There are lots of books about the Norton Commando; about its history, performance, lineage, and the minutiae of its specification. But none of them will tell you what to look for when buying one secondhand. That’s what this book is about – it is a straightforward, practical guide to buying a used Commando. It doesn’t list all the correct colour combinations for each year, or analyse the bike’s design philosophy, or consider its background as part of a troubled industry – there are excellent books listed at the end of this one that do all of that – but it will help you avoid buying a dud.

Point by point, it takes the reader through everything that needs looking at when buying a Commando, plus spares prices, which is the best model to buy for your needs, and a look at auctions, restorations and paperwork.

So don’t buy a Commando without buying this book first!

Having this book in your pocket is just like having a real marque expert by your side. Benefit from Peter Henshaw’s years of experience; learn how to spot a bad Norton Commando quickly, and how to assess a promising one like a professional.

These bikes are the last of the ‘classic’ Nortons, and remain collector’s items, and many have been saved, restored and returned to the road in superb condition. This book, which is available now from bookshops or www.velocebooks.com , will show you how to get the right bike at the right price.

Norton Commando – The Essential Buyer’s Guide

By Peter Henshaw

ISBN 9781845842819

UPC 636847042813

Available now.

UK ￡9.99, USA $19.95

Michelin is more closely aligning its printed publications – maps, tourist guides and hotel & restaurant guides – with the ViaMichelin digital services offering, thereby giving today’s traveller quick and easy access to all of Michelin’s highly reliable tourist information on a new website: www.Travel.ViaMichelin.com

ViaMichelin and Michelin Green Guides will together open the doors to a large tourist information and services database that has been in the making for more than 100 years. This offer will bring together all content from the Green Guide collection, which has been fully renewed for the occasion by integrating it with ViaMichelin’s digital technology.

This new service will also include restaurants from the Michelin hotel & restaurant guide selection, detailed maps, satellite photos and the route calculator function already well known to web users. In addition to this wealth of information, the new site will provide travellers with something totally new and unique – the possibility of creating their own personalised travel books, enabling them to plan the trip they’ve dreamed of and see it unfold before their eyes.

A comprehensive search facility allows visitors to the site to make their own selection according to their tastes and expectations. Presentations of each tourist site, hotel or restaurant include a description, photographs and useful information.

A package of complementary services makes it possible to book airline or train tickets, rent a car, reserve a room in any of more than 100,000 hotels around the world, purchase travel insurance or view local weather reports.

In addition to ideas and suggestions from Michelin’s editorial teams, the site also includes comments about the tourist sites, restaurants and hotels from other online users, which are helpful in choosing the right destination.

Michelin has made browsing on Travel.ViaMichelin.com simple and intuitive. A single interface provides information and services that enable site visitors to prepare their trip with ready-to-use itineraries that can also be adapted to individual desires, budgets or time constraints. Eliminating the need for different sources of information, Travel.ViaMichelin.com brings together everything the traveller needs, from the initial planning stage through to the end of the trip.

After choosing what to see and where to dine and sleep, travellers can then prepare and print their own personalised travel book. Similar to the shopping cart on an e-commerce site, the new function features easy-to-use, drag-and-drop technology. The travel book is shown on an interactive map, with a route calculator indicating each stage of the trip.

By the end of 2010, the offer will comprise 90 countries, thousands of destinations, 36,000 tourist sites, 57,000 restaurants and 100,000 hotels, with all the information available in five languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish). Other content and new features will be added in the months and years ahead.

This new service provides Michelin’s present and future customers with a resource that allows them to easily and enjoyably visualise and plan every aspect of their journey.

This new book from Veloce Publishing, details the origin and history of the Matra sports cars.

Racers designed and built by a French firm with no history of sports car racing manufacture to contest the various versions of the World Sports Car Championship between 1966 and 1974. This series of cars started life with the 2-litre BRM engine before progressing to the Ford V8, and subsequently Matra’s own sonorous V12 from its then current Grand Prix car.

