Illustrated profiles of the greatest motorsports pairings of man and machine, from the winner of the first Indy 500 race to the Audi R10 the dominated Le Mans for nearly a decade.

McLaren: The Engine Company is the previously untold story of McLaren Engines, an American company founded in 1969 by Bruce McLaren and his partners to build engines for McLaren's legendary Can-Am and Indy Cars. From this base in suburban Detroit were born the mighty big-block Chevrolet V8s that powered the iconic orange cars to two of their five consecutive Cam-Am championships. McLaren's busy dyno rooms also spawned the howling turbo Offenhausers that put Mark Donahue and Johnny Rutherford in Victory Lane at Indianapolis three times between 1972 and 1976. For decades this non-descript shop was the hotbed of horsepower for factories and top independents alike. McLaren Engines developed the turbocharged Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine that powered Indy cars for both Team McLaren and Penske Racing. It rendered BMW's turbo engine for U.S. IMSA racing that later became BMW's Formula 1 weapon. The long list of race engines developed here powered Buick Indy and IMSA cars, BMW GTP cars, Cadillac LeMans prototypes, Porsche Trans-Am 944s and David Hobbs' F5000 single seaters. There were McLaren-built big-block turbo V8s for offshore boat racing and even a Cosworth-Vega engine for American dirt tracks! Author Roger Meiners combines his life-long passion for motor racing and technology with his historian's sensibilities to make the engines, cars, and key personalities come alive within this book's pages. Ride along with Meiners as he uncovers little-known details of the company's transition from a race shop to an engineering company, developing lust-worthy performance cars such as the sensational 1987 Buick GNX, the 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo, the FR500 Ford Mustang concept, and other projects that the public never saw. Today the company, known as McLaren Engineering, is a subsidiary of Canada-based Linamar Corporation, and is sought after by global automakers for its unrivaled testing, development and manufacturing capability.

Eighteen of the most legendary Corvettes of all time--from the earliest surviving Corvette ever built for the 1953 model year to the five Grand Sport racers built by Zora Arkus-Duntov to a fifth-generation Corvette raced by the team that included father-and-son Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.--are featured in this book.

This beautifully designed and illustrated essential guide to Porsche 911 from Motorbooks' Speed Read series explores the ins and outs of one of the world’s premier sports cars; see what makes it tick, what makes it work, and how it managed to win so many titles and championships. Author Wayne Dempsey examines the creation and design of Porsche’s rear-engined wonder, providing an inside look into every aspect of the 911. In sections divided by topic, you'll explore the evolution of the 911 from its initial design to its current form, the story of Porsche 911's racing success, tales of some of the greatest 911s ever produced, and the passionate community that has evolved around the 911 from its earliest days. Each section ends with a glossary of related terms, and informational sidebars provide fun facts, historical tidbits, and mini-bios of key people. Sleek illustrations brilliantly capture the 911 in its many elegant forms. With Motorbooks’ Speed Read series, become an instant expert in a range of fast-moving subjects, from Formula 1 racing to the Tour de France. Accessible language, compartmentalized sections, fact-filled sidebars, glossaries of key terms, and event timelines deliver quick access to insider knowledge. Their brightly colored covers, modern design, pop art–inspired illustrations, and handy size make them perfect on-the-go reads.

Professional automobile racing has always been dominated by sanctioning bodies whose main goal was to ensure competition. That has meant seeing that cars are well matched--in body shape or chassis/engine combinations or engine size. But what about an all-out competition, in which one team's idea of the fastest race car could be pitted against another’s, regardless of mechanical “parity”? This was what the International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) Grand Touring Prototypes (GTP) race series was about. The Series ran from 1981 to 1993, and it was one of the most exhilarating racing experiences of all time. This book is the first to profile the amazing machines that resulted from the GTP’s flat-out competition among different--and passionate--ideas about what might be the fastest way around a track: the V-12 with its better ground-effect tunnels but higher center of gravity (CG); the flat six with its low CG but severely-restricted ground-effect tunnels; and others that employed elaborate wings and air dams. Here are the people behind this engineering free-for-all, the culmination of almost a century of automobile racing experience. And here are eighteen of the most competitive vehicles they designed. Using photography, diagrams, drawings and first-person accounts from the men who built them, Inside IMSA's Legendary GTP Race Cars offers a detailed look at the technology that drove some of the world’s most exciting race cars, the likes of which may never be seen again.

THE CARS, THE RACES, THE RIVALRIES, THE WOMEN ... WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SAREL VAN DER MERWE, SOUTH AFRICA’S GREATEST RACING DRIVER. IT’S TIME TO FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT FOR THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE ... Sarel van der Merwe is a certified, card-carrying legend – the Clint Eastwood of South African motor sport. Not only is Sarel the most gifted driver ever to come out of this country, winning both off-road and on the track, but he’s been utterly uncompromising in his approach. Since he and his alter ego, SuperVan, have been racing, Sarel has been super-competitive, scratching paint off racing cars from Kyalami to Le Mans. And he’s certainly pissed some people off. In this no-holds-barred story of his life, Sarel reveals the skinny behind all his big rivalries, his run-ins with team owners and his frequent disagreements with motor-sport authorities. Along with a behind-the-scenes look at the world’s legendary motor races, he rates the greatest – and worst – cars he ever drove, remembers some of the colourful characters that featured in his long career, and explains exactly why motor sport in South Africa is no longer what it used to be. And then, of course, there were the women?... ‘Sex is like motor sport,’ Sarel says. Though you’ll have to read the book to find out why.

"An illustrated history of the Ford Motor Company's classic race and street cars, including Cobras and Shelby Mustangs, from 1961 to 1971"--Provided by publisher.

This work is a comprehensive account of the racing cars that were powered by Porsche engines, but where the chassis and development of the car was done by others. The first book on the subject, it is illustrated with many previously unpublished photos, and answers many questions for the enthusiast and newcomer alike.