Customer Reviews

The Cruel Sport: Grand Prix Racing 1959-1967

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This review will have two parts: (1) for those who are familiar with the original book, and (2) for those who are not.

(1) Despite the claim of the title (1959 - 1967), there is little in this book that was not in the original version 40 years ago. This still very much a book about the years 1959-1962. Here is what is new: bios of Jimmy Clark and Jackie Stewart; new Forward and Afterword written by Daley, explaining how he got into motor racing journalism, and why he got out; color photos of Bandini on inside of front and back covers; a few new photos (about half a dozen), replacing a few that were dropped; and a glossy page format which gives much better definition to the black-and-white photos. And that's it. There's nothing here of Rindt or Amon or Courage or Pedro Rodriguez or Siffert or Hulme. If you already have the original book, it's (possibly) a matter of your personal budget whether you'll spring for the new version; I did, and I don't regret it. I enjoyed the new Forward and Afterword because they told me something about Daley himself. I was very surprised to learn that at the time of the original publication of "The Cruel Sport," he was in his early 30s; I had always assumed he was a much older man. And his story of his struggle to establish himself as a writer was fascinating.

(2) If you are a tekkie, this book is not for you. But if you are a romantic - even perhaps a bit of a mystic - about motor racing in the glory days of the early 60s, this book will become a fast favorite. It is basically a photo book supported by text, text which is sparse and almost poetic at times - expressionistic and anecdotal. Daley covers Grand Prix racing thematically: there are sections on the drivers, the factories, practice, accidents, and so forth. There are brief bios of most of the drivers of that era, the longest of which - about 5 pages - is about Stirling Moss. Other drivers who feature prominently are Phil Hill, Count Wolfgang von Trips, and Graham Hill. The photos are wonderful, and are all in black-and-white (except for the inside cover pics, both of Bandini - one of him talking to reporters, the other of his fatal crash at Monaco). Daley is above all preoccupied with the danger of the sport and the qualities of the men who pursue it. The early 60s was an era of great names, great faces, and - all too often - tragedy. This book captures the spirit of the times, and stands alongside the annual F1 reviews of Louis Stanley as the most fascinating glimpses into the pre-commercialized world of Grand Prix racing, an era rapidly receding into the mists of time.

A fascinating snapshot of a bygone age, most of "Cruel Sport" is Robert Daley's poetic accounts of 1950s and 60s Grand Prix racing, actually captions to his incredible photos.

Interspersed between photo sections are biographies. Most striking are bios of the great Stirling Moss, the crash prone but likeable Wolfgang von Trips, and the sullen Phil Hill.

Most shocking is that of Formula One kingpin Enzo Ferarri, sending reckless driver after driver to their deaths in a ruthless quest to prove his namesake car to be the fastest in the world- all the while grieving the death of his son Dino at the hands of a crippling disease.

What makes the writing great is the way Daley gives the reader an inside glimpse of the personal lives, thoughts and fears of the drivers. From the chateau of the upper crust wine connoisseur Olivier Gendeblien, to a before and after snapshot of Dan Gurney showing the strains of stress on his face after three years on the circuit, this is a rare look into not only the glories of the racing lifestyle, but the bitter price often paid for that glory.

The copy I read was an original from 1963, and perhaps the idea of picking up a "picture book" about race car drivers may seem juvenile. But this is clearly much more than another picture book, and a true treasure for not only racing fans, but any reader with a casual interest in motorsport.

Unlike today where safety has almost sanitized racing to the point where the human, dangerous element has all been eliminated, the Grand Prix racing covered here is from a truly terrifying era. This is a fine tribute to the heroes of what must seem to race fans of today to be a barbaric age.

A dramatic, superbly written historical review of Grand Prix auto racing when it was very different than it is today. For anyone who lived through this period of automotive history, or who wants to learn about the history of the GP circuit before it became a circus, this is the book. The photos are great as well. I am delighted to see it back in print as I won't have to loan my cherished original copy out anymore, but can buy copies to send as presents. If you like GP racing, this is the best investment you can make for your bookshelf.

This is an incredible book for any F1 fan. It is straightforward in its delivery and still conveys the emotions of the author and drivers. The pictures are great and will transport you through time just as the writing does. Amazing!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this golden age of Formula One racing. It would also make an excellent gift for the F1 enthusiast. The photos are spectacular and Daley's writing is evocative; reading the book really brings you back to the late-50s/early-60s of Formula One. I wasn't even alive at the time, yet reading the book made me feel as if I was reliving these years.

