{"id":12991,"date":"2024-12-17T16:46:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T16:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=12991"},"modified":"2024-12-17T16:46:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T16:46:42","slug":"book-review-de-tomaso-racing-blue-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=12991","title":{"rendered":"Book review: De Tomaso Racing Blue Blood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It would be easy to sing the praises of a book costing \u20ac350 ($370). But for that kind of money, it had better be good. De Tomaso: Racing Blue Blood<\/em> is not just good, it\u2019s outstanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite operating from Modena, Alejandro de Tomaso never quite earned his place among the established Italian sports car elite, like Ferrari or Maserati. And not through lack of trying. The Argentinian entrepreneur-engineer played many an interesting card, such as buying the Ghia coachbuilding firm when it was in trouble, or teaming up with Ford to develop the Italo-American Pantera sports car Dearborn had always dreamed of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo McKlein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Start with racing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alejo P\u00e9rez Monsalvo is the brains behind the De Tomaso race car registry; Marcel Schaub \u2013 who sadly passed away at the end of 2023 \u2013 was the authority on De Tomaso road cars. Together, they have created something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many previous books have emphasised De Tomaso\u2019s road car operation over the racing side. Racing Blue Blood<\/em> does the opposite and provides the not-so-knowledgeable with a fascinating \u2013 and more logical \u2013 insight into the man and his ambitions. More than anything else, Alejandro de Tomaso wanted to be a successful racing driver. His is a fascinating story, masterfully told by the authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo McKlein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

OSCA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

De Tomaso was born into affluence in 1928, in Buenos Aires. Too soon, his father passed away and he found himself overseeing 120,000 acres of family estate. Racing was his outlet. Feeling suppressed by the P\u00e9ron regime, de Tomaso left behind wealth, wife and children to make his way to Europe. His destination? Modena \u2013 the place \u2018where the best craftsmen are based.\u2019 There, he met American Isabelle Haskell, at Maserati in 1955. Haskell, of Standard Oil fortune, and de Tomaso fell in love; they would embark on a lasting adventure. It\u2019s typical of de Tomaso, by now a client and collaborator of the Maserati brothers’ OSCA company, that he quickly told them: \u2018This is not how you build race cars.\u2019 At the end of 1959, De Tomaso Automobili emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez Monsalvo and Schaub paint an honest picture of an intriguing individual, highlighting both his genius and his flaws, be they personal or professional. Whilst de Tomaso may have snapped up many firms for next-to-nothing, they were ailing businesses necessitating major investment. Money de Tomaso never could provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo McKlein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chapman<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yet, there is no denying that in the 1960s’ racing scene, de Tomaso seemed destined for a great and prosperous future, both in single-seaters and in sports cars, among many other classes. Would it be so wrong to describe him as deserving of similar praise heaped upon Lotus\u2019 Colin Chapman? No wonder the two admired each other and struck up a collaboration. But the resulting lightweight, 5.5-litre (335-cu.in.) V8 De Tomaso Lotus engine failed to take off in the way both had hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo McKlein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Zandvoort drama<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1970 was all about Formula 1 with Frank Williams. Based on a Tom Tjaarda design at Ghia \u2013 with supervision from Giampaolo Dallara \u2013 the De Tomaso 505-38 sported a Cosworth V8 in the back, and Piers Courage behind the wheel. Initially, the project showed promise, until tragedy struck at Zandvoort\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix in June. Courage was killed, and de Tomaso lost his enthusiasm for the sport, terminating the agreement with Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo McKlein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With around 500 photographs and documents, Racing Blue Blood<\/em> is lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed. Presented in a luxurious slipcase, the book is limited to 550 numbered copies. We can only congratulate the authors and publisher on such an excellent work, which at 23.8 x 31 cm (9.4 x 12.2 in.) and 4.6 kilos (10 lbs) will certainly test your bookshelf. All we can say is that this product of deep love for De Tomaso and motor racing is worth the investment. Hopefully, after the limited edition runs out, McKlein Media will consider a cheaper, regular edition. (JoD)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

mckleinstore.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Alejo P\u00e9rez Monsalvo, Marcel Schaub<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISBN: 9783947156580<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher: McKlein Media<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pages: 458<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price: \u20ac350 ($370)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It would be easy to sing the praises of a book costing \u20ac350 ($370). But for that kind of money, it had better be good. De Tomaso: Racing Blue Blood is not just good, it\u2019s outstanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[630,399,1682,196,282,1686,1688,254,329,896,1685,1687,1684],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-12991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-books","tag-books","tag-colin-chapman","tag-de-tomaso","tag-ford","tag-frank-williams","tag-ghia","tag-isabelle-haskell","tag-lotus","tag-maserati","tag-mcklein","tag-osca","tag-pantera","tag-review","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DeTomaso_McKlein_Spread11.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13000,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12991\/revisions\/13000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12991"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=12991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}