07 Oct Between the covers: Greg Mills’ books
The newsletter’s monthly book review feature which focuses on motoring literature of interest to FMM’s followers, hosted by Wendy Monk. One of the most prolific writers’ on South African motoring history is Greg Mills, himself a keen racing driver and grandson of Billy Mills, a famous racing driver and land speed record breaker in the 1930s…
FMM’s library has five of Greg Mills’ books, starting with FOR THE LOVE OF IT, which covers the career of a famous name in South Africa’s rich history of motor racing icons, John Love. The book was written to commemorate Love’s 80th birthday and covers his very successful 30+ years-long career in motor sport. Apart from recalling his successes on the track, Greg captures the camaraderie and respect that John engendered amongst the drivers of the day, even the youngsters starting out on their careers. To them all he was the undoubted king. This was the first of Greg’s books that I have read and it is a fabulous tome with lots of photographs, wonderful anecdotes and is a worthy tribute to one of SA’s greats.
‘LOVE FIRST, TINGLE SECOND’ was a newspaper headline that raises a smile whenever you read it, and in this, the third of Greg’s books, the old cliché ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is very apt. There are 230 pages of photographs, with captions, contributed by some great motor sport photographers of the day including John Duncan, Alton Bern and Ben van Rensburg, as well as contributions from Peter McIntosh, the Frank Hoal Collection and Greg’s own library. Sam Tingle began his career by competing in hillclimbs in his boat-tailed MG in the Burman Drive Hillclimb before moving onto single-seater racing, more often than not against his arch rival John Love. Every aspect of Sam’s colourful and successful racing life is covered and you could easily spend hours just paging through this pictorial history of a great driver.
‘PIPES!’ DAVID PIPER AND THE SPRINGBOK SERIES was written my Greg in conjunction with Andrew Reed and Robert Young, and is a fascinating story about a colourful character in Southern Africa’s motor sport history, who has contributed so much to the local scene. Englishman David Piper came to South Africa in 1962 to enter his Ferrari GTO in the 9-Hour at Kyalami, having already teamed up with local ace Bruce Johnstone as his co-driver. They won the race and Piper went on to win five more 9-Hours, two with Tony Maggs and three with Richard Attwood. The Springbok Series formed in 1966 with the 9-Hour as the premier event, and Piper entered the series until 1969. His racing career was cut short in 1970 when he lost the lower part of one of his legs in a crash while filming the movie ‘Le Mans’. The Springbok Series, however, continued until 1973 when it was cut short by the fuel crisis. As is the trademark of Greg’s books, there are lots of photographs and plenty of great stories. This is a great read.
TONY MAGGS. SOUTH AFRICA’S FORGOTTEN GRAND PRIX ACE is another book co-written by Greg, this time with Bill Jennings, Bruce Johnstone, Eoin Young and Robert Young. Tony Maggs was an enigmatic man who I knew very little about except that he was, by all accounts, considered great – but unlucky. This book put it all together for me and made me realise just how great he was and how other great drivers respected him. Maggs’ career spanned a five-year period between 1961 and 1965 and he was South Africa’s first Grand Prix driver of the modern era. He took part in 25 grands prix, including races in Belgium, France, Great Britain, USA, Mexico to name a few, and he drove Lotus’, Coopers and BRMs. Apart from these GP achievements, he won two 9-Hour races with David Piper in 1963 and 1964, and took part in three Le Mans events amongst many other races. One of my favourite motor racing photos, shown in this book, is of the Grand Prix drivers walking up the East London track, headed by Tony Maggs, after a pre-race meeting in 1962.
AGRICULTURE, FURNITURE AND MARMALADE. SOUTHERN AFRICAN MOTORSPORT HEROES is a sit down and read book with plenty of glossy colour photographs in groups in the middle. It is full of the characters that make up the rich tapestry of Southern Africa’s motoring fraternity from Bill Jennings, Sam Tingle, Eddie Keizan, Tony Martin, Sarel van der Merwe, Desiré Wilson, Ian and Jody Scheckter, Rory Byrne and Gordon Murray. In between the central themes of the 20 people this book is about, there are so many more mentioned such as Peter de Klerk, Doug Serrurier, Tony Viana, Willie Hepburn and Ben Morgenrood. One can never get bored reading this book as it tells such delightful, behind the scenes stories and gives insights into what made the characters all so great. Deserving of special mention is the foreword by Arie Luyendyk – but you’ll have to read the book to find out why…
Other motoring books by Greg Mills are: –
SPRINGBOK SERIES. AN ERA OF SPORTS AND SALOON CAR RACING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
PADDY – WHO? A DRIVER’S LIFE OF BIKES AND CARS
SALOONS, BARS & BOYKIES. LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN MOTORSPORT
