The Indianapolis Records

First edition, first impression.  112pp, plus four colour plate illustrations and further black and white plate illustrations.  Blue cloth-covered boards, gilt-stamped lettering on front and spine.  8vo.  Cloth is a little faded, marked around the head and heel of spine and quite heavily along the rear fore edge, lightly pushed at corners and spine ends.  Text block edges a little dull.  Internally, there is some very occasional foxing else neat, clean and tight.  In its original illustrated dust wrapper, very worn, heavily chipped at edges, tears with tape repairs, significant loss on rear panel and shelf worn throughout.  

A notable book in the history of motorsport.  Alan Hess was a British racing driver (and chief publicity officer for the Austin Motor Company.  Here he puts on the record the full and intimate story of the successful record-attack in April 1948 by the Austin A90 Atlantic at the Indianapolis (Brickyard) circuit. And to his credit, despite his position with Austin, he pulls no punches in giving the candid facts about the record bid and makes some pithy comments on the people he met and the things he saw.  It is a detailed account, delving into such things as pit-drill and off-track incidents.  Described in a contemporary review in Motor Sport magazine as a ‘lavish publication, with its many full page photographs and four colour plates’.