BOOKS, Two For The Road: Niki Lauda and Stirling Moss

July/Aug 2019 edition
Issue #6 AutoMobilia Resource Magazine
Jeff Zurschmeide

The day Niki Lauda passed away, I went to my bookshelf and pulled down his treatise, The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving. It’s part memoir and part explication. That book got me thinking about the value of enjoying a good read, even if the story may be a little self-aggrandizing or jejune here and there. With that in mind, here are two books I believe have a place on any racing enthusiast’s shelf. 

​The Art and Science 
of Grand Prix Driving 
By Niki Lauda, Motorbooks, 1977 

This book was originally published in German as “Formel 1” in 1975, but wasn’t translated to English until 1977. In the UK, the book was titled Formula 1, The Art and Technicalities of Grand Prix Driving.  All readily available copies have the same rather garish cover art depicting the cockpit of a Ferrari. 

​This book is Lauda’s essay on all aspects of Formula One as it was in the mid-1970s. He goes into car design, setup, tuning, and how to drive. The book includes analysis of every Grand Prix circuit of the era, including some notable crashes. Drawings and both color and black-and-white photos are included every few pages. Fair warning: this book is a technical read. Lauda was the über-nerd of Formula One. If you want to nerd out on race cars, this book could be your Bible. 

Yet there’s much more to this story than mechanics. Lauda can’t help but bring himself to the project, bluntly stating his beliefs on every topic. Further, his prose occasionally tends toward the purple: “We Ferrari men belong body and soul to our engines – we devote every ounce of our energy and emotions to these artefacts of aluminium, magnesium, and steel.”  If that quote just made you smile, go get a copy of this book. 

From a collector’s perspective, you can take your pick of any number of printings. A first edition of the English-language version of this book sold on eBay for $118.75 in Feb. 2019. That was before Lauda’s death, and now there are some wild-eyed fantasy prices in the wake of his passing. Some asking prices are topping $500. However, with a little searching you can find a worn copy in the $40 range, but expect to pay about double for one in excellent condition

​All But My Life
By Stirling Moss “face to face with Ken  W. Purdy,”
​E. P. Dutton, 1963
​

At least seven editions have been printed. It is available in paperback, though the hardback editions are much more common owing to their greater durability. There are at least four versions of the cover art, but the most common hardbound edition shows a young Moss looking out from a silver Mercedes-Benz W196 grand prix car circa 1955. 
​

Moss told his story to legendary journalist Ken Purdy, and Purdy created a narrative using quotes to denote Moss’ actual words. The book is really Purdy’s biography of Moss, but with more input from Moss than is typical. Purdy delves deeply into the mindset of the racing driver of the era, when none truly expected to survive to the ripe old age Sir Stirling enjoys today. The book also panders to the aristocratic playboy image that Moss and many drivers of his day cultivated. 

One of the attractive things about this book is the number of excellent vintage photos included. Noted racing photojournalist Jesse Alexander provided most of them. Finally, a complete table of Moss’ career racing results is included as an appendix. 

There are some silly prices asked online for this book, but it’s easy to find a hardcover copy for $10-$20 in good condition, and less for the paperback. One thing––don’t rely on the photo of the cover art to get the edition you want. Some carry a disclaimer that the photo is illustration only and the actual cover, binding, and edition may vary.      

Jeff Zurschmeide

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