User:A7V2

Hello
Hello...

I'm interested in lot's of things, but as far as Wikipedia is concerned I'm probably only going to edit/create pages relating to old motorsport (pre 1980s), as well as more recent stuff from Australia. I'm very into books, and a lot of my editing reflects this. I understand this can cause problems but frankly I think that as a general rule they provide a more reliable source than modern websites providing results only without a race report (I'm not saying that ALL websites are bad though. For example see Leif Snellman and Hans Etzrodt's excellent website "The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing" ).

For some reason I also find myself frequenting discussions on Redirects for discussion. I suppose I just find redirects which point to frustrating targets (especially where there are many bluelinks for a redirect which is not discussed at the topic) very annoying.

I should point out that even though I'm made well over 1000 edits now, I still see myself much more as a reader than an editor of Wikipedia, and I think it's important for all editors to remember that Wikipedia exists for readers, not for editors.

I haven't joined any wikiprojects as yet, partly because I don't want to get involved in, and am not very interested in, Wikipedia politics and/or Bureaucracy... but maybe I should? I've now "joined" several wikiprojects... we shall see how that goes politics-wise!

Apparently I was unable to avoid "politics" but that's just how it goes I suppose. So long as one remembers that there are no winners or losers in a discussion, it's not too much of an issue, I hope (well most of the time...)!

I have no illusions about the quality of my prose... don't hesitate to fix any error(s) I may have made! (And thankyou in advance!) (Also in case it wasn't obvious I may be inclined to overuse brackets (like this) and exclamation marks (if you notice this then feel free to dial it back as well! (obviously here I'm deliberately overdoing it for illustrative purposes, so please don't remove it here!))!)

Quotes
Some interesting and hopefully thought-provoking quotes for the benefit of anyone writing about the history of motor racing, or writing about history in general, presented here without comment. Some were published in William Court's Power and Glory volume 2 which contains far too many excellent quotes for me to put them all here! In alphabetical order of author:


 * "It is my personal belief that there is practically no fact connected with motoring history that is not demonstrably untrue" - Cecil Clutton in Bugantics, 1966


 * "(The World Championship is a) titular windbag that was almost as much a nuisance to the sport as our climate to the enjoyment of our country" - William Court in British Racing News


 * "As to who will be the next to carry off the honour (of being 1959 World Champion), that is a difficult question to answer. My final word is that I am convinced that he will be a Ferrari driver!" - Mike Hawthorn, December 1958, preface to Gregor Grant's World Championship, 1959


 * "Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. This is what makes the trade of historian so attractive." - William Inge in Assessments and Anticipations, 1929


 * "The Drivers' Championship has... unquestionably helped spread the sport's popularity by acting as a peg on which the general public can hang its imagination, but it has also distorted the sport." - Mike Lawrence in Grand Prix Cars 1945-65, 1989


 * "Don't tell me what happened, tell me what mattered" - Lawrence Pomeroy, published in William Court's Power and Glory volume 2 (1990)


 * "History in not what you thought. It is what you can remember." - W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman in 1066 and All That, 1930


 * "Unfortunately it is one of the perversities of historians that they will more aggressively dispute Matters of Fact than they will Matters of Opinion" - LJK Setright in Some Unusual Engines, 1975

Books
I have quite a few books on motorsport (and for some reason I seem to keep buying more!), some are quite rare/hard to find (of course some are most definitely NOT rare!), and if anyone wants me to check something in one of them I'm happy to help. I previously had a long list but it wasn't very complete and included a lot of junk so I asked for it to be deleted. I will make a much smaller list with only books I've either used as a reference on Wikipedia, or ones I have seen used and/or verified that other users used:

Partial list follows (books I've used as a reference or seen someone else use which I own). No doubt I have missed some that I have used, or inadvertently included some I had planned to use but never actually did:

Books about a specific race

 * The 200 Mile Race, W. Boddy, 1947 (JCC 200 Mile Race complete history)
 * RAC Rally, Maurice Hamilton, 1987 (covers up to 1986)
 * Shelsley Walsh, C.A.N. May, 1946 (complete history up to WW2)

Temple Press Classic Motor Races series:
 * The Monaco Grand Prix, David Hodges, 1964 (Covers up to 1964, incl the major support races)
 * The German Grand Prix, Cyril Posthumus, 1966 (Covers up to 1965)
 * The French Grand Prix, David Hodges, 1967 (Covers up to 1966)

Doug Nye:
 * The British Grand Prix, 1977 (covers up to 1976, incl Dongington GP)
 * The United States Grand Prix, 1978 (covers up to 1977, incl West GPs)

Australian GP
 * A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928-39 Volume 1, John Blanden, 1981
 * The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix, numerous authors, 1986? (Covers up to 1985)

Quentin Spurring, Le Mans
 * I have 1923-29, 1930-39, 1949-59 and 1960-69 (various pub years)

Books about specific area of racing history

 * Formula 1: Car by Car 1950-59, Peter Higham, 2020
 * Formula 2, Gregor Grant, 1953 (Provides history up to 1952, previews 1953 season)
 * Formula 3: A Record of 500cc Racing, C.A.N. May, 1951
 * World Championship, Gregor Grant, 1959
 * World Sports Car Championship, Cyril Posthumus, 1961

General racing history

 * Motor Racing Through the Fifties, Peter Lewis, 1992
 * The Roaring Twenties: An Album of Early Motor Racing, Cyril Posthumus, 1980
 * The Chequered Flag: 100 Years of Motor Racing, Ivan Rendall, 1993 (mine is the 1995 updated/revised ed)

William Court, Power and Glory
 * Volume 1: 1906-1951, 1966 (mine is second edition, 1988)
 * Volume 2: 1952-1973, 1990

"Reference" books

 * A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing, Volume 1 1900-1925, Paul Sheldon, 1987
 * The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, Peter Higham
 * Grand Prix!, Mike Lang (I have the pub. 1990 combined Volume 1, pub. 1981 (covering 1950-65) and Volume 2, pub. 1982 (covering 1966-73)