The book includes the development and race history, with a full list of all race events and individual chassis numbers of Matra cars.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a significant era in the world of international sports car racing. As the motor racing rule-making body moved back and forth between cars that less and less resembled road going vehicles, prototype sports car racing captured the imagination of manufacturers, teams and fans alike. Porsche vs. Ferrari vs. Alfa Romeo vs. Matra provided some of the best racing for sports cars ever witnessed, and by 1973, the Matra prototype – little more than a Grand Prix car with full bodywork – was dominating the scene. That period has always been viewed as one of the great eras in sports car racing, when all the great Grand Prix drivers were fully active in sports car as well as GP/F1 machines.

This carefully-researched book, which provides the complete story of a great time, and a great make, in motorsport is now available from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com

Matra sports cars– MS620, 630, 650, 660 & 670 – 1966 to 1974
By Ed McDonough
ISBN 9781845842611
UPC 636847042615
Available now.
UK ￡15.99, USA $29.95

Nissan GT-R Supercar: Born to race
by Dennis Gorodji

This exciting new book from Veloce Publishing contains rare pictures, schematics and graphs detailing the many unique qualities of the Nissan GT-R, a car that revolutionised modern sports car dynamics.

Analysis of the motorsport history of the GT-R provides an original view of model development, and comparison with other sports and racing cars. The book features an original and critical evaluation of the new GT-R R35, and the R35 Spec V, launched at the start of 2009, is also represented.

With over 400 colour photographs, this carefully researched and beautifully presented 224-page book is essential reading for sports car fans, and is available now from bookshops and from www.velocebooks.com  

Nissan GT-R Supercar: Born to race
by Dennis Gorodji
ISBN  9781845842215
UPC 636847042219
Available now.
UK ￡39.99, USA $79.95

Formula 5000 Motor Racing – Back then, and back now
By Derek Lawson

Take a trip down memory lane with this beautifully illustrated and researched book from Veloce Publishing, recalling the days when Formula 5000 cars roared around the race tracks, creating a lot of noise and, occasionally, dust. The wail of a 5-litre engine was often more spine-tingling than ANY other racing car! Nowadays, many of the same cars show modern day spectators just how dramatic Formula 5000 racing can be.

Few, if any, of the drivers are prima donnas, so F5000 racing is aggresive. This book covers a very popular racing cars ‘formula’ that is generally untapped as a subject by other authors.

Although Formula 5000 has never had the mass appeal of F1, in some instances the cars and drivers became favourites of spectators across the globe. It was launched in the UK and Europe in 1969, but fell by the wayside at the end of 1976 – although a few cars continued to run in other events after that. Some cars came back to circuits in 2003 as part of the Formula One Race Car Entrants (FORCE) package, but it was in 2004 that a lot more cars became reacquainted with their old haunts following the launch of the Derek Bell Trophy, backed by the UK’s Historic Sports Car Club. This book, which will remind readers of both periods in which the cars have run in anger, is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com

Formula 5000 Motor Racing – Back then, and back now
By Derek Lawson
ISBN 9781845842161
UPC 636847042165
Available now.
UK ￡40,00, USA $79.95

The MICHELIN Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2010 will be available in bookshops from Wednesday 20 January priced at £15.99 (€18.99 in Ireland).

This year’s guide includes one new three-star restaurant (Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester) and one new two-star (The Ledbury); both in London. Included in the list of 18 new one-stars is Sienna, a small, family run restaurant in Dorset and The Harwood Arms, the first pub in London to achieve this accolade. Also, Bray-on-Thames has yet another star to add to its repertoire – The Royal Oak, a traditional village pub in nearby Paley Street. Away from England there are also three new stars in Scotland and three in Wales.  

Commenting on the 2010 guide, Editor Derek Bulmer said: “Last year was clearly a difficult year for hotels and restaurants but those establishments who reacted by being more flexible and creative appear to be riding the storm. Value for money has also been an important factor and we have awarded 28 new Bib Gourmand awards – ‘good food at moderate prices’ – which reflects this.

