ENTRIES OPEN FOR THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB MOTORING BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019

ENTRIES OPEN FOR THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB MOTORING BOOK

OF THE YEAR 2019

With less than six weeks to go before the cut-off date for entries, the 2019 Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of The Year judging process will soon be underway.

Now in its sixth consecutive year, entrants can choose between two categories: the Motoring Book of the Year or the Specialist Book of the Year award.

The two accolades are open for books issued between July 2018 and June 2019 (12 months), with the Motoring Book of the Year title being awarded to ‘an exceptional book with wide appeal’ and costing no more than £75. The Specialist Book of the Year award is given for a book demonstrating ‘impeccable research with flawless writing’.

The Royal Automobile Club awards celebrate the many automotive great books, authors and publishers, and their importance in both exploring and documenting the many key events, vehicles and individuals who have helped shape the history of motoring.

Jeremy Vaughan, Head of Motoring at the Royal Automobile Club, said “It’s been wonderful to see so many new launches over the past year and we want to encourage as many authors and publishers to submit their new titles for our awards. This sector of the industry is in good shape with many publishers having a healthy a pipeline of launches up their sleeve, which is very encouraging”.

Every year, the Club’s judges are given the challenging task of singling out one of a dozen titles to be crowned the Motoring Book of the Year, while also deciding which author will receive the Specialist Book of the Year award, designed to recognise the talent of combining impeccable research with flawless writing.

New for 2019 – The Royal Automobile will also award a Lifetime Achievement award to honour an individual or business who has made a major contribution to the automotive publishing industry.

The judging panel includes some of Britain’s most experienced car book reviewers: Gordon Cruickshank of Motor Sport, Mark Dixon of Octane, Mick Walsh of Classic & Sports Car, avid book collector and editor of the BRDC Bulletin Ian Titchmarsh. Representing the book retail sector are Ben Horton of specialist bookseller, Horton’s Books, and Christian Whitehead of the London bookstore, Foyles.

With a rich pedigree in celebrating motoring accomplishments and a heritage bound to the history of the motor car, the Club is well suited to recognising excellence in motoring literature.

The Royal Automobile Motoring Book of The Year takes place at the Pall Mall clubhouse during the Club’s London Motor Week in October 2019. It is the crowning moment of an evening which includes an entertaining interview with a ‘motoring book legend’.

The event forms part of the Club’s London Motor Week, which culminates in the world famous Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run supported on Sunday 3 November 2019.

The Club urges all automotive authors and publishers to make the judges aware of eligible titles. The closing date for submissions is Monday 1 July. For further submission details please contact: rebecca@eventspr.co.uk or visit www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk

TRAINS, PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES: THE STORY OF BENTLEY’S INNOVATIVE FOUNDER

TRAINS, PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES: THE STORY OF BENTLEY’S INNOVATIVE FOUNDER

W.O. Bentley

 As Bentley marks its Centenary year, the Crewe-based luxury car maker celebrates the life of the innovative British engineer whose drive and ingenuity started it all.

Walter Owen Bentley – or W.O. as he is fondly known – was born in 1888 in London, when horse and carriage was still the most common form of transport. Growing up in a busy household of 11, and despite an undistinguished school career, W.O. used enthusiasm and innovation to succeed. After an apprenticeship on the railways and then in motor racing, the young engineer joined the armed forces, designing the highly regarded BR1 and BR2 rotary engines for military aircraft, including the renowned Sopwith Camel.  

A couple of years later, in 1919, W.O. created a company that would become synonymous with the finest hand-built British motor cars and which, even today, is still the most sought-after luxury car brand in the world.

A Pioneering Spirit

W.O. Bentley was just 16-years-old when he left school and started as an apprentice on the Great Northern Railway. It cost his father the not inconsiderable sum of £75 to enrol his steam-obsessed son as a Premium Apprentice in Doncaster, in the north of England.

He earned 25 pence a week for five years training on the job – although it was 18 months before W.O. finally got to work on the steam engines he loved. Later in his life, W.O. recalled: ‘The underside of a car after a few thousand miles is as hygienic as an operating theatre, compared with a locomotive in for an overhaul!’.

Realising it would be years before he would climb up the pecking order, towards the end of his apprenticeship W.O. decided to explore a new area of transport. With great foresight, he turned his attention away from steam to the rapidly improving internal combustion engine.

Bentley Rotary One (BR1)

W.O. was so enthused with the combustion engine he began racing motorcycles at events around the country, including the famous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. He went into business with one of his brothers importing French cars, before secretly creating a new alloy of aluminium and copper that would be used to make lighter weight pistons for his own racing car.

His innovative early years in the automotive industry didn’t come without interruption. Commissioned into the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) during World War One, W.O. patriotically passed on his lightweight piston idea, which created a more powerful and reliable version of the RNAS’s existing aircraft engine.

Impressed with his efforts, W.O.’s superiors then allowed him to set about designing a new rotary aircraft engine from scratch. He was afforded every available facility to experiment, instructing engineers at the Humber plant in Coventry, England. The engine was a great success and was soon in mass production for the War effort.

That unit became the favourite engine for mounting in the naval version of the famous fighter-scout aircraft, the Sopwith Camel. The single-seater bi-plane flew into the history books and is one of the best-known aircraft of the 20th century.

The engine was initially known as the Admiralty 1 but later it was decided to honour the name of the founder. The Bentley Rotary 1 subsequently became the BR1 – a fitting tribute to W.O.’s inventiveness.

