Remarkable Motor Races by Andrew Benson – Review

By Liam Bird

Remarkable Motor Races might just as well have been called Remarkable Motor Racing Circuits, or something thereabouts, as surely one could argue, you can’t have on without the other.

Of course that’s not always the case. The legendary Le Mans 24 hours race originally took place entirely on the public highway, as did the Targa Florio. The Mille Miglia, the French Grand Prix at Reims, The Rome-Liege-Rome, The Carrera Panamericana, the Isle of Mann TT, the Monte Carlo Rally…  and that’s to name but a few.

Then there are the rallies, many of which are (or at least were) held in the forests; the frozen ones of Finland and Sweden, Germany’s famous Black one, and more locally the more-often-than-not wet ones of Wales. And of course, some of the most famous motor races of all don’t use any circuits at all. The dunes of the Paris Dakar are the stuff of motorsport folklore, there’s not an inch of either tarmac or Armco barrier to be seen

Andrew Benson has been covering motorsport for more than 30 years, and having worked for the BBC Sport, Autosport, and the Guardian, he has become regarded as one the world’s leading Formula 1 journalists. In this his latest book, Remarkable Motor Races, Benson draws on his pasts experiences within what is now the highest valued sports empire across the world. F1 alone is currently valued at £16.8bn, its global audience exceeds 445 million viewers – boosted no-doubt by the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, and stars such as Brad Pitt, and Taylor Swift all getting in the act in one way or another. Were it not for Swifty, would there even be a USA Grand Prix in Austin, Texas? See page 64 for the answer to that.

“Worthy addition”

Naturally, motor racing has also produced stars of its own. Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell, Lewis Hamilton, Jim Clark, James Hunt, Mario Andretti, Michelle Mouton, Henri Toivonen, Colin McRae, Tom Kristensen, Stirling Moss, Carlos Sainz (senior and junior), John Watson; Verstappen, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Raikonen, Mikkola, Vatanen, Kankunen, Piquet, Prost, Senna, Schwantz, Surtees, Sheene, Rossi, Agostini, McGuinness, Dunlop …  Household names, the lot of ‘em; household names the world over. (Well, they’re household names in our house, at least!). Our fascination with motorsport and its people seems to know no bounds.

Bringing all of that together into one book was never going to be a simple task, and one could argue there are some glaring omissions in Remarkable Motor Races. Why is there no mention of AVUS, Brooklands, or Shelsley Walsh? Monza gets four pages, Monaco gets eight, and Goodwood gets just two. Paul Ricard and Pau are out, whereas Las Vegas, and London Excel of all places, are in. And why are there no circuit layout diagrams?

That said, some of the photographs used are worth the £25 pound purchase price alone.

You’ll never truly settle the debate as to who or what constitutes a great driver or a great circuit, and try as you might you’ll probably never compile a definitive list either. Nevertheless, Remarkable Motor Races by Andrew Benson does a good job of trying to just that, and as either a point of reference, or as something to just pick-up and dip into at will, it makes for a worthy addition to any armchair-based expert’s bookcase.

‘Remarkable Motor Races’ by Andrew Benson is published by Pavilion Books