Motorcycle Library Retro Review
For the enthusiast who simply has to be able to check out who won which historic motorcycle racing event, Peter Carrick’s “Encyclopaedia of Motor-cycle Sport” is the book to have on the shelf — at least if the race, rider, racing team or event was part of the period from the beginning of the 1900s to 1975.
Admittedly, the book is dated now and something of a collector’s item in itself, but Carrick’s careful and complete detailing of motorcycle racing through its first 75 years reminds the reader why some of the legends of the sport became legends.
Giacomo Agostini, Mike Hailwood, John Surtees, Geoff Duke, Jarno Saarinen, Cal Rayborn, Kenny Roberts, Yvon Du Hamel, Phil Read, Joel Robert, Heikki Mikkola, Jim Redman, Norman Hyde, T.C. Christenson, Barry Sheene, Sammy Miller, John Cooper, Jeff Smith, Peter Williams, Dick Mann, and many more appear in the narrative, period images, listings of race results, championships won or in alphabetical entries.
Carrick includes coverage of speedway, drag racing, motocross, observed trials, road racing and devotes 35 pages to the Isle of Man TT back to day one in 1907. Motorcycle brands—many of which are long gone now—are also given some detailed coverage, from Aermacchi to Yamaha.
Book Data:
- Title: The Encyclopedia of Motor-cycle Sport
- Author: Peter Carrick
- Published: 1977
- Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Inc. 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY, 10010
- ISBN: 312-248679
Note to readers: many of the books that we’ll feature here may be out of print and some may be difficult to find. That could be half the fun. The Internet should make the search relatively easy but ironically, none of the books currently scheduled for eventual retro-review for the Rider’s Library section were found with the help of the Internet. They all were found at book stores, used book stores, antique shops, motorcycle shops, yard sales and so on.
