This book details the origin and history of the Matra sports cars. Designed and built by a French firm with no history of sports car racing 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 V12 from its then current Grand Prix car. Includes the developmental and race history, with a full list of all events and individual chassis numbers.

In 1965, Colin Chapman persuaded Ford to underwrite development of a V8 for the new 3000cc Grand Prix formula. Built by Cosworth, the new DFV engine won Lotus four World Championship Grands Prix in 1967. A year later, and now available to other constructors, the engine began its domination of Grand Prix racing.

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 Grand Prix drivers were fully active in sports car as well as F1 machines. This is the story of a great time, and a great model, in motorsport.

More than 1,000 photographs in b&w and color illustrate the extraordinary variety of sports cars that have been offered to the public. All the great names are featured, including cars from Israel, Egypt, Spain, Switzerland, Norway and Brazil.

Introduces various classic European, American and Japanese sports cars.

This e-book details the most interesting and important characteristics of the automobiles, car maintenance, styling features, car body style, the standard classification of the cars, an history of the automobiles, introduction in the automotive industry, and the traffic code, rules and signs. An automobile, usually called a car (an old word for carriage) or a truck, is a wheeled vehicle that carries its own engine. Older terms include horseless carriage and motor car, with “motor” referring to what is now usually called the engine. It has seats for the driver and, almost without exception, for at least one passenger. The automobile was hailed as an environmental improvement over horses when it was first introduced. Before its introduction, in New York City, over 10,000 tons of manure had to be removed from the streets daily. However, in 2006 the automobile is one of the primary sources of worldwide air pollution and cause of substantial noise and health effects.

Motorbooks 500 Series, with the Crestline imprint. This exciting series of promotional books offers the same high quality you've come to expect from the world's largest publisher of transportation titles. All original titles, including contemporary design and aggressive promotional pricing. "Sports Cars highlights the best cars of the high-performance experience. They look great, drive superbly, and go faster than other cars on the road. This book is a photographic celebration of the greatest cars ever made. From the groundbreaking Porsche 911, to the classic creations of the Italian firms Ferrari and Lamborghini, this book features all of the best sports cars. A series of chapters deals with the breed chronologically, from the prewar World War II roots right up to the present day.