Motorworld

Melissa Holbrook Pierson

The Perfect Vehicle: What It is about Motorcycles

In a book that is "a must for anyone who has loved a motorcycle" (Oliver Sacks), Melissa Pierson captures in vivid, writerly prose the mysterious attractions of motorcycling. She sifts through myth and hyperbole: misrepresentations about danger, about the type of people who ride and why they do so. The Perfect Vehicle is not a mere recitation of facts, nor is it a polemic or apologia. Its vivid historical accounts-the beginnings of the machine, the often hidden tradition of women who ride, the tale of the defiant ones who taunt death on the racetrack-are intertwined with Pierson's own story, which, in itself, shows that although you may think you know what kind of person rides a motorcycle, you probably don't.

Samuel Hawley

Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties

The quest for the land speed record in the 1960s and the epic rivalry between two dynamic American drivers, Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. "Interesting and complex. . . .The best job I've seen done on the subject so far." -- Craig Breedlove Until the 1950s, the land speed record (LSR) was held by a series of European gentlemen racers such as British driver John Cobb, who hit 394 miles per hour in 1947. That record held for more than a decade, until the car culture swept the U.S. Hot-rodders and drag racers built and souped up racers using car engines, piston aircraft engines and, eventually, jet engines. For this determined and dedicated group, the LSR was no longer an honor to be held by rich aristocrats with industrial backing -- it was brought stateside. In the summer of 1960, the contest moved into overdrive, with eight men contending for the record on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Some men died in horrific crashes, others prudently retired, and by mid-decade only two men were left driving: Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. By 1965, Arfons and Breedlove had walked away from some of the most spectacular wipeouts in motor sport history and pushed the record up to 400, then 500, ...

Dennis Adler

Daimler & Benz: The Complete History: The Birth and Evolution of the Mercedes-Benz

From the earliest workshop days to the grandest marque in the automotive world, the story of one of the most important enterprises of the twentieth century comes alive in this complete history.The rich history of Daimler-Benz (now DaimlerChrysler) has its roots in the early experimentation with the use of the internal combustion engine by three men: Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and William Maybach. Benz, working alone, and Daimler and Maybach, working together, the two shops separated by a mere sixty miles, in the late 1880s simultaneously laid the foundation of what would become the German automotive industry.At first there was competition between Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, as they engineered and styled the earliest motorwagens and began to develop markets for their products. These early efforts led to the establishment of an entire industry by the start of World War I.But the war and its aftermath devastated these two companies, as it did the German economy overall. By the early 1920s it became apparent that the only way to survival was a merger, and thus, on June 29, 1926, the stockholders of both companies gave approval to the new company, Daimler-Benz, which ...