I hardly slept last night ! and it's all Philip Porter's fault! I opened his new Stirling Moss scrapbook at bedtime, and both I and my wife spent several happy hours trawling through it.

The book is just packed with fascinating stuff and tells so much more than has been available before about Stirling's family background, his parents' racing and rallying exploits, his father's early refusal to countenance Stirling's desire to race, then the great support he gave when he realised Stirling would do nothing else.

Much of the content of course is Jaguar-related, from Stirling's masterful drive at the age of 20 in Tommy Wisdoms XK 120 in the 1950 TT at Dundrod that got him a works drive from 1951, through all the C-type successes to leading Le Mans in the D-type's first race there.

Many insights are provided by Stirling's sister Pat, as well as Stirling himself, on everything from circuits to girlfriends; other drivers get their say too. And of course, the photography, the anecdotes, the press cuttings, the minutiae of the great man's life beautifully laid out in this huge format, make the book utterly irresistible.

It follows closely after his first Graham Hill Scrapbook (1929-66), which Bette Hill asked him to do after seeing the two previous Stirling Moss Scrapbooks (1955 & 1961) and realising what a wonderful format they are for telling the story of a racing driver's career in a uniquely personal and insightful way.

The books are available from Porter Press International - see www.porterpress.co.uk
Malcolm McKay, Motorbase News Editor