Superveloce
How Italian Cars Conquered the World
Seiten
2025
Simon & Schuster Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-3985-1303-7 (ISBN)
Simon & Schuster Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-3985-1303-7 (ISBN)
From the author of High Performance and Racing Through the Dark, the story of how Italy rose from the ashes of the Second World War to lead the world with its beautiful fast cars.
Silverstone, 1950 – the first post-war Grand Prix and the birth of Formula One. The king and queen, alongside 150,000 spectators, watch in dismay as Italy’s Alfa Romeos scream past to claim the first three places. British cars are hopelessly outclassed by Alfa Romeos and Maseratis. How can it be, they all wonder, that Italy, its industry reduced to rubble by Allied bombs so recently, has set new standards of speed and style that leave the rest of the world for dust?
Italy’s ability to outflank its more powerful and better-equipped neighbours is nothing new. At the turn of the century Italy made so few cars that its output wasn’t recorded, by 1907 Italian cars and drivers swept the board in the first Grand Prix season. In Superveloce, Peter Grimsdale explores the mystery of how a country with no industrial revolution, hampered by poverty, came to represent an innovation and flair that other countries struggled to match.
Grimsdale traces a century of Italian design genius, the rise of great marques such as Ferrari, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. We see the lives of fiercely charismatic and competitive drives like Ascari, Varzi and Nuvolari. Does the secret lie deep in Italy’s cultural heritage – in historic links between art and machine going back to da Vinci? Or is it simply ‘sprezzatura’ – the art of making something difficult look effortlessly easy?
Silverstone, 1950 – the first post-war Grand Prix and the birth of Formula One. The king and queen, alongside 150,000 spectators, watch in dismay as Italy’s Alfa Romeos scream past to claim the first three places. British cars are hopelessly outclassed by Alfa Romeos and Maseratis. How can it be, they all wonder, that Italy, its industry reduced to rubble by Allied bombs so recently, has set new standards of speed and style that leave the rest of the world for dust?
Italy’s ability to outflank its more powerful and better-equipped neighbours is nothing new. At the turn of the century Italy made so few cars that its output wasn’t recorded, by 1907 Italian cars and drivers swept the board in the first Grand Prix season. In Superveloce, Peter Grimsdale explores the mystery of how a country with no industrial revolution, hampered by poverty, came to represent an innovation and flair that other countries struggled to match.
Grimsdale traces a century of Italian design genius, the rise of great marques such as Ferrari, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. We see the lives of fiercely charismatic and competitive drives like Ascari, Varzi and Nuvolari. Does the secret lie deep in Italy’s cultural heritage – in historic links between art and machine going back to da Vinci? Or is it simply ‘sprezzatura’ – the art of making something difficult look effortlessly easy?
Peter Grimsdale is a bestselling writer, TV producer and former commissioning editor whose credits stretch from Big Brother to Panorama, from The Adam & Joe Show to Finest Hour and Dispatches on Deepwater Horizon and Tony Blair's millions. His first motoring book was the critically acclaimed High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads. Racing in the Dark is his second book with Simon & Schuster.
| Erscheinungsdatum | 28.05.2025 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 8pp colour plates |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 153 x 234 mm |
| Themenwelt | Natur / Technik ► Fahrzeuge / Flugzeuge / Schiffe ► Auto / Motorrad |
| Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Motor- / Rad- / Flugsport | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| Technik | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-3985-1303-2 / 1398513032 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-3985-1303-7 / 9781398513037 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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