[Book Review] Dallara – It’s a Beautiful Story

Dallara – It’s a Beautiful Story

By Guido Schittone

This bilingual book, in Italian and English, may already be a collector’s item. That’s because only 500 copies were originally printed and it was copyrighted in 2011. In any case, it presents a heartfelt history of Gian Paolo Dallara’s eponymous specialist automobile construction company that discusses each of the car designs that the company has produced, either under its own logo, or badged by customers like Ferrari, Bugatti, Fiat, Lancia or Maserati.

While many Dallaras have been built for open competition, such as Formula One, much of Dallara’s success has come in the dreaded spec-car marketplace, where his economies of scale have tipped the balance in his favor for series where all the cars are built to a single specification. Formula Three has probably been the most lucrative arena for the company in this regard, but it is also currently the supplier for the Indycar series in the USA.

The core of the book takes readers through the step-by-step process of designing and building a car, from setting the project budget to beginning the initial drawings and cranking up the production line through to the wheels turning on the ground for the first time. The entire process is illustrated with superb photography so that one nearly feels they have been to the factory to watch.

Available for €50/US$65.50 from Libreria dell’Automobile, at: www.libreriadellautomobile.net