“Chefs have had to be more resourceful and restaurants have had to adapt to changing eating habits. Some have even introduced ‘credit crunch’ menus to help fight the recession. Long-established restaurants have proved to be resilient but we have also seen plenty of new openings.

“There is now a greater geographical spread of starred restaurants and the inspectors will continue to seek out establishments serving particularly good food, wherever they are situated.

“As we head into this new decade, the hotel and restaurant industry appears to be leaner and fitter. Greater emphasis is being placed on satisfying customers’ needs; diversity continues to be one of the UK’s greater strengths and the public’s interest in chefs, food and cooking shows no sign of abating.”

The format of the MICHELIN guide means it offers its readers an unrivalled selection of hotels and restaurants to suit all pockets. The 2010 guide recommends more than 1,900 hotels and guesthouses and around 1,900 restaurants and pubs. All are regularly and anonymously inspected by Michelin’s own team of professional, full-time inspectors and inclusion in the guide is free of charge.

At the same time, the MICHELIN Guide London 2010 is also launched priced at £9.99 (€11.99 in Ireland). This guide forms part of Michelin’s collection of city guides. It features additional descriptive text, and two entries per page for non-starred restaurants and one entry per page with photographs for starred restaurants.

Veloce Publishing has been providing books of the highest quality in terms of content, accuracy, presentation, subject range and reader satisfaction to discerning automotive enthusiasts around the world for nearly twenty years. Now, the same level of quality can be found in the form of an App on your iPhone or iPod.

This new App gives author Richard Copping the unique opportunity to share his VW Bus expertise directly to you on your iPhone or iPod. The new VW Bus App includes 18 sections, ranging from cost considerations to common problems. Included are three videos – model range, 15 minute evaluation, and paint problems – each featuring an informative voice-over by the author.

Each book in The Essential Buyer’s Guide series provides an illustrated, expert guide to an individual model of classic car or motorcycle written by a real expert on that particular model. When you’ve read the book or the App you’ll have the inside track on exactly what to look for to ensure that you get the very best vehicle for your money.

Veloce publisher and co-founder Rod Grainger says, “This first App represents a bold step into a new form of media with a great future. In App form, sound and video have allowed us to add new dimensions to our core product – excellent practical advice. I am particularly proud that this first App was developed entirely in-house, meaning we have the ability to roll out more Apps in quick succession, starting with a series of Essential Buyer’s Guides”.

Unique buyer’s guide covering VW Transporter-based campers, vans and buses produced between 1950 and 1990
Many colour photographs taken especially for this guide
Informative text written by enthusiastic experts with the novice in mind
In-App videos that feature helpful voice-overs by your marque expert, Richard Copping
Three generations of VW Bus covered
Invaluable guide to avoiding pitfalls and getting real value for money
All aspects of buying a VW Bus covered

This App is now available through the iTunes App Store. Price: £2.39

American Trucks of the 1950s
by Norm Mort

A highly-illustrated study examining the important role of trucks and trucking in the growth of North America in the 1950s. 120 images and evocative writing encapsulates the histories and products of the major, minor, obscure (but nonetheless historically significant) truck manufacturers. Detailed captions and supportive text complement contemporary brochures, period literature, factory photos and over fifty new, unpublished colour photos of restored trucks.
This carefully researched 96-page book is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com

American Trucks of the 1950s
by Norm Mort
ISBN 9781845842277
UPC 636847042271
Available now.
UK £14.99, USA $29.95

Triumph Stag – The Essential Buyer’s Guide
by Norm Mort and Tony Fox

Having this book in your pocket is just like having a real marque expert by your side. Triumph’s Stag combined the smoothness and performance of a V8 engine in stylish Italian coachwork designed by Giovanni Michelotti, which allowed for both closed and open grand touring. This Essential Buyer’s Guide examines the model’s evolution, features, fittings, performance and typical problem areas through detailed text and colour photographs of both restored and original examples.

