BOOKS
The start of something green
A radically revisited volume applauds a man and a team who put Britain on top of the world, says Gordon Cruickshank
Available from the Motor Sport shop shop.motorsportmagazine.com
“Churchillian” Tony Vandervell stands by
Lewis-Evans’ car at Pescara in 1957, where Vanwall would inflict a sound home defeat for Italy
THERE’S A PHOTO IN HERE WHICH made me blink when that page fell open – the life-size face of Jenks gazing at me with those shrewd eyes. It took me back to times in the office when he was carefully explaining something to me about Altas, or why all Bugattis were fakes unless he said otherwise. He and historian Cyril Posthumus were the perfect pair to write this book back in 1975; both thorough, painstaking over details, and both on hand, attending Vanwall’s races and hearing first-hand about the tribulations of creating a grand pre-winner. In this new edition the text is as the original but the scope is considerably greater, with fresh, stylish presentation, generous photos, and Doug Nye on hand to annotate the images with facts and pithy comment. Of a photo showing Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon, parents of the over-produced BRM, he says Vandervell “quickly got their number”. Another showing the bulky Froilàn Gonzàlez recalls a time “when the drivers were fat and the tyres were skinny”.