Planning a trip to France? If so, this book may enhance your visit…
Reviewed by Kieron Fennelly.
Title: France: The Essential guide for Car Enthusiasts
Author: Julian Parish
Published by: Veloce; www.veloce.co.uk
248 pages; soft covers
Price: £14.99 UK/$24.95
ISBN: 978-1-787110-57-1
France: The Essential guide for Car Enthusiasts
France, says Julian Parish, is the most popular destination for tourists and there is a good chance you have been there many times. He is quite right, and as familiarity can breed contempt seasoned travellers may well think they know what to look for. This Guide emphatically proves them wrong. Although some enthusiasts will undoubtedly recognise Angoulême’s Circuit des Remparts on the cover, there is vastly far more to the French motoring scene than Le Mans Classic, Pau, Retromobile or the pits at Reims. The regions which comprise Europe’s largest country harbour motoring museums, racing circuits, hillclimbs and classic car gatherings which often feature cars never seen in Britain. Here is an entire automobile culture that the casual traveller, relying on internet searches, is unlikely to unearth.
Parish is a correspondent for the classic car press and has lived in France for many years. His book is driven by the first hand knowledge and energy of the true enthusiast and written so compellingly, that simply leafing through it the reader is filled with the desire get across the Channel at the first opportunity.
VERDICT
Logically laid out on a region by region basis and enhanced by excellent photography, this encyclopedic book, exceptional value at £15, should be in every car fan’s glovebox.