of a vireo.” The pace and rhythm of the language does take some getting used to, but this 226-page book is a rewarding read.
BMW M: 50 Years of the Ultimate Driving Machine
Next up is a title for fans of BMW, and specifically their motorsport, or M-division. Written by Tony Lewin and published by Motorbooks, BMW M: 50 Years of the Ultimate Driving Machine charts the German automaker's dedication to the pursuit of performance through competition. In this lavishly illustrated 224-page book, Lewin traces the competitive spirit of the firm's early days of success with rider Ernst Henne campaigning BMW motorcycles in a variety of events, including setting several records in land speed racing. Henne was also an accomplished race car driver and was just as successful behind the wheel of BMW's 328 sports car.
Important names such as Alexander von Falkenhausen, who joined BMW as a young engineer in the early 1930s, are introduced. Of von Falkenhausen's influence, Lewin writes, “When he finally stepped back from BMW in the late 1970s, well beyond the stipulated retirement age, he was the company's oldest employee bar none and could look back on a lifetime of constant engineering innovation, motorsport victories, and success where it counts most of all — among customers flocking to BMW showrooms.” Through 15 chapters, Lewin shares details of BMW's many M-models and employs specification tables to distinguish the various nomenclature unique to BMW cars. Each table includes a “Claim to fame” box that succinctly summarizes the importance of the model.
The First 1000: Formula 1 All the Races
Whether you're gift shopping for a lifetime Formula One fan or a newcomer by way of the Netflix series Driven, this limited edition book will delight them with its attention to detail, entertaining and informative layout and race-day photography.
Arranged in chronological order — from the first Grand Prix in 1950 to the 1,000th in 2019 — this 720-page hardcover is the definitive history of the globe's ultimate open-wheel championship.
Graphs, special illustrations, rare race photos, track maps and charts ranking driver performance over the first 1,000 races puts all the action from the last 70 years of F1 in your hands. Specially developed Race Pods tell the individual story of each race, while Knowledge Pods give a deep insight into F1's “hidden history.” Included with the book is a 2019 Season digital download.
It's all here, from the tragic to the travesties, researched and chronicled by author Roger Smith, a lifetime fan and student of Formula 1 who has attended over 100 F1 races across five continents. Smith is the author of several F1 books and is a member of The Guild of Motoring Writers. The book is published by U.K.-based Veloce Publishing.
Jaguar Century: 100 Years of Automotive Excellence
This great book, also published by Motorbooks, is well-illustrated and marries a bit of motorcycle history with plenty of automobile history and the origin of Jaguar. Author Giles Chapman shares how two motorcycle-mad neighbours, William Lyons and William Walmsley, established the Swallow Sidecar Company in Coventry, England. Swallow sidecars were distinctively styled, aluminum-bodied units that bolted to the side of just about any motorcycle. In 1924, Lyons bought an Austin Seven automobile, a vehicle that had been launched in 1922. Of the purchase, Chapman writes, “(Lyons) found it patently obvious that the Seven's launch represented the biggest possible threat to his own products. It had four wheels, four cylinders, and four seats, and while wealthy aristocratic motorists could chortle that it was so small you'd need to buy two — “one for each foot” — it possessed the comfort, weather protection, and safety that no motorcycle-sidecar combination could possibly offer.”
With the expertise of Cyril Holland, Lyons and Walmsley were soon building custom aluminum two-seater car bodies for the Austin Seven chassis, launching in 1927 the Austin-Swallow car. Success followed success, and in subsequent chapters Chapman discusses the history behind how Swallow became Jaguar, and covers distinctive models including the SS100, XK120, C-and D-type competition cars and XJ vehicles. Jaguar ownership by Ford for nearly two decades beginning in 1990 is covered, as is the Tata Motors takeover in 2008. Chapman brings the Jaguar story arc into the future, too, with the 20th and final chapter describing the electric-propulsion era of the i-Pace and development of non-internal combustion powered vehicles.