Overview

Officially licensed with the ACO, the organisers of the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race, this sumptuous book is the sixth title in a decade-by-decade series that is building up into a multi-volume set covering every race. This title covers the seven 24 Hours races of the 1920s, plus, as a prologue, all the events held at the Le Mans circuit during the period 1906–23. Each running of the 24 Hours is exhaustively covered in vivid photographs, an insightful commentary providing more detailed information than has ever been published about the period, and full statistics. Compiled by an acknowledged authority of this legendary race, this series of books is treasured by all enthusiasts of sports car racing.

• The 1920s saw a fascinating variety of machinery from 55 marques, three of which won: Bentley (1924 and 1927/28/29), Chenard-Walcker (1923) and Lorraine-Dietrich (1925/26).
• Above all this was the era of Bentley and the famous ‘Bentley Boys’.
• Highly detailed year-by-year treatment of the decade’s seven races, giving unprecedented depth of information and photographic coverage for each year.
• Official status provides a number of unique features, including the reproduction of photographs and full-colour race poster artwork from the ACO’s archives.
• The emphasis is on photographs that enthusiasts will not have seen before.
• The story of each race is told through photographs and an accompanying commentary.
• Complete data for each year includes technical regulations, entry list, circuit changes (with diagram), full results and category awards.
• The whole work is beautifully designed and presented.

Specification

• ISBN: 978-1-910505-08-3
• Format: 280 x 230mm
• Jacketed hardback
• Page extent: 336pp
• Illustration: over 350 photographs
• Word count: 90,000

Author

Quentin Spurring entered motorsport journalism on the editorial team of Autosport in 1966. He became the weekly magazine’s deputy editor but left in 1970 to try his hand as a freelance, also serving two years as the media officer of the British Automobile Racing Club and the editor of its monthly publication.

He was the launch editor of Competition Car magazine in 1972–74, and the press officer of Graham Hill’s Formula 1 team in 1975. He returned to Autosport in 1976 as its editor, and served in this capacity or as its executive editor until 1988.

On April Fool’s Day, ‘Q’ left to form Q.Editions, a specialist contract publishing company, which was successful in Formula 1 and high-end sportscar racing. Q.ED clients included the FIA, Asprey, Castrol, Jaguar, Marlboro, Mercedes-Benz and Shell, as well as professional Group C teams such as Brun, Schuppan and Spice.

Having originally learned his trade on Civil Engineering magazine, he saw the need for a trade and technical periodical serving the global motorsport industry. In 1992, Q.ED launched Racecar Engineering magazine, for which he subsequently received individual achievement awards from both the UK’s motorsport industry trade bodies, AMRA and the MIA. He sold the title late in 1996 and quit as its editor in 2000 to edit two internet projects, F1i.com and RaceAccess, Marlboro’s extensive motorsport media website.

In 2008–09, he edited The Paddock, a monthly magazine focusing on the business of professional motorsport. He has been the European Motorsport Correspondent of the US publication, AutoWeek, since 1982.

His first book, Formula 1 in Camera 1980–89, which featured the photographs of Rainer Schlegelmilch accompanied by a detailed commentary, appeared in 2005, published by by Haynes Publishing. Other titles followed on Jim Clark, Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson. With David Bull Publishing he wrote Grand Prix: Images of the First 100 Years, which won an award from the American Publishers Association (APA).

His long-held passion the Le Mans 24 Hours – he has reported from the race 26 times – made him the ideal author for a new project detailing the history of the race decade by decade in individual volumes. Published by Haynes in collaboration with L’Automobile Club de L’Ouest (ACO), organisers of ‘The World’s Greatest Motor Race’, the first four volumes were launched in the order 1960–69 (2010), 1970–79 (2011), 1949–59 (2011) and 1980–89 (2012). Evro Publishing then took over the series, introducing the fifth volume, 1990–99, in July 2014.

He is married with two children (and five grandchildren), and lives in south London.