Lavish two-volume work in slip case. Charts the origins, careers and legacies of English racing driver's George Abecassis and John Heath who formed the HWM Grand Prix team from their garage business in Surrey in the late 1940s. For the next half a decade built and ran racing and sports cars in Formula 1, Formula 2 and events such as the Mille Miglia and Goodwood 9 Hours.
In the process they gave an early career break to a teenager called Stirling Moss who di pretty well as a result. George had been a leading driver at Brooklands until the war broke out and John was more of an amateur who raced less and ran the team. In the early 50s HWMs were driven by numerous famous names from future Ferrari F1 star Peter Collins to Le Mans winners Duncanm Hamilton and Paul Frere.
Sadly the team came to an abrupt end when John Heath died after an accident in the 1956 Mille Miglia but the cars and the legacy continued as Britain developed a motor racing industry in the 1950s that included Lotus, BRM, Cooper, Vanwall and Lola . But HWM were racing in the highest echelons of motor racing before any of them.
Written by the famous journalist & broadcaster Simon Taylor, who owns and hillclimbs on the team cars from 1950 himself, this book is profusely illustrated and filled with anecdotes and the flavour of motor sport as it was in a free and easy age long before commercial sponsorship and safety concerns took it further and further away from the sport it has been.
528 large pages. Both columes in very good clean coindition with dust jackets to match and in a classy BRG slip case with 'gold' embossing. VERY heavy, well over 4kgs so the postage & packing charge is set to allow for this.