W.O. went on to develop a more powerful 230bhp version called the BR2, a nine-cylinder unit which was fitted to aircraft in great numbers in 1918. The engine was still in use when the War ended and continued to be used in many parts of the world for several years to follow. It was the most powerful rotary engine in military service.

The founding years of Bentley

Having demonstrated a natural ability as an innovative engineer, W.O. took his first steps into the automotive world when the War was over, using his skill to create a car bearing his own name.

When hostilities ended, he was presented with a Commission of Awards To Inventors grant of £8,000 for his vital contribution to the War effort, as well as an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).

In 1919 W.O. used that capital to fulfil a dream and create his own car company. W.O. built the brand on the guiding principle of creating ‘a fast car, a good car: the best in its class’, a goal he would achieve time and time again.

The Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner

The Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner pays homage to the founding father of the company and incorporates a genuine piece of Bentley history in every car.

Inside each of the 100 limited edition Mulsannes, a slice of the original crankshaft taken from W.O. Bentley’s personal 8 Litre car – the last model he designed for Bentley Motors back in 1930 – is displayed.

Bentley’s Centenary – 100 Years of Extraordinary

July 10, 2019, marks Bentley’s 100th year - an extraordinary milestone achieved by only a few companies. To celebrate the occasion, a year-long series of special activities has been planned, with celebrations at events around the world.

These will showcase Bentley’s motoring evolution over the last 100 years, highlighting its global success today and the exciting future ahead – all thanks to one man’s determination and drive for innovation

ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB ANNOUNCES SHORTLIST FOR ITS 2018 MOTORING BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS

ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB ANNOUNCES SHORTLIST FOR ITS 2018 MOTORING BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Now in its fifth year, the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book Awards are recognised as the most prestigious awards to be bestowed in the automotive publishing industry. The annual awards, hosted by respected broadcaster and journalist Simon Taylor, will take place on Wednesday 31 October at a special evening held at the Club’s historic Pall Mall clubhouse, amongst many distinguished industry guests.

Two awards will be presented - the main Motoring Book of the Year Award for a book with a wide appeal at an affordable price, and a Specialist Book of the Year Award which, in the opinions of the judges, is an impressive feat of research and endeavour regardless of its retail cost.

“We never fail to be amazed at the quality and variety of titles that our experienced judges propose for the Awards, and this year is no exception,” said Peter Read, the Club’s Motoring Committee Chairman.

 “The Royal Automobile Club possesses one of the world’s finest motoring libraries in the world, one we add to constantly. The history of the Club spans that of the car itself, and it is our duty to stoke enthusiasm in all aspects of motoring history including literature” said Peter Read.

The award committee consists of six expert judges who are totally independent of the Royal Automobile Club, that represent the UK’s most informed motoring literary critics. Tom Wiltshire, book reviewer for leading weekly magazine Auto Express, and Mark Dixon, the respected deputy editor of Octane magazine. They are joined by Christian Whitehead from the motoring department of London bookstore Foyles, leading independent motoring bookseller Ben Horton of Hortons Books, Gordon Cruickshank from Motor Sport magazine and Mick Walsh international editor of Classic & Sports Car magazine.

2018 shortlist of contenders includes works on racing driver biographies, marque histories and general motoring to legends in engineering and vehicle design.

Motoring Book of the Year Contenders

The six titles shortlisted for Motoring Book of the Year Award are:

• Pironi: The Champion That Never Was by David Sedgwick, published by Pitch Publishing
• Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automotive Empire by Luca Dal Monte, published by David Bull Publishing
• Donald Healey’s 8C Triumph Dolomite, by Jonathan Wood, published by Jonathan Wood
• Drive: The Definitive History of Motoring by Giles Chapman, published by Dorling Kindersley
• Adrian Newey: How to Build a Car, by Adrian Newey, published by Harper Collins
• Hobbo: Motor-Racer, Motor-Mouth, The autobiography of David Hobbs by David Hobbs with Andrew Marriott, published by Evro Publishing

Specialist Motoring Book of the Year Contenders

The six titles shortlisted for Specialist Motoring Book of the Year Award are:

• Daimler Days Volume 3 - More Than a Celebration of 100 Years of Daimler Motor Cars by Brian E. Smith, published by Daimler Days Publishing
• Inside Track: Phil Hill, Ferrari's American World Champion - His Story, His Photography. Volume 1 1927 – 1967 by Phil Hill with Doug Nye, published by The GP Library Ltd
• Reid Railton: Man of Speed by Karl Ludvigsen, published by Evro Publishing
• Jim Clark: The Best of the Best by David Tremayne, published by Evro Publishing
• Gaston Grümmer The Art of Carrosserie by Philippe Gaston Grümmer and Laurent Friry, published by Dalton Watson Fine Books
• Turbo 3.0: Porsche's First Turbocharged Supercar, by Ryan Snodgrass, published by Parabolica Press

The Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards is one of the one of the most important events during the Club’s annual London Motor Week during which the Club hosts an array of high-profile motoring events, including the Art of Motoring exhibition, Motoring Lectures, the Motoring Forum, a dinner with former BMW Board Member, Dr Ian Roberston and the Dewar and Simms Trophy presentations awarded for British engineering excellence. The week culminates with the free-to-view Regent Street Motor Show on Saturday 3 November and the world-famous Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run supported by Hiscox on Sunday 4 November.