The Roaring Season

by **Malcolm McLeod** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:24 am

...and I have just added to my collection a copy of Douglas Rutherford's book "Killer On The Track", the sequel to The Gunshot Grand Prix.

by **ian** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:17 am

I dont know if this is going to work. A long time since I have done it.
i PICKED THIS UP AT rOTARY BOOK SALE.

by **Malcolm McLeod** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 8:23 am

Milan Fistonic wrote:And you could add to that list Slide the Corner by Fleur Beale published in 1993.

And one I found on Friday "The Rally Game" by Gayle Cresswell about a young mechanic who dreams of becoming a champion rally driver. He has an ancient Escort (what else!) rally car he is rebuilding, some good mates, and a very tolerant boss!
Published 2011, ISBN 978-0-473-19016-3
Oh, and has a photo of Chris Alexander's Suspension Tech rally car on the back...

by **ERC** » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:55 am

I think I have read the Wilt books about four times. The South African based ones come a close second.

by **Racer Rog** » Mon Apr 14, 2014 3:10 am

I agree with that fact that Tom Sharpe's books are a hoot, I have the collection, and even when rereading them I just about piss myself, they are hilarious.
Roger

by **ERC** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:37 am

I have just managed to get hold of jpg images of fiction from 1958 or so, from the UK comic, "The Wizard". There was a story called "The Heel and Toe Kid" which oddly enough was where and when I learned about heel and toe down changes, several years before I could even drive!

Maybe my memory is playing tricks, but did Katherine Mansfield pen a book with a motorsport background?

One of my favourite authors of recent times was Tom Sharpe (the writer of "Wilt", "Porterhouse Blue" etc.), and in one of his hilarious novels was a school teacher with a vintage Bentley - "Vintage Stuff". Not a motorsport theme though...

by **Malcolm McLeod** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:09 am

I can recall the book Michael....I used to read it a lot.....and like you I can't recall the title!!!!!!
Milan...help!

I have also just recently bought a copy of the book "Twenty-four Hours at Le Mans", a novel by J.A.Gregoire, first published in 1955. he actually competed in the race for 4 years back in 1927 in his own creation. now I just gotta find time to read it...

Michael Clark wrote:
I've also remembered a book I borrowed from the local library about 40 years ago based on Le Mans and a young mechanic getting upgraded to driver status..maybe?

by **Malcolm McLeod** » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:11 pm

Powder wrote:There's a copy of Rally to the Death available here:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=9023016474&searchurl=an%3Drutherford%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Drally%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bdeath

Not any more - it's winging its way to New Zealand....along with a couple of others I'm missing ("Racing Mechanic", and "Yankee Driver".)
Thanks for bucking my ideas up!
Postage almost twice as much as book cost, but bill total was only about US$55 for all 3, so not too bad.
Next book might be a LOT more...

by **thunder427** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:02 pm

Powder wrote:So why did you tell the guy they were $3 each if they weren't for sale individually ?????

Powder, Quite possibly comes under ,'The figure of speech', He asked me would I sell my collection,I said 'Yes' as I had aprox 15000 magazines,he said how much, I subjested, work it out at $3 each!!!!...that way if there was only a total of 13000,then at $3 each that would be etc etc.................MJ

by **Powder** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:54 am

Malcolm McLeod wrote:Interesting topic....I have found the Andrew Neilson books great, and the Douglas Rutherford books not bad either. In fact, I have The Gunshot Grand Prix on my bookshelf, but lost (and want!) Rally to the Death.

There's a copy of Rally to the Death available here:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=9023016474&searchurl=an%3Drutherford%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Drally%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bdeath

by **Milan Fistonic** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 7:54 am

Malcolm McLeod wrote:Interesting topic....I have found the Andrew Neilson books great, and the Douglas Rutherford books not bad either. In fact, I have The Gunshot Grand Prix on my bookshelf, but lost (and want!) Rally to the Death.
I also have Breaking Point, and Dead Straight, but found White Death not so good. Incidently, the Dart racing car described in Breaking Point was said to be designed by a brilliant New Zealand designer...but I forget his name!!!!!

"If it was possible to love a racing car, Guy [Taylor] had had an affair with the Dark DR1. It was designed by a brilliant New Zealander, Don Rendel, an ex-Grand Prix designer who had decided to start his own racing-car production factory. The DR1 was a classic motor-racing example of 'if it looks right it is right', a neat single-seater with a distinctive full-width nose and a sloping cockpit surround. It was esy to work on, tough, and above all fast. The DR1 had a versatile chassis that would accept anything from a 170 horsepower Formula Three engine to a 300 horsepower Formula Two unit."

by **Lee Tracey** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:54 am

Having discovered Douglas Rutherford not long after I seriously got into reading, and all things related to cars I remember really enjoying his stories. Great yarns as I recall.

