Vanwall – Green for Glory
By Ed McDonough
When most enthusiasts of ’50s British motorsport, think about the consummate Grand Prix car of the period, the name Vanwall invariably rises to the top of the list. Created by industrialist Tony Vandervell, the Vanwall Grand Prix effort was Vandervell’s answer to what he saw as the British racing establishment’s inability to hold up their side against the great Italian teams of the period. With talented drivers like Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, the Vanwall team endured several rough years, before they finally clinched the 1958 Constructors Championship.
In “Vanwall—Green for Glory,” VRJ European editor Ed McDonough paints a fascinating and detailed picture of the rise and fall of the famed Vanwall effort. However, what really sets this book apart from other works on Vanwall is the rigorous level of historical research conducted to finally set the record straight on this oftentimes misunderstood British Formula One icon.
McDonough has broken with tradition and, rather than relying solely on Jenkinson’s period accounts (like so many authors have done), he has conducted in-depth interviews with actual team participants such as Moss, Brooks and Surtees to get a firsthand account of what really went on and how it all came about. The result is that McDonough has been able to debunk many commonly held myths not only about the team, but also about its allegedly xenophobic principal Vandervell.
Illustrated with 192 pages of rare black and white photographs (and an eight-page color gallery from the 1957 Italian Grand Prix), if a criticism is to be made of this book it is that the reproduction quality of some of the black and white photos is not up to the standards set by the content. However, this a highly informative and enjoyable read that will certainly become the reference work for the marque. Available from Crowood Press (www.crowood.com) for $34.95 (£19.95).
