Rally Cars by Reinhard Klein

My wife's eyes nearly popped out of her head when I asked if I could just 'squeeze' a book into our suitcase a few hours before we set off on holiday. Make no mistake, Rally Cars is a BIG book!

With almost 600 pages, this hardback book is the size of an encyclopaedia, which is just what it is! It chronicles the life of the rally car since the 1950's up until the present day.

The opening chapters give the reader an insight into such areas as "What Is A Rally Car?", "The Role Of The Engineer", "Engines", "Gearbox", "Rally Car Safety" and a whole lot more. The text isn't overwhelming and the photography is stunning, which sets the tone for the rest of the book.

The history of the cars themselves begins with the Saab 92 and ends with the current breed of World Rally Cars. As you can imagine, there's a lot in between, including a "there to be drooled over" section of the Group B era. Each car section contains descriptive text, a chronological history of its rallying achievements, its technical specification and numerous photographs. The photographs, as I've already mentioned, are stunning.

I cannot believe how much value for money this book gives, especially when compared to other books of a similar price. Not only is it great to read from cover to cover a few times, but it is also so handy as a reference book! It entertains, as well as educates.

I purchased Rally Cars from a local bookshop and was surprised to see that Amazon don't appear to stock it. If you look at the section for it on their site here (www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/3829046251/anglernet), then you will see that every reviewer has raved about it. It really is a great book!

Recommending books is something that I usually do with hesitation, as it is so often a 'personal taste' thing, but Rally Cars by Reinhard Klein rates as one of the best £20 investments that I've ever made!

The ISBN number is 3-8290-4625-1

Copyright Elton Murphy, December 2001