Celebrating its 100th year in 2023, there has been no shortage of Le Mans 24 Hours-related media products in recent months.
While Richard Williams’ ’24 Hours’ book published early this year provides a superb prose-led history of the events, this – the official celebration book – is something else altogether.
Another beautiful Evro production, having initially appeared in its original French a few months ago, the book takes full advantage of the coffee table format with innovative page layout and design making it a delight to flick through.
With sections covering every conceivable aspect of the race’s history, ‘100 Years’ is the perfect book to dip in and out of, and certainly lends itself better to enjoying this way, rather than going cover-to-cover.
That’s not to say ‘100 Years’ is superficial – far from it. There’s plenty of text and insight crammed in. The other joy is the sheer variety; hopping from a double page spread on Jean Rondeau to an interview with Masten Gregory’s wife, to a feature on BMW art cars – there are few stones left unturned.
The translation is also a good one (this is far from always the case) meaning that the book is easy to read, and the linguistic idiosyncrasies are thin on the ground. Likewise, the self-congratulatory tone that can sometimes surround the Le Mans 24 Hours is largely absent.
As a good social sciences student, I’ve been trained for years to read three books on any subject. Here ‘100 Years’ fits perfectly with Williams’ ’24 Hours’ and Quentin Spurring’s multi-volume definitive history of the event. For the Le Mans 24 Hours fan, this will be the perfect festive reading.
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100 Years of Legends: The Official Celebration of the Le Mans 24 Hours
Authors: Denis Bernard, Basil Davoine, Julien Holtz & Gerard Holtz
Publisher: Evro Publishing
Published: November 2023
Pages: 336
Price: £70.00
ISBN: 9781910505885
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