Cars at Speed
By Robert Daley
Some 46 years ago, Cars at Speed by Robert Daley first appeared in bookstores and was something of a bestseller in the U.S. and England. “It covers a period when the racing of fast motor cars bore little resemblance to what is done today, some say no resemblance,” writes Daley in the introduction to the 2007 edition, published by Motor Books International.
Daley sums up an era, and he does it by describing in poetic detail the great, lost, road-racing circuits, and the great drivers who triumphed and sometimes died on them: Juan Fangio, Stirling Moss, Fon de Portago, Phil Hill, Harry Schell, Peter Collins, Jean Behra, Mike Hawthorne and others. Daley knew many of them well. He dispatches with making heroes out of them—they did not view themselves this way he tells us. Daley befriends one of them (Phil Hill), cares about them, worries about them, and feels the loss on a personal level whenever one of them dies. That is what makes his book so worthwhile. We, too, come to know these drivers as we read their stories.
Daley’s portrait of de Portago has been republished in several magazines down through the years and is perhaps the most poignant. We see de Portago as a living, breathing person who pushes the limits once too often and dies in a violent crash that kills a dozen others, needlessly as Daley makes clear.
Daley was highly criticized in his day for his frank reporting of accidents and death, something not done by the dominant British press at the time. In fact, Daley brought modern reporting skills to a sport that for too long had romanticized its drivers while ignoring the accidents and deaths that were an all-too-regular occurrence. Available for US$27.95 (£18.99) from better bookstores or online at www.motorbooks.com
