Le Mans 1923-29: The Official History Of The World's Greatest Motor Race Hardcover – April 15, 2016

Andre Lagache and Rene Leonard – who were they? When posed this question, many people may say they sound French, or may be from France, and they’d be right. But, would they answer that this pair were French engineers who won the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans? Unless they are race fans or motor heads, probably not.Indeed, Lagache and Leonard drove 128 laps in a Chenard et Walcker Sport in the first-ever twice-around-the-clock endurance classic we now know as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And now, this race – as well as the others held in the 1920s – are accounted for in another elaborate, meticulously detailed and researched, and (most importantly) well-written edition of the world’s greatest sports car race. Le Mans 1923-1929, an officially licensed publication of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, is the sixth edition in author Quentin Spurring’s decade-by-decade series, which already included the 1950s (including the 1949 race), 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.Le Mans 1923-1929 – published in the final quarter of 2015 – follows the same format and structure as other offerings in the series. If you’re expecting race recaps and full results, never-before-seen photos, notes on every car, features, regulations, controversies, and statistics on every make and driver, don’t worry; you’ll get it.Included is a prologue detailing races at Le Mans, from 1906 to 1922, before the 24 Hours race became a near annual event. Then, the readers are treated to individual chapters on every year between and including 1923 and 1929. Like the other editions, each chapter begins with statistics and pre-race entry list, with that year’s circuit length, (honorary) starter(s), marques, number of entries, and other items.Then Spurring pulls you in further with well-written copy leading up to and including the race, as well as notes on the cars, teams, and drivers. Readers learn more about Chenard et Walcker, which produced automobiles in France until the 1940s; the first races for Bentley, GM, and Stutz; the race’s first fatality; and a many, many other short features. Each chapter ends with full race results, including the race’s non-qualifiers, and a list of race winners in other events during that year. The text is complemented with photos (in this edition, most are black and white) as well as event posters (in color) promoting the race.The book ends with statistics on each marque and driver, as well as bar and pie graphs detailing reasons for retirements, driver nationalities (in this decade, France accounted for more than 75 percent of driver participation), fast laps, margins of victory, and more.The book’s artistic dust cover features many of the cars that won during the 1920s. On the front is Woolf Barnato, the first three-time overall race winner, in a Bentley 4.5-Liter vehicle that won in 1928. The back of the cover features other race winners, including the inaugural race-winning Chenard et Walcker.Once again, Spurring has provided his readers with a gem covering the world’s greatest endurance classic. This book, despite its hefty price tag, is worth its weight in gold (again, well-written in terms of detail and spelling/grammar), and belongs in every Le Mans enthusiast’s collection. After celebrating your newest release, Mr. Spurring, I’m sure myself and others are already eagerly awaiting editions from the 1930s and 2000s. It doesn’t matter which one is first; either is fine. Thank you!(A couple of notes that do not affect the book’s review but are specific to Amazon, from which the book was purchased. The book was expected to be released March 15, 2016, but was pushed back, and succeeding emails suggested the book would not be released until mid-April and May (which wouldn’t be good, as that’s primetime for purchasing Indianapolis 500 material). Subsequently, however, the book was released at the end of March and at my doorstep three days before the final update. It was packaged in plastic within a box that featured an air pack, and thus the book arrived in pristine condition. Kudos to Amazon for a job well done!)Le Mans: The Official History Of The World’s Greatest Greatest Motor Race, 1923-29By Quentin SpurringHardcover, 336 pagesPublished by Evro Publishing LimitedList Price: $79.95

A well written book that covers in detail an era of racing that has almost been forgotten. These were the men that pushed their cars to the limit, at times paying with their lives. These warriors laid the foundation to create what we know today as Le Mans. A good read for those who are interested in the history of endurance motor racing.

Good book for a lover of car books. FYI these LeMans are a series.

Once a year, teams, drivers, and automakers – to say nothing of thousands of spectators – converge on a small corner of France to be part of an event that has come to call itself the world's greatest motor race. For twenty-four hours straight, cars run a circuit of approximately eight miles in length near the town of Le Mans. They must survive being pummeled by kerbs and hold together at triple-digit speeds as they rocket down the Mulsanne Straight. Drivers must be able to work safely around others in cars that may be slower or faster than their own, and they must cope with ever-changing circuit conditions that can see a rain shower at one end of the course and dry, sunny track at the other.The potential for drama is immense, but it isn't new. The 24-hour event at Le Mans has taken place nearly every year since 1923. Quentin Spurring has set out to capture that sprawling history in his "Le Mans: The Official History of the World's Greatest Motor Race." This volume, 1923-29, wasn't the first to be published, but does make a logical starting point if you're interested in getting the whole vast story.The book actually begins with a brief but informative history of motor racing up to 1922, setting the stage for the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's creation of a 24-hour endurance event. Interestingly, the ACO didn't conceive the meeting as a race; in the organizers' minds, it was purely an endurance trial, a way to demonstrate that a car could survive such a day-long flogging. But of course, the moment you get cars and drivers—plural—and put them in proximity to each other, you get a race, whether you want one or not. The ACO would only officially (and then grudgingly) recognize this fact in 1928.That's not the only unusual thing about the origins of the Le Mans event. The ACO initially planned a series of overlapping triennial cups, with winners determined by performance over three consecutive annual events. By just the second year, it became apparent that this would quickly grow impossibly complicated, with different cars on track technically participating in several separate events, and the ACO pursued a biennial cup thereafter.Spurring breaks down the history of Le Mans by year, with each year being essentially a separate chapter. Each begins with a couple of pages summarizing salient details of the race. This includes straightforward facts like the date, conditions, and entry list, but also information about how the rules changed from event to event and other niceties of the organization. An overall summary of the race meeting is also provided. Then the chapter proceeds to offer a description of every team, and really every single car, that participated in the event. These descriptions often delve into the background of manufacturers or participants and even touch on other events they took part in for the year in question. Photographs of virtually every car are provided, the illustrations done full justice by the large, glossy pages. (If you've ever encountered an Evro book before, you'll be familiar with their superb production standards; they uphold that reputation here.)A truly stupendous amount of research must have gone into this book, and not all of it will feel relevant to every reader. I, for example, am not an engineering type, and my eyes tended to glaze over when the text started to detail the stroke and bore of every engine or describe the specific types of springs used in a car's suspension. Luckily, it's not too hard to skim past things you’re not interested in. To be honest, I thought the descriptions of the first few years felt a little bit lacking in anecdote, but there are much fuller descriptions of the goings-on in the race nearer the end of the book, so I'm willing to chalk that up to a paucity of sources for the earliest events. If I were to wish for one thing in this book, it might be something in the way of contemporary descriptions, especially from participants. I kept finding myself wondering: "What was it _like_ to race at Le Mans in the 1920s?" I'm not familiar enough with the sources to know whether this is a question that can really be answered, but in any event, this book doesn't do so to any meaningful extent.Despite that quibble, I found myself enjoying this history very much. Most of the individual segments are no more than a few pages long, so it’s easy to pick up, read a story or two, and then put down again, perfect for a little light reading before bed, say. I bought this book not quite sure what I would make of it – whether it would hold my interest or turn out to be more than I really wanted to know. I certainly didn't expect to read it cover to cover and be eager to move on to the next volume, but here I am. This is a rewarding deep dive into one of the most prestigious events in motorsport. The track may be made of dirt or early tarmac compounds; the cars may look worlds apart from the rocket ship-like prototypes that now cover the circuit in three minutes and change; but it turns out the drama was there from the beginning.~