Thursday 28th July 2022

BOOK REVIEW  By Peter Baker 

A Race with Infamy: The Lance Macklin Story 

As someone who lives in a small house and has never owned a coffee table I prefer my books small. In fact, the smaller the better. Thus, The Lance Macklin Story, in size dimensionally, not much bigger than a decent sized bar of chocolate, had, even before opening, scored good marks.

Most of you I’m guessing, have never heard of Lance Macklin, and no he’s not the guy who won the famous Tour de France cycle race half-a-dozen times. This is Lance Macklin, the British racing driver who supposedly caused the 1955 Le Mans car crash, where some 84 people died, and a further 120 injured, making it the worst accident of its kind in history.

Briefly, Lance was born with the proverbial silver spoon. He went to Eton College, served in the Royal Navy and, after demob in 1946, lived a luxury life style in Mayfair, London and went racing. After a brief flirt with Formula 1, Macklin settled into sports cars, mostly with Aston Martin. He had a fifth at Spa and a third at Le Mans in 1951 before the 1955 catastrophe. Another crash, this time during the Tourist Trophy followed, and saw the death of two more drivers. Lance Macklin retired.

I’m sure Jack Barlow is a good bloke, but he’s not my sort of writer, and at times I’m sure facts were conveniently shuffled around, pushed to one side, in search of a good story. So, was The Lance Macklin Story worth the effort. Should you rush out and buy a copy. On both counts, probably not.

A RACE WITH INFAMY: The Lance Macklin Story
Written by Jack Barlow
ISBN 978-1-787117-87-7
Published by Veloce Publishing Ltd.
Price £20.00