The ten best driving books of 2010

Shunt: The Story Of James Hunt by Tom Rubython (Formula One Books)

Tom Rubython's hugely enjoyable journey into the playboy life of Formula One's most rock'n'roll champion is without question this year's meatiest, headline-grabbing and best motor-racing biography. While the revelations that Hunt would go on huge benders in the weeks leading up to important races are reminders of a different, less prosaic and more carefree world, there's also plenty of emotional weight here, as Rubython draws a picture of a complex, conflicted and, of course, incredibly gifted character.

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Ferrari 250 GTO: The History Of A Legend by Anthony Pritchard
(JH Haynes)

Earlier this year, Chris Evans was said to have spent as much as £15m on a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO. All of which made Anthony Pritchard’s definitive history of one of the world’s most valuable cars rather timely. He explains that it’s not just the GTO’s scarcity that’s made it so iconic - just 40 were lovingly constructed in the early 1960s - but its incredible track record and, as the lovely images illustrate, its classic beauty. There are also individual histories of every car ever built - which means it’s probably on Chris Evans’ Christmas list too.

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Grand Prix Battlegrounds by Christopher Hilton (JH Haynes)

The cover might look like an annual bought for small boys around Christmas time, but what’s revealed inside is impressive stuff. Hilton not only guides us around every single Formula 1 circuit used since 1950 - from Donington to Monte Carlo - but provides expert analysis from the drivers who conquered some of the most famous tracks in the history of motor sport. With evocative pictures, and even a paragraph on each race held at the circuits over the past 60 years, it’s the perfect companion to any Formula 1 season.
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The Golden Age Of Formula One by RW Schlegelmilch (teNeues)

This year’s coffee table photography book of choice, The Golden Age Of Formula 1, coincided with an exhibition of Rainer Schlegelmilch’s work in London. If anyone deserved such treatment it was the much-loved veteran of motor-racing photography, and this 200-page collection of his work features some of his most iconic shots of the cars, tracks and drivers across his 40 year career. Dazzling in their visceral beauty, Schlegelmilch’s images somehow freeze a fast-paced sport in a moment - and yet capture its enthralling speed.

Fordlandia by Greg Grandin (Icon)

Very much the thinking man’s car book, Greg Grandin explores a much overlooked chapter in Henry Ford’s life. In 1927, the man responsible for the Model T bought a big plot of land in Brazil, and set about creating the perfect community. It helped, of course, that it also appeared to be the perfect place to grow the rubber tree - but Ford genuinely had a dream of a socially-engineered, industrial utopia. Grandin nails it for the folly it was - Ford attempted to build a car made of soya here - but there’s real insight into the idealism that drove the man who made the motor car a commodity rather than a luxury.
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Jo Siffert: Swiss Racing Legend by Ed Heuvink (Klein, Reinhard Verlag)

Siffert’s name might be unfamiliar to those who have grown up idolising Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton, but this 1960s Swiss Formula 1 driver deserves the beautiful reappraisal he receives in Ed Heuvink’s well judged, picture-heavy biography. Siffert is best known for becoming the last privateer to win a Grand Prix (Brands Hatch in 1968), but in gathering together archive material from throughout his career, Heuvink reveals the sheer depth of the driver’s talent and passion. Siffert was killed at Brands Hatch in a BRM just three years after his most famous triumph - making this a poignant reminder of the cost of motor-racing, too.
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Ferrari Design: The Definitive Study by Glen Smale (JH Haynes)

Given the excellence of Anthony Pritchard’s study of the 250 GTO, you might wonder if you need another Ferrari book in your life this year. But Smale’s book is interesting in a different way - it’s a proper, in depth analysis of why and how Ferrari have made some of the best looking cars on the planet. Refreshingly, it’s also written in a chatty, approachable style - Smale does more than provide extended captions for the eye candy - and he’s not afraid to suggest that Ferrari have been far from perfect over the years.
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The Allure Of The Automobile by Ron Labaco (Rizzoli)

Right from the stunning jacket image - a shiny Dubonnet Hispano-Suiza H-6C “Xenia” looking for all the world like an Art Deco masterpiece - it’s clear that this will be no ordinary car book. Labaco’s mission was to choose 18 of the most beautiful cars built between 1930 and 1960, so glorious models from Porsche, Jaguar, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz are all present and correct, wonderfully photographed and explained. Like The Golden Age Of Formula 1, The Allure Of The Automobile was also an exhibition in Atlanta earlier this year - where the actual cars were in situ. For those who weren’t fortunate enough to be there, this sumptuous book is some recompense.
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Burning Rubber: A Extraordinary Story Of Formula 1 by Charles Jennings (Quercus)

If Christopher Hilton’s book (above) is the slightly sober reference manual for Formula 1, then Charles Jennings’ history of the sport is its wide-eyed and readable companion. And in going right back to the first organised motor race in 19th century France, Jennings gives Formula 1 a frame of reference well beyond its 60 years. He’s particularly strong on the insane politics of the sport, but this never clouds his clear-eyed assessments of its many personalities. It’s possibly more an introduction to the sport than an encyclopedic guide, but there’s much to enjoy here nonetheless.
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Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip by Peter Hessler (Canongate)

If you’re of the school of thought that our over-policed roads lined with irrelevant signs have taken all the simple fun out of driving, then go to China. This seems to be the initial message from Hessler’s travelogue charting his anarchic trips across a country where no-one seems to be able to drive properly and the policemen are fibre-glass models. But China also bought more new cars than the United States last year, and Hessler is a fine writer, imbuing his journeys with real emotional charge as he meets a nation on the cusp of real change.
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