Pete Lyons

As Sir Jackie Stewart states in his Foreword, “Pete Lyons was one of the best journalists in Formula 1 at the time I was racing.” Lyons himself writes that when he became obsessed with motor racing, “It felt like my true road.” This memoir retraces his steps along that road, focusing on the days when he wrote about and photographed the Can-Am sportscar series in his native America during its finest period from 1966 to 1972, then switched to Formula 1 for four great seasons from 1973 to 1976. Lyons witnessed Chaparral, Lola, McLaren and Porsche create ever-more-monstrous Can-Am beasts to be tamed by the likes of Jim Hall, John Surtees, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Mario Andretti and Mark Donohue. His cameras, notebooks and typewriter also were there when Tyrrell, Lotus, McLaren and Ferrari were the dominant forces in Formula 1, with Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda and James Hunt the World Champion drivers. Immersed in this golden age of racing, Lyons brought a unique blend of evocative description and fastidious factual detail to his craft, putting his devoted readers at the heart of the action. This captivating memoir will transport you back to those times.

Raoul 'Sonny' Balcaen grew up in Los Angeles at a time when it became the epicentre of American motor racing, nurturing a vast talent pool of people whose influence has echoed through to today. As a teenager, he successfully competed with his home-built Top Fuel dragster during the formative years of the sport. With Lance Reventlow, he worked on the famous Scarab sports cars and was standing in the dyno room when the team's all-American Formula 1 engine was fired up for the first time. A period as Jim Hall's crew chief and a close association with Carroll Shelby added to the know-how that guided him towards becoming a successful entrepreneur and led to all that followed. This engaging memoir is the very personal history of a momentous time and place in which we meet a who's who of West Coast road-racing heroes. * Aged 17, Balcaen built his own Top Fuel drag racer, the 'Bantamweight Bomb', which he developed relentlessly and drove to many successes. * His role in the fabulous Scarab sports cars - the landmark all-American racers - and insights into life with their creator, the incomparable Lance Reventlow. * Working as crew chief to the brilliant Jim Hall, preparing and running his Lotus Eleven and Lister-Chevrolet long before the famous Chaparrals emerged. * A second spell with Scarab, this time with the Formula 1 project - the first American Grand Prix car - plus a special job for Reventlow converting a Scarab sports racer into a street car. * Onwards into setting up his own successful business, IECO (Induction Engineering Co), to create and sell high-grade performance and appearance accessories, with Chevrolets - especially Corvair and Vega - featuring strongly. * His many-faceted dealings with Carroll Shelby, leading to consultancy and even assignments as occasional Shelby American company pilot. * Along the way we meet many other big names of the era, including Chuck Daigh, Bruce Kessler, Warren Olson, Dick Troutman, Tom Barnes, Phil Remington, Ken Miles, Leo Goossen, Jim Travers, Frank Coon and Pete Brock.

The most powerful racing cars on the road courses of planet Earth. That's what Can-Am 1972 was all about. A thousand horses and more stampeded across North America that summer. Fans had never seen such horsepower. And they got to see it because, despite all the rules and regulations and restrictions so sadly imposed on the formerly "no rules" racing series, born competitors in the drawing offices and dyno cells and race shops came up with ingenious workarounds. And then resolute drivers strapped into cockpits and floored the throttles. We meet Hulme and Revson of mighty McLaren. We see Donohue and Follmer in a battle neither wanted. We watch hard-driving rivals like Cevert, Hobbs, Minter, Oliver, and others challenging the Big Boys against all odds. We listen as the once-dominant, thundering Big Block American V8 struggles to stave off a ferociously whispering threat by the novel new twin-turbocharged Flat-12 from Germany. Motorsports reporter Pete Lyons was there with camera and notepad. Now, 50 years afterward, he brings those days of unequalled performance back to life with 24 of his own photos, along with his eyewitness memories of those fabulous cars and stars. Big, bold, and beautiful like the old Can-Am itself, this is not only a premier quality wall calendar for the racing fan, but it is also a glimpse back into an age of epic combat.

This book, the first in Evro's new Formula 1 Greats series, covers one of the most revered Formula 1 cars ever made. Introduced in 1970, the wedge-shaped Lotus 72 competed for six seasons, winning 20 World Championship Grands Prix, two Drivers' titles (for Jochen Rindt in 1970 and Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972) and three Constructors' titles (in 1970, 1972 and 1973), racing first in Lotus's evocative red, white and gold livery, then the equally eye-catching black and gold of the John Player Special period. Pete Lyons, Autosport's renowned Formula 1 reporter for part of the Lotus 72 era, explores the car's entire race-by-race career in his insightful commentary accompanying a magnificent array of more than 300 photos. The 1970 season: after troubled early development, the 72 finally took over from the long-serving 49, its four consecutive race wins enough to secure the World Championship for Jochen Rindt, posthumously after his death during practice for the Italian Grand Prix. The 1971 season: with promising youngster Emerson Fittipaldi elevated to team leader after Rindt's death, great things were expected of the 72's second season but it proved to be winless. The 1972 season: now in black and gold John Player livery, the 72 became far more competitive and Fittipaldi's four Grand Prix victories made him World Champion. The 1973 season: Ronnie 'SuperSwede' Peterson joined Fittipaldi to form a dream team and together they won seven races, but because Lotus's spoils were divided between the two drivers Jackie Stewart was able to come through to become World Champion. The 1974 season: still the 72 soldiered on, now as the fall-back car after its successor, the 76, failed to deliver; partnered by Jacky Ickx, Peterson won three Grands Prix. The 1975 season: well beyond its sell-by date, the 72 did a final season but by now it was far from effective, with Ickx's second place in the tragic Spanish Grand Prix its best result.

A photographic history of one of racing’s greatest lost tracks.

Reading a Pete Lyons column is like taking a stroll down the pit lane with your favourite race hero. Pete doesn't pretend to be anything but what he is - a car-crazy guy lucky enough to spend his days following the sport he loves. He grew up on the track, and has covered auto racing since the early 1960s. His pieces couple his enthusiasm for motorsports with clear insight into the factors that make cars and men champions. Whether he's screwing up his chance to learn how to drive fast from Dan Gurney, or taking a lap while precariously wedged into a Can-Am car with Peter Revson at the wheel and at full noise, Lyons picks up on the details that help us understand and appreciate what makes racing great. Fast Lines is a collection of 55 of Pete's columns, Fast Lines, from Vintage Racecar Magazine. The book includes looks at cars and racers from Formula 1, Can-Am, Indycar, and endurance racing, most of them racers who competed in the 1960s and 1970s. He also includes glances into the contemporary Mario Andretti, mellowed hardly at age 60, and events like Sebring, Goodwood, and the Monterey Historics.