Great Read

Grand prix racing was a changing world by 1958. And after the opening race of that season, in Argentina, it would never be the same again, for a tiny rear-engined…

"Mad Ronald," Mike Hailwood used to call him. Twenty and 30 years ago, Grand Prix racing may have been infinitely more perilous than now, but it lacked the hard edge…

The first thing you notice is the shock of white hair which stands out dramatically across the crowded room. Then you take in the fact that he still stands ramrod…

It doesn't happen often, but just once in a while you get a race that not only lives up to its promise but actually exceeds it. Anyone who was there…

On January 24 last year a group of people gathered near Vienna to celebrate what would have been the 50th birthday of Jo Gartner. Often overlooked today, the Austrian was…

Tap the name 'Johnny Dumfries' into any internet search engine and you get the grand prix encyclopaedia pages. You're told that he was born in a castle and that he…

It wasn't always like this. The FIA's Charlie Whiting and Herbie Blash today ensure that a grand prix weekend runs like clockwork and that any indiscretions by teams or drivers…

It sits there, brooding, like some sulking schoolboy not allowed to play with his friends when he knows he could be the best striker on the pitch. Sporting a rear…

90 years ago, on the eve of the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, Howard C Marmon faced a dilemma. As president of the Indianapolis-based Nordyke & Marmon Company, he possessed…

Before examining Onofre's demise, we should go back to his seventh world championship grand prix start, the 1953 season-closer at Monza. Qualifying had gone well, and from the second row…

The winter of 1957-58 must have been an interesting time for John Wyer and David Brown, the men charged with determining the future direction of Aston Martin’s racing endeavours. Some…

The race which was particularly exciting for me was probably my first Grand Prix win for Lotus in Japan in 1976. The weather conditions were dreadful, some of the drivers…

Michael Burn is 92, a former Times correspondent, poet and playwright. But when Henry Birkin met him he was a young student who had never written anything. A mere three…

Amidst all the euphoria of Mansell and Senna and their transatlantic crossings, Rick Ravon Mears stepped from the spotlight last December. As ever, when he announced his intention to retire…

It's Derek Bell who makes the comparison: "I've just come back from the first GP Masters race in South Africa. Enthusiastic crowd starved of racing, watching big names in winter…

Howden Ganley’s Formula 1 career began with BRM in 1971 and ended against a barrier at the Nürburgring in 1974, both legs broken. In between he might have won the…

May 1982. Monaco Grand Prix. Six drivers swap the lead in less than two laps. Alain Prost is heading for victory when his Renault goes off before the swimming pool.…