Customer Reviews

Motocourse 50 Years of MOTO Grand Prix: The Official History of The FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand prix (Hazleton History)

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Even if you're not one of the die-hards who regularly buys the Motocourse annual this is the book you cannot live without. Five chapters deal with the different epoques in Motorcycle GP Racing - especially the chapter covering the years 78-87, written by Dennis Noyes is captivating, but even the chapter covering 88-98 by Michael Scott brings tears to your eyes.

The book is deliberately sprinkled with excellent photos, and for the anoraks among us, there is a complete statistic appendix covering results and records.

If this book is not enough for you, another book is available on the same topic. It's french, written by Didier Ganneau and is called - surprise - 50 ans de Grands Prix Moto. (1999 Editions SOLAR, ISBN 2-363-02877-3)

Execellent and comprehensive study of the Grand Prix motorcycle scene, with lots on insider stuff besides just the statistics. I especially enjoyed the vignette on the role and influence that "King Kenny" Roberts had on the Euro-centric organizational power structure.

The one short-coming which perhaps Dennis Noyes will address for his NEXT book would be maps for all the circuits where GP motorcycle races have been run.

This one belongs in every two-wheel enthusiast's library

For anyone who needs to know anything about grand prix racing, this book tells it all. The great English and Italian bikes, the coming of the Japanese and so on, it's all here. Fantastic photos and priceless words. Worth every penny.

Anyone with serious interest in motocycle racing needs a reference work of impeccable quality and accuracy, and this is it. There is no point in going on at length about the excellence of this magnificent book, because it delivers satisfaction at every level, from the quality of its contributors (Dennis Noyes, Michael Scott, et al), the brilliance of its photography (Malcolm Bryan, Gold & Goose, etc.) and the completeness of its historical record, not only in describing the technical trajectory of race-bike development and rider accomplishment in all relevant classes, including sidercar, but in the vital statistics that record the results. It's all here, rendered at the highest levels of journalism and publishing.
Hazelton's annual Motocourse journals on motoGP racing are terrific, but somewhat costly, but this wrapup of the entire post-WWII record of GP motorcycle racing does it all. No enthusiast should be without it.