Great Motor Sport of the Thirties - A Personal Account by John Dugdale

The thirties was the era when nations raced: Germany, Italy, France and Britain each carrying their patriotism and nationalism to the rivalry of the race tracks. John Dugdale was in a perfect position to record the events of this momentous decade, joining The Autocar as a young reporter in the early thirties and eventually becoming assistant editor. In this book, he recalls the highlights of the six classic forms of the sport — rallies, sports car racing, voiturette, track, Grand Prix and speed records. On the spot descriptions and interviews are threaded together with technical analysis, and each chapter concludes with a general summary and the main race or record results. There are fascinating reports, such as Dugdale’s run in the Hugh Hunter Alfa Romeo 2.9, and the run to the Continent in 1939 in the Embiricos Bentley. Then there are the racing drivers whose names are some of the most famous in history: The Silver Arrows team - Caracciola, Nuvolari, Rosemeyer, and Seaman were all observed and known personally by the author. There are the makes victorious in the toughest contests that could be devised — MG, Triumph, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bugatti, Delage, ERA, Mercedes-Benz, Auto-Union and Napier-Railton, holder of the land speed record for a quarter of a century. Most of the 150 photographs which illustrate this book were taken by the author. Of outstanding historical interest, some never previously published, they vividly evoke the atmosphere of the most dramatic era in the history of motor sport.