Pictures by Jutta Fausel. Words by Bob Constanduros, Peter Higham, Mark Hughes and Ian Phillips.
2025 review by James Loveridge
In essence motor racing is, of course, simply where one car is driven over a specified distance – the number of laps allotted for the race, or from one point to another as in the old Mille Miglia and the Gordon Bennett – quicker than the other cars competing.
At the start of motor sport at the end of the nineteenth century that was how it was, point to point, but after the disastrous Paris-Madrid race in 1903 it moved onto circuits. It was also decided that cars should be categorised to make it fairer and more interesting. Then it was the size of engine which determined this. Quite rapidly it got more complicated, so there were various types of car being catered for: the original Le Mans 24 Hours was intended for touring cars, and rules were made for saloons, sports cars, outright racing cars and now we have electrically powered cars (again!).
Just before World War Two, top level motor racing was regularised by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), so now we have Formula One, Formula Two and Formula Three, and the recently published FORMULA 2: The Glory Years, 1967-1984 tells the story of the very important “second division Formula”. F2 as it is known, albeit under different names, has always been a well-supported and competitive affair with, particularly in this period, many makes of car and teams (there was actually one, the Protos, which was made of plywood). Probably its real significance is that it was and is seen by many drivers as the penultimate rung on the ladder to full F1 competition and this book mentions many who achieved that. It wasn’t just a boy’s own club; there is a photo of at least one female driver, Hannelore Werner.
This well-made hardback is published by EVRO. It could almost be described as a picture book, as there are 890 photographs, though it is much more than that. “Authorship” is attributed to Jutta Fausel who took the photos, and to Bob Constanduros, Peter Higham, Mark Hughes and Ian Phillips who wrote the words. In satisfying detail we get the story of this significant period. The book is divided year by year with an introductory summary of the year, a full list of results and the drivers who competed and, in several years, a brief biographical story of a noteworthy driver.
The real pleasure of this book is the photographs. Clearly Jutta Fausel, who now lives in the USA, is a very skilled photographer, able to take a mix of action and more candid shots with equal facility. Equally clearly, she was a well-respected and welcome member of the F2 “family”, so there are photographs of not only the cars and the races but of pit scenes and personalities. The races were held in many countries and there are 26 pages of outline sketches of the circuits which hosted these events. As well as the introductory summaries, each photograph is accompanied by helpful descriptive text so the reader gets a full picture of what it must have been like.
What gives this publication particular interest is that in the period covered there weren’t nearly as many World Championship Grand Prix races as there are now, so many of the leading drivers, or ‘graded’ drivers as they were known at the time, were also regulars in Formula 2. Names such as Jack Brabham, Graham Hill and Jim Clark regularly appeared, though sadly he was killed in the F2 race at Hockenheim in 1968, and the 1972 European Formula Two Champion was Mike “The Bike” Hailwood. These ‘graded drivers’ were not eligible for the championship but received starting money to attract them. One interesting thing is that in the early years commercial sponsors’ adverts were not allowed but inevitably that quickly changed.
To get a good picture of the evolution of Grand Prix racing this book should prove invaluable and is highly recommended. Its published price is £95.00 but some dealers have it as low as £72.19.
Publisher: Evro Publishing https://www.evropublishing.com/
Price: £95.00 plus postage (but available at a lower price from some dealers).
Description: 27.2cm x 22.3cm, 560 pages, hardback. 899 photographs in black & white and colour.
ISBN: 978-1-910505-19-9
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