Book Review: Top 25 Race Cars of All Time

Posted by Hechtspeed on Nov 29, 2009 in Art & Photography, Racing | 2 comments

We’ve got another treat for you guys and gals from Motorbooks.  This time, we take a look at Basem Wasef’s “Legendary Race Cars”.

“Legendary Race Cars” is Basem’s Top 25 Race Cars of all time.  I dig how he’s chosen cars from all corners of the globe and from all forms of racing.  The book includes an off-road race truck, a WRC Rally Car, a Pikes Peak turbo monster, Le Mans cars from various decades, F1, a Nostalgia NHRA dragster and a few cars from the early 1900’s.

The pictures and photography are excellent.  It includes shots taken by the author himself as well as old archive photography from the race car’s hey-day.  Here’s a few examples below of Basem’s quality work.

You can’t have a Top Race Car’s list without the legendary Ford GT40 can you?

Here’s a Jaguar D-Type which won the 1956 24 Hours of LeMans with a 200 HP 3,442 cc Dual Overhead Cam inline 6 cylinder.  The curvy lines of these 50’s LeMan’s cars are pure sports car perfection.

Another legend, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, winner of the 1965 LeMans race.  The author explains the details behind that chopped off rear end design and the necessity of that duck-tail wing to keep it under control at high speeds.  Check out that exhaust tucked into the bodywork, all in the name of aerodynamics.  The poor drivers feet take a heating though.

This book helps continue the legacy these 25 race cars have left behind.  I really enjoyed reading this book and hoped it would keep going and going.  I hope Basem does more books of this type to showcase the many other race cars I think should be highlighted.  Top cars from Trans-Am and Road Racing, drag racers and land speed racers from the Bonneville Salt Flats.

What would you consider to be your Top 3 Legendary Race Cars of all time?  Leave a comment below with your favorites!

Hechtspeed