Great Read

January 1982. Tears at Number 10, newsreaders scrabbling for a map of north-west Africa and travel agents panicking to get News of the World scribes on the first plane to…

It was nominated by readers of Motor Sport as the world's greatest racing car, and it's not hard to see why. Back-to-back Le Mans wins in 1970 and '71 and…

At 8.46 on the morning of January 4 1967 Donald Campbell took what became the last great gamble of his life on Coniston Water. Only moments after speeding down the…

We sat at the start of the opening special stage. The pace notes were on my knee and, behind our heads, the engine burbled away through its twinchoke Dellortos. We…

Death fully defines a man. Potential for things not yet done no longer exists." Someone said this in a book about jazz great Eric Dolphy, but it applies universally to…

It was 1996, 13 years since Jean-Pierre Jarier had last raced in Formula 1. The Porsche Supercup cars arrived under heavy braking for Paul Ricard's tight first corner, Emanuel Collard…

There are numerous cars greater than the sum of all their parts. There are few, though, infinitely greater. And this is one of them. From its Unipart-sourced pressure cap to…

Chapman the designer; Chapman the race team manager; Chapman the business entrepreneur; we are used to these pictures of the charismatic Lotus supremo. But way back at the beginning, he…

Niki Lauda is a legend. There is no other word for it. This is the man who cheated death, was given the last rites and went on to win a…

One of IndyCar racing’s greatest stars of the 1970s and ’80s was Johnny Rutherford, who made his name in the early ’60s on dirt tracks and won the Indianapolis 500…

The one that got away Jacques Laffite: 1983 Monaco Grand Prix "There are a few frustrating races I remember from the Ligier days, especially in 1979 and '80 when we had…

He smiles in a manner that appears more resigned than amused. It’s clear that Ian Ashley has heard the same question in various guises all his professional life. “Ah, the…

It was inevitable that the Monza paddock should be a tense place over the weekend of the 2001 Italian Grand Prix. Everyone arrived there on the Thursday, reeling still from the atrocities of…

X stood for experimental, G for Guinness; same manufacturer, but, as you might have already guessed, radically different mindsets. X had its eye on the midterm future, was – or…

A vigorous battle between the Parnelli of Mario Andretti and John Watson's Penske enlivened the early stages of the 1976 South African GP, the second round of the championship. And…

What is the sound sweetest to your ears? The call of the first cuckoo, real ale being pumped into a glass, the thud of leather on willow? Well, to rally…

No sooner had Michael Schumacher flashed over the Suzuka finishing line to win the Japanese Grand Prix than he'd thrust open his visor and was beating both clenched fists up…