Michael I have finished Toly's Ghost, as well as all the other Burt Levy 'Buddy Palumbo' Books. Must say that the first two were the best mix of history and plot. The fabulous Trashwagon didn't quite hit the mark with me while Toly was just a long recitation of major racing events of the period with so believable plot to link them together.

Bob Judd wrote several racing related books beside Monza though I found most of them to be rather shallow as both stories and on the technical side.

Cheers
Lee

by **Malcolm McLeod** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:55 am

Interesting topic....I have found the Andrew Neilson books great, and the Douglas Rutherford books not bad either. In fact, I have The Gunshot Grand Prix on my bookshelf, but lost (and want!) Rally to the Death.
I also have Breaking Point, and Dead Straight, but found White Death not so good. Incidently, the Dart racing car described in Breaking Point was said to be designed by a brilliant New Zealand designer...but I forget his name!!!!!

You left off your list books by "W.E.B. Griffin"...he wrote several under the name "W.E. Butterworth", including Yankee Driver, several under the pseudonym of "James McM. Douglas", and 4 or 5 under the pseudonym of "Patrick J Williams". He also wrote several M*A*S*H books with Richard Hooker...

by **Malcolm McLeod** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:32 am

TonyG wrote:I have a few copies of Auto Action. Do they count. lol

If it's the April 1 1988 edition (check the date...) with the story about Dick Johnson driving a third McLaren Honda at Adelaide for the Grand Prix in it, then yes it counts as fiction!!!!!
Quote from DJ "I guess thats why it's called 'Auto Fiction', then..."

by **Powder** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:40 am

tonttu wrote:And not forgetting the children's books all written by NZ authors in recent years:
The Roaring River Rally by Moni Graham

Monica Graham is rally driver Emma Gilmour's sister, and also used to do a bit of rallying herself. I don't think she was quite in the league of Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill, but as drivers who have authored motorsport fiction I guess they have something in common.

by **Milan Fistonic** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 4:05 am

tonttu wrote:And not forgetting the children's books all written by NZ authors in recent years:
The Roaring River Rally by Moni Graham
Roger the Rally Car by Dick Oliver
Go Murph by Hamilton West School Students

And you could add to that list Slide the Corner by Fleur Beale published in 1993.

by **tonttu** » Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:55 am

And not forgetting the children's books all written by NZ authors in recent years:
The Roaring River Rally by Moni Graham
Roger the Rally Car by Dick Oliver
Go Murph by Hamilton West School Students

by **Steve Holmes** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:26 pm

Here is a contribution from Grant Ellwood:

"I found this book in a local (South Boston) antique shop recently. The book was published in USA in 1909 by the Saalfield Publishing Company, a departure in genre for the author who mostly wrote cowboy stories (no cowboys in motorsport of course!)".

by **stubuchanan** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:46 am

Milan Fistonic wrote:Two novels supposedly written by World Champions.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16370[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]16372[/ATTACH]

I could believe that the two Hawthorn books were written by him. They seem to be aimed at a young teenager market and are at best unremarkable.

On the other hand, I started reading yesterday "The Green Helmet" - the Fontana paperback with Sid James on the cover, picked up probably for 50c at a Lions Club book sale a year or 2 ago. Jon Cleary was a skilful writer, and his description of a '50's Le Mans 24 hour race has a genuine air. I remember the movie from way back then, cameo appearances from Roy Salvadori and Jack Brabham (who even mumbled a few words!)

Apart from a couple of Nevil Shute books with motor racing references, that is the extent of my motor racing fiction collection, although I have read some non-fiction that was so inaccurate it probably qualified!

Stu

by **Shoreboy57** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:28 am

Milan Fistonic wrote:[ATTACH=CONFIG]16369[/ATTACH]

You are correct. The novel, written by Manning Lee Stokes, was based on the screen story and screenplay written by Robert Alan Aurthur.

In the book it is stated: "This novelization arranged by Lyle Kenyon Engel."

Thanks Milan - I was too young for the movie on first release. The book was quite "racy" in its time for a youngster as I recall. Great to now be able to watch the movie on DVD. it was quite a feat for 1966 filming technology

The Roaring Season

Motor Sport Fiction

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