Book review: Le Mans 1949-59

As an opening gambit, author Quentin Spurring's assertion that 'this is a story about renaissance – not once, but twice', sets the scene perfectly for his book, Le Mans 1949-59.

The third instalment of Spurring's officially-endorsed history of the most famous endurance race in the world covers the decade immediately following World War II when racing returned to a devastated post-war France – the first renaissance – and continues past the second – the 1955 crash – that led to much soul-searching in motorsport and which very nearly brought an end to the race itself.