This carefully researched 64-page paperback, pocket-sized volume is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com. Like Veloce’s other Essential Buyer’s Guides this book features chapters such as ‘Is it the right car for you?’, a very detailed checklist/scoring system for rating a potential Stag purchase, advice on deciding whether or not to restore a Stag, paint problems, issues that can arise through under use, and lists of clubs, specialists and parts suppliers.

Triumph Stag – The Essential Buyer’s Guide
by Norm Mort and Tony Fox
ISBN 9781845842703
UPC 636847042707
Available now.
UK £9.99, USA $19.95

Bentley Continental, Corniche & Azure – Revised, Reformatted Edition by Martin Bennett

This newly revised and re-formatted book from Veloce Publishing provides the definitive history of the most sought-after, fastest and elegant Bentleys built in the British ownership era: the Continentals. It includes Bentley Continental R and S-Types (1951 on), Bentley Corniche, Continental Convertible, Continental R/S/T and Azure. This beautifully illustrated 256-page hardback volume is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com. In a portfolio of over 300 illustrations, it paints a unique portrait of the development of these elegant and powerful cars over a fifty-year period, revealing why they are so rewarding to drive and own.

Bentley Continental, Corniche & Azure 1951-2002 – Revised Edition
by Martin Bennett
ISBN  9781845842109
UPC 636847042103
UK £75.00, USA $150.00

Alfa Romeo Montreal – The dream car that came true
by Bruce Taylor

With its stylish Bertone coachwork and race-bred 200bhp V8 engine, the iconic Alfa Romeo Montreal is one of the most stunning series production automobiles of the twentieth century. Almost 4000 Montreals were built, and today sound cars are still readily available at very affordable prices. Now the spirit of the car has been captured in a comprehensive pictorial tribute book from Veloce Publishing. The new book is a visual testimonial to a powerful and beautiful coupé that was born as a futuristic concept and transformed into a ‘dream car come true’. This beautifully illustrated 208-page hardback volume is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com. In a portfolio of over 575 illustrations, it paints a unique and detailed graphic portrait of this elegant and powerful classic GT, revealing why it is immensely enjoyable to drive and turns heads wherever it appears.

The author, Bruce Taylor, says: ‘Veloce Publishing have made a splendid job of this unique pictorial tribute to the exotic Alfa Romeo Montreal. This beautiful new book portrays every aspect of the car, and shows discerning enthusiasts that the Montreal is a hidden treasure that is well worth seeking.’

Alfa Romeo Montreal – The dream car that came true
by Bruce Taylor
ISBN  9781845842185
UPC 636847042189
UK £40.00, USA $79.95

The Café Racer Phenomenon (Those were the days … series)
By Alastair Walker

The Café Racer is one of the most enduring styles of motorcycle ever created, encapsulating the rebellious spirit of the ’50s. This new book is a look back at the glory days of the Café Racer, from Friday night dices on London’s North Circular road, through the street specials craze of the Seventies, to the modern day revival.

The Café Racer Phenomenon, a new book in Veloce Publishing’s Those were the days … series features a huge, global Café Racer community directory alongside a unique mix of personal memories, previously unpublished photos, iconic machines and chassis builders in profile. Wonderfully evocative reading for any ‘ton-up’ rider of past or present.

The Café Racer machine captures the very essence of motorcycling, with its stripped-to-the-bone styling and a timeless blend of cat-quick chassis, matched to a barn-storming engine.

From its roots in the ’59 Club, home-brewed specials and the creation of the Triton by Dave Degens, the Café Racer became the must-have Rockers’ motorbike. It then became the template for a new generation of fast road riders in the 1970s, with the rise of Dunstall, Rickman, Seeley and many more bespoke bike builders.

The big factories jumped on the bandwagon too. Machines like the Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk I, Ducati 900SS and the MV Agusta 750S all captured the spirit of the Café Racer. Then the slick, super fast, Japanese sport bikes of the 80s came along, and looked set to consign the Café Racer special to the history books.

