Charles is being nice, after dealing with Peter's screw ups in the first
book, I can only say that it was with sheer dread that I awaited his second.
He did not disappoint. A lot of fantasy and fallacy.
Speedy Regards,
LandSpeed Louise Ann Noeth
Storyteller
LandSpeed Productions
Words / Pictures / Graphics / PR
"Against the ruin of the world,
there is only one defense -- the creative act!"
-----Original Message-----
From: Chas. L. Shaffer <gator@wolfenet.com>
To: land-speed@autox.team.net <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Date: Monday, January 31, 2000 4:20 PM
Subject: Re: Book on Land Speed by Holthusen
>Hello salt fans,
>
>Glen Barrett posted a message to the land-speed mailing list on Jan. 15
>about the new book by Peter J.R. Holthusen, "The Fastest Men on Earth: 100
>Years of the Land Speed Record." The photos are nice and I enjoyed them,
>but list members should beware of the factual errors in the text.
>
>I took a look at this book in the store, and read a review in Fast Facts
>Issue 35, November 1999, The Speed Record Club Quarterly
>Newsletter. <http://www.soft.net.uk/speedrecordclub/>
>
>Holthusen authored an earlier book, "The Land Speed Record: To the Sound
>Barrier and Beyond" in 1986, which I have. Large sections of that book,
>errors and all, have been simply carried over into his "new" book. E.g.,
>according to the new book, Bob and Bill Summers are still waiting for
>someone to beat Goldenrod's wheel driven record, so they can run Goldenrod
>again (no mention that Bob died in 1994). Also, no mention in the book of
>Al Teague's 409.877 mph FIA record, or of Al or his streamliner
>whatsoever. Also according to the book, the McLaren Maverick will be
>making an attempt in the year 2000--but this project has had no reported
>activity for over 5 years and is presumed dead.
>
>The table in the book, "The Evolution of the LSR" includes a couple of
>Malcolm Campbell runs that were never ratified as records. It also lists
>Mickey Thompson's 406.60 as a record, and it was not, being only a one-way
>run. Andy Green's first LSR of 714.144 mph, set September 1997 and
>ratified by the FIA soon afterwards, is not listed in the table.
>
>For a book subtitled "100 Years of the Land Speed Record," it is worth
>noting that, of the four vehicles on the cover, only one, ThrustSSC, ever
>set a land speed record.
>
>In late 1996 or 1997, Mr. Holthusen was quoted in a U.S. magazine, maybe
>Hot Rod or Popular Mechanics, as saying that the Khadi-9 car from Ukraine
>would soon return to challenge for the LSR. This car was last reported by
>the Speed Record Club as badly decayed in a junk pile, and the project
>leader, Nikitin, died a number of years ago.
>
>Again, the photos are nice, and may make the book worth having, but with
>errors such as these, I don't see how Mr. Holthusen can claim, as he does,
>to be the "world's leading authority on the land speed record." He doesn't
>seem to do the necessary research to gather and verify facts. Just my
>opinion. ;-)
>
>Charley Shaffer
>LSR Fan, Historian, & Photographer
>Seattle
>
>P.S. There are better books. IMHO, the most authoritative and
>comprehensive treatment of the "unlimited" LSR is "Land Speed Record: From
>39.24 to 600+ mph" by Cyril Posthumus and David Tremayne,
>1985. Unfortunately, it needs updating, and is now out of print, but there
>are places on the Internet where one can search for used
>books. <http://www.bookfinder.com/>
>
>The autobiographies are thrilling reading, "Thrust" by Richard Noble and
>David Tremayne, 1998, and "Spirit of America: Winning the World's Land
>Speed Record" by Craig Breedlove with Bill Neely, 1971
><http://www.spiritofamerica.com/book/book_index.html>.
>
>P.P.S. Glen, I briefly met you at Speed Week in 1997 when James Rice was
>showing me around the timing trailer. Keep up the good work!
>
>
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