HOBBO – David Hobbs with Andrew Marriott Review by Peter Collins
September 4, 2018Powered By Porsche by Roy Smith
Veloce Publishing ISBN: 1845849906
Review by Mike Jiggle
Whilst an extremely successful manufacturer and race team Porsche has had a tradition of spreading the love and their success by allowing engines and vehicles to be developed by others. With such a proliferation of Porsche derivatives it has been a daunting task for any author/researcher to undertake, so many stones to turn and unearth. Whilst many have shied away from this task, motorsport detective, Roy Smith, has risen to the challenge to produce an almost encyclopaedic tome on the subject. Vehicles from the top of the food chain to the lowliest of competitors are included – even those who dared to build replicas too. If your first look at the book leaves you exhausted, imagine the work necessary to put such a book together.
Whilst incorporating a wealth of facts, figures and information the book, an enthusiast’s dream, it is also an easy read. Those who, over the course of time, have made headlines for Porsche and the derivatives, both at the wheel and those at the end of a spanner, have all opened-up and shared a great deal, of knowledge, information and interesting anecdotes liberally peppered throughout.
Like many of his titles before, this should earn Mr Smith another gong, or two, in the world of literary awards. Porsche fans, together with the Porsche archivists too should be grateful that a man of Smith’s capabilities took time to produce this superb piece of work.