The years covered by this book are without doubt the most dangerous period in Formula One. It was a time when the teams had almost completely transitioned from the front-engened monsters, which had not changed much in the previous three decades, to the smaller, lighter, reduced-power, and rear-engined machines that replaced them. The new cars had only a fraction of the horsepower of the ones they replaced and nothing near their straightline top speed. Those deficits notwithstanding, the newer, smaller machines could on a road course run away and hide from their predecessors.

And along with being wickedly fast, the rear-engined cars were exceedingly dangerous, both to drivers and spectators, for the fact was that, while the new cars were vastly improved racing machines, they had advanced not at all in terms of safety features. Like their forebears, most of them didn't even have seat belts, let alone on-board fire suppression, carbon fiber driver tubs, head and neck restraints, and all the other technology that today has allowed fifteen years to pass since the last driver fatality in Formula One.

Though this book deals only with grand prix, this most dangerous era actually brought racers on the continent to a place which the American version of motor sport had occupied for years...a place where a majority of drivers achieving prominence in an open-wheeled race car never lived to retire. Johnny Rutherford, a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner who grew up fighting it out on the death and injury laden dirt tracks of the midwest, has said that, "Sometimes, we'd lose two a night." And that level of casualty had marked U.S. auto racing for decades. The F1 world previously had been spared it for the simple reason that most of the time they weren't going as fast as the Americans. When Indy was being won at an average speed in the 120-130 mph range, grand pix events were posting average winning speeds of less than 100mph. Also, the F1 circuits then being raced could comprise a lap in excess of ten miles, while tracks in the U.S. saw the field of cars crowded into ovals of one-fourth to one mile. In short, the Americans usually were racing closer to each other, leading inevitably to two cars attempting to occupy the same space at the same time - the root cause of most racing accidents.

But by the late fifties to early sixties, Formula One had joined U.S. auto racing in becoming not just a cruel sport, but in reality a death sport. Ernest Hemingway said in the first half of the last century that the only "sports" were bull fighting, mountain climbing, and auto racing, terming the rest, "games." We know what he meant, don't we?

It's not like that anymore. Advances in the construction of the cars, driver protection clothing and devices, and race courses better prepared and equipped to deal with the inevitible crashes allow us regularly to watch the most horrfying appearing pileups, from which the driver climbs un-harmed, raising their arms in the air to accept the ovation of the crowd.

In his book, Daley actually laments the dullness these advances have brought to motor racing, as have others. And that's where it gets sticky. Motor racing aficianados, hardcore folks who will tell you they absolutely do not attend these events hoping to see catastrophe, will also tell you that they simply are not as exciting as they were in the past - in racing's "golden age." And indeed, today's contests...particularly in Indycar and NASCAR, where everyone drives essentially the same car...are not as competitive as we remember them. And of course, they are not nearly so dangerous as they used to be, either.

Auto racing was but is no longer a death sport, a fact which forces us to look in the mirror and ask, what really did draw us to it in the first place?

This book contains a lot of interesting and good pics about the 'gold age' of F1. It has also a text to read, not just some comments under each photo.

The book is divided in chapters, focused on the different aspects of GP: "the driver", "the car", "the race" and so on.

Personally I prefer "Cars at Speed", written by Robert Daley also, as it's a better read, more focused on text than this one.

Anyway this is a good book for any motorsport fan, even more if it's interested on that age.

Regards

I was in my early teens in the years covered in this book and the participants covered were heroes to me. I came across this title reading an obit for Phil Hill and went to Amazon to see what the general consensus was on the book. I read the reviews and ordered it and I agree wholeheartedly that it deserves five stars. This being an opinion from someone who was familiar with the drivers and the era covered in the book so the nostalgia factor influenced this review. YMMV.

Being born in 1982, I wasn't around for this era of Grand Prix racing. Sure, I'd heard the stories about how dangerous a period it was and how drivers put it all on the line every time they got in a car. However, this book made it clear just how dangerous Grand Prix racing - and all motorsport for that matter, was. The driver biographies are certainly not full length, but they provide a snapshot of what was going through the driver's minds when they were racing. I enjoyed Phil Hill's comments, especially the statements talking about Enzo Ferrari.

Above all, this is a picture book. That is not a negative to the book though, it is the main feature. The photographs were all taken by the author through the course of his covering F1 during that era as a writer/photographer.

This is one of those books that I read cover to cover within hours of receiving it. It tells the amazing story of early Grand Prix racing. After reading it, it really had me wondering why anybody would have been a driver back then. Too many drivers died while racing, and this book has these stories in photographs. In the book, Daley's articles on Alfonso de Portago and Wolfgang von Trips are excellent.

I really enjoy this book and would recommend it to anybody who is a fan of the old Grand Prix era.