But a revival had to happen. The Ace Café London re-opened, bike builders as diverse as Wakan, Fred Krugger, Nick Gale and Roland Sands all began to create lean, back-to-basics motorcycles, but with their own unique twist on Café Racer heritage. From the Buell 1125 CR to the Guzzi V7 Sport, mainstream modern bikes have also re-discovered their street racing soul.

The 96-page paperback book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.

The Café Racer Phenomenon
By Alastair Walker
Available now UK & USA
ISBN 978-1-845842-64-2
UPC 6-36847-04264-6
£14.99 UK / $29.95 USA

This new book from Veloce Publishing is the first in a new World Sportscar Giants series and covers the origin and subsequent history of the 3-litre Ferrari sportscars, which the famed Italian firm designed and built to contest the various versions of the World Sportscar Championship between 1969 and 1973.

This group of cars started with the V12 engine and progressed to using the Flat 12 Ferrari engine from the then current Grand Prix car. Includes the developmental and race history, with a full list of all events and individual chassis numbers. With 100 contemporary pictures, this is the story of a great time in motorsport history. This power-packed 128-page paperback book is a must for every World Sportscar enthusiast and is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com.

Ferrari 312P & 312PB
By Peter Collins and Ed McDonough
Available now
ISBN  9781845842598
UPC 636847042592
UK ￡15.99, USA $29.95

When launched, the Ford Capri was revolutionary. It was a car that set the European market alight, allowing even a buyer on a modest budget an intoxicating whiff of the exotic whilst keeping running costs at affordable levels. That status eroded over time, and the Capri sat in the classic car doldrums for many years, its true worth unrecognised. That situation has thankfully changed, and Capri values are rising rapidly, so care has to be taken to make sure you end up with the best one possible for your money.

Ford Capri – The essential Buyer’s Guide takes the potential purchaser through a short initial examination to weed out the obviously defective followed by a more comprehensive step by step look at the body and mechanical parts, where the clear, jargon-free text accompanied by over 100 photographs sheds light on even the darkest corners of the Capri’s construction.

A unique points marking system ensures that nothing is overlooked, and an accurate final picture of the car’s condition can be viewed in relation to the asking price.

The 64-page paperback book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.

Ford Capri – The essential Buyer’s Guide
By Mark Paxton
Available now UK & USA
ISBN 978-1-84584-205-5
UPC 636847042059
£9.99 UK / $19.95 USA

Is this a first? Today we received news that Veloce Publishing’s Save the Triumph Bonneville! – The inside story of the Meriden Workers’ Co-op by John Rosamond has been granted a place in the House of Commons Library courtesy of Hilary Benn MP.

The great man himself Tony Benn pictured here at home reading his own personal copy, supplied the foreword for the book. He describes the book as ‘one of the most important and relevant histories of British industry that I have ever read…and I strongly recommend anyone interested in the future of Britain to read it carefully.’

Written by the ex-Chairman of the workers’ board of directors of the famous Meriden co-op, this is the real story of the last bastion of British motorcycle production following the collapse of the industry. It’s also the story of a workforce’s refusal to let the Triumph Bonneville die …

Save the Triumph Bonneville! - The inside story of the Meriden Workers’ Co-op

By John Rosamond with a Foreword by Tony Benn.

Mini Cooper/Mini Cooper S by Graham Robson (ISBN: 978-1-84584-183-6)

This book describes the birth, development, and rallying career of the BMC Mini-Cooper/Mini-Cooper in the 1960s, providing a compact and authoritative history of where, when and how it became so important to the sport.

Toyota Celica GT-Four by Graham Robson (ISBN: 978-1-84584-184-3)

This book describes the birth, development, and rallying career of the Toyota Celica GT-Four, providing a compact and authoritative history of where, when and how it became so important to the sport.

Individual Rally Giants books focus on the cars and personalities that stand out from the crowd in the long and exciting history of rallying. The books tell the story of cars and people that have left a big impression in the record books, and the minds of rally enthusiasts the world over.

Great value for money, these books are packed with pictures, facts and feats from the annals of International rallying. Collect the whole series!

Available now (UK & USA)

Each just £15.99 UK / $29.95 USA