Rolls-Royce

Clever: The closing ceremony convertibles were pure genius. Understated, profound, best in the world. Just like the games. Clever BMW to get the most out of its Olympic sponsorship. Great detailing. First new badge on a Rolls-Royce for 108 years. Shows how Britain has changed. Closing ceremony didn’t have the deft touch of the opening one. One tweeter decided only acts giving 20% discount could be hired, another cheerfully hoped the Spice Girls might be shot into space from the cannon. Well, Rio will be different. I thought it might have made a better show with a carnival float or two, but what a challenge to match London as a backdrop. Sunday’s marathon was worth watching if only to marvel at the streets and the buildings and the matchless organisation.

Mazda Most Worthy

It was a toss-up between buying a Mazda MX5 and a BMW Z3. Sometimes I think I made a mistake. BMW offered me a better deal and I love the 6-cylinder engine, but service has been rubbish and reliability disappointing. What Car? finds 96 per cent of MX5s, built after 2005, fault free. Their reliability was the best in its survey. Owners report an average repair bill of £165. I hate to think what I have spent on the BMW.

The MX5 was more like the MGs and Sprites I enjoyed in my youth, but the BMW seemed up-market and premium, carefully made, less likely to wear out. The Mazda was not exactly down-market but didn’t measure up in the status stakes. It was a 4-cylinder, not raucus but scarcely as refined as the BMW. And, back then, a body with lots of aluminium and plastic and galvanised steel was not wholly convincing. Yet MX5s never seem to wear out. Last time I tested one was 2005; it was lithe, nimble, quick, responsive. The Z3 has always been a bit “touring”, which was what I thought I wanted. It seemed superior, I suppose.

I’m not sure now. The MX5 is prettier, younger, better proportioned. I have always thought of the BMW as “the classic in the garage”, and used it rather less than the practical cars getting wet sitting in the drive. I thought Z3s looked the part.

Pretentious? Moi?

About Dove Publishing

Dove Publishing Ltd has produced books on cars and motoring since 1994. They include technical histories, biographies and special slipcased editions of award-winning titles. Author and editorial director is award-winning Eric Dymock. His long experience of driving and writing, as well as his extensive archives, contribute to the detailed accuracy for which Dove books have established a notable reputation. Eric "has a happy knack of writing with authority, never talking down to his audience, and never following the herd", in the words of one reviewer.

Eric Dymock, pictured receiving the Montagu award for "the greatest contribution to recording, in the English language, the history of motoring", for The Complete Bentley. The Trophy, with a silver plaque and cheque, was presented during the Guild of Motoring Writers' annual dinner and awards ceremony at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, on 3 December 2009. The winning citation says, "This book is beautifully written, well laid-out and provides a very thorough history of an important British marque that is equally attractive to both enthusiasts and passing browsers. With its company chronology and history of production models and prototypes it is also a comprehensive reference work."

Major hardback books have been Rover: the First 90 Years, and Saab: Half a Century of Achievement (winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Montagu Award for 1997), prestige productions in three languages with long print runs, which coincided with anniversaries. Softback editions of Saab in Swedish were distributed to every Swedish employee celebrating its 50 years. Jim Clark: Tribute to a Champion marked the 30th anniversary of the first win by a Ford Cosworth DFV in 1997. Six hundred guests at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Ball received one as a commemorative gift, all signed by the author.

In 2004 the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers presented Eric Dymock with the Jim Clark Memorial Award for Scots who have achieved excellence in the field of motoring. Previous winners included Sir Jackie Stewart, Ian Callum of Jaguar, Professor Murray MacKay of Birmingham University, Allan McNish, David Coulthard, and Colin McRae.

Back Catalogue

Dove Publishing's core product, the File books are speciality one-make compilations, concise sources of information on a company and its cars. They include an up-to-date introduction to the business and social history of a manufacturer, with detail on designers, drivers, directors and any competition history. The main part is a model -by-model survey with description, specification, and photographs to complete a unique source of product knowledge. The unique quality of a File book is that it contains the essential details of one make in a single volume. They have become obligatory reading for enthusiasts, researchers and anyone working in the motor industry. Suppliers, dealers, customers, researchers, agencies and students find instant answers to questions, technical, historical, business or sport. Although File books are bought primarily by enthusiasts, car manufacturers regard them highly for their objectivity and accuracy, and buy them for politicians, factory visitors and new executives. Journalists and historians find them indispensable.

Illustrations, specifications and comment on every model are arranged chronologically to make them easy to consult. A ‘model’ is a chassis or platform, and they can include prototypes, historic examples, notable one-off designs or racing cars. Each has a double-page spread with information relating to the year it was introduced.

Contact Dove Publishing

Dove Publishing Ltd

5 Abbey Park
Torksey
Lincoln LN1 2LS

Editorial director

Eric Dymock
e eric@dymock.com
m 07836 292954

Publishing director

Mike Roberts
e mikerobertsmedia@btinternet.com
t 01747 840887
m 07850 799734

Company no 5494027

Four Wheel Drift

Pom liked analyses. This illustrated the forces working on a mid-engined Cooper-Climax

Road test cars in lurid skids are so 1950s. Only louts and motoring hacks drive cars sideways in clouds of smoke. Power slides, what Stirling Moss used to call four wheel drifts, went out with skinny tyres.  Jack Brabham was still “hanging the tail out” with the Cooper-Climax in 1960 but it now looks a quaint relic of a bygone age.

Up to about 1937 racing drivers tended to brake before a corner, go round on half throttle, and then accelerate. With more power they could spin the back wheels, skidding out the tail, keeping control by steering on opposite lock. When independent suspension came in wheels had more grip and for the first time understeered. In Design and Behaviour of the Racing Car (Kimber 1963) by Stirling Moss (left) and the late and much lamented Laurence Pomeroy, Moss says: “It was now possible to produce a halfway house between the trailing throttle and power slide techniques. At Rheims in 1938 spectators saw cars set up for right hand corners by turning the front wheels well to the right then feeding power into the rear wheels with such control that wheelspin, and a power slide, was avoided, but at the same time the cornering power of the tyres was so reduced that the tail came out without the wheels spinning. The car then went round, pointing well in-field, so that a photographer standing back might have it pointing straight at him. Thus was the four wheel drift initiated.”

Well, it’s different now. Any grand prix driver getting that far out of shape is either wasting time or having an accident. The fastest way through a corner is a precise line, yet surprisingly editors still like pictures of Ferraris, or any fast car it seems, in a tyre-screeching skid. It does not prove road testers are clever drivers. There’s no skill to it. But it makes me wary.  It looks as though motoring magazines are designed for juveniles and not for Ferrari-buying classes at all. Exemplary road test picture: Jaguar (right)