[Book Review] Winged Sports Cars and Enduring Innovation

Winged Sports Cars and Enduring Innovation

By János Wimpffen

If you’re a motorsport book collector, these are halcyon times. The past few months have seen a veritable cornucopia of truly fantastic enthusiast books released onto the market. One of the best of this high-quality crop is the latest hernia-producing tome from historian János Wimpffen entitled “Winged Sports Cars and Enduring Innovation: The International Championship for Manufacturers in Photographs 1962–1971.” The second of four books that are intended to serve as photographic companions to Wimpffen’s seminal Time and Two Seats, this book focuses on one of the most fascinating and explosive periods in sports car racing history.

The 1960s marked a dramatic shift in sports car racing delineated by the fast-growing avalanche of major manufacturer efforts from Ferrari, Porsche, Ford and Alfa Romeo, as well as highly evolved specialists like Shelby, Chaparral and Lola. These players fought truly epic battles at places like Le Mans, Daytona and the Targa Florio, with all the greatest drivers of the period as their soldiers.

In this latest book, Wimpffen has combed all the great international photographic collections to unearth 229 color and 327 black-and-white photos (most never before published) that, when combined with his authoritative captions, tell the fascinating story of sports car racing’s watershed decade. Beautifully produced by David Bull Publishing as a massive 11” x 13” 400-page “coffee table”-style book, this is a must have for any sports car racing enthusiast.

Available directly from the publisher for US$149.95 (£89.99) at (602) 852-9500 or at www.bullpublishing.com.