The Supercar Book: The Complete Guide to the Machines that Make Our Jaws Drop

by Martin Roach

Fully illustrated throughout, The Supercar Book is a sumptuously designed guide full of everything you could ever want to know about the best supercars on the planet. From number-one bestselling author Martin Roach, The Supercar Book is a must-have for all boys and their dads (plus petrol-head girls and mums!) interested in fast cars. With an introduction from F1 racing legend David Coulthard, as well as contributions from the biggest names in the field, this tour de force starts with the iconic 1954 Mercedes Gullwing and races through each respective decade of supercar history, showcasing the very best and most important vehicles in this scintillating species. Featuring the landmark 10 game-changers that have defined the genre and highlighting dozens and dozens of supreme supercars from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Pagani, McLaren and Porsche, get ready to be blown away by the beauty and power of these incredible vehicles. With a pre-history of the genre plus an excursion into American muscle cars, this comprehensive book takes us underneath the bonnets and peels back the bodywork of these mind-blowing machines, as well as exploring how supercar technology has affected everyday cars. The Supercar Book is a tour de force of the fastest, the most powerful and the most drop-dead gorgeous vehicles in supercar history. Jam-packed with almost 200 full-colour photographs, awe-inspiring statistics and exclusive interviews with supercar experts, and featuring every landmark star of the genre, this book is the ultimate guide for every supercar fanatic.

Genres: Cars

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2014

Reviews

[Oliver Sieczka · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a car book, so I read it, because I love cars, but goodness gracious did this book annoy and underwhelm

The pointless gendering on certain covers of the book and at the start of the book is really annoying, the author's incessant use of the word 'apocalyptic' is intensely frustrating as it sounds out of place or is just incorrect in so many instances throughout the book and the entire book is written in such a mild, dare I say vapid, manner, where the authors skims the edges of the opinions he intends to express that they barely qualify as an opinion (that idea is really difficult to express into words so I hope that makes sense). What was very frustrating also was the level at which this book is written; parts of the book speak of things like Kevlar and aluminium honeycomb bulkheads, which are very welcome, perhaps slightly higher level knowledge, but other parts are written as though this book is intended to be read by people who know nothing of cars and provides nothing scintillating to an automotively inclined reader - reading was also, at times, a little clunky, with sentences not leading onto another in the slightest

I rated a 3, rather than a 2, because at times this book is genuinely informative - through this book I discovered that actually the Porsche 959 was the first Porsche to feature a water-cooled engine, with an air-cooled block and water-cooled heads, which was very nice to discover. Likewise, a background on the fact Marcello Gandini was an 'amateur' designer with not an extensive design provenance when he was tasked with designing the Miura was a very welcome fact indeed. The incorporated bookmark was also quite convenient

I truly hope this review didn't sound incredibly patronising and impertinent; I did enjoy reading this book and I would recommend doing so to others also, I merely wanted to impart my honest opinion 🙏

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not know this much about cars before.

[Susan Newkirk]

My grandson wanted this book. He is 8 y.o. and just loves cars. I cannot rate the book as I don't plan on reading it.