Pete Lyons’s Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery was one of five 'Finalist' books in the ‘Publication of the Year’ category at the 2020 Historic Motoring Awards.

Organised in association with Octane magazine, this was the tenth year of the Historic Motoring Awards, which took place as an online event on Thursday 22 October.

The winning book was Weekend Heroes 2.0 by Tony Adriaensens, published by Belgium-based Corsa Research and costing £500.

Two Evro books have been shortlisted for the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards, which will take place on Wednesday 28 October in either a live or online format at the Club’s Pall Mall Clubhouse. Now in their seventh consecutive year, the awards are recognised as the most prestigious to be bestowed in the automotive publishing industry.

Niki Lauda: His Competition History by Jon Saltinstall has been nominated by the judges for the six-strong shortlist for Motoring Book of the Year, ‘for an exceptional book with wide appeal and costing no more than £75’.

Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery is on the shortlist for Specialist Book of the Year, ‘for a feat of impeccable research and flawless writing regardless of its retail cost’.

“The Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards have become synonymous with celebrating the best automotive books, authors and publishers,” said Jeremy Vaughan, Head of Motoring. “The quality of entries this year has been quite remarkable, which is a reassuring sign that the industry is in good shape and the appetite for motoring books continue to be healthy. The rigour around the judging process was very impressive and given the quality of entries it was the toughest judging year yet.”

Evro books have won four previous RAC awards:

2014 Motoring Book of the Year: John Surtees: My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheels by John Surtees with Mike Nicks

2016 Motoring Book of the Year: Brian Redman: Daring Drivers, Deadly Tracks by Brian Redman with Jim Mullen

2018 Specialist Book of the Year: Reid Railton: Man of Speed by Karl Ludvigsen

2019 Specialist Book of the Year: John, George and the HWMs by Simon Taylor

John Surtees: My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheel, has won the inaugural Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Award.

“It is a great honour for our book to win this prestigious new award,” said John Surtees after receiving the trophy from Club Chairman Tom Purves at a presentation at the Pall Mall clubhouse on Wednesday 29 October 2014.

“Putting the book together was a real trip down memory lane, touching on the highs and lows of my life. It would not have been possible without the fine array of photographs we were able to assemble. All that is due to the efforts over the years of the many photographers who captured almost every significant moment of my racing life.”

Forewords by two modern-day World Champions, Valentino Rossi and Sebastian Vettel, provide a fitting introduction to John Surtees: My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheels. In his foreword Sebastian Vettel, who is about to become a Ferrari driver, stated: “Nobody else in the racing world has a personal story that so directly echoes the mechanics of motorsport – from building motorcycles in the 1940s to the running of a racing team in the 1970s. Bikes and cars are great interests of mine and John’s unique career combines them like no other.”

Evro Publishing, the new motorsport book publisher, has so far only published three books – and two of them have been shortlisted for the inaugural Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Award.

Founded at the beginning of 2014, Evro Publishing entered the world of motorsport and motoring books at a time when other companies were departing or cutting back.

Evro’s first book was Ayrton Senna: All His Races by Tony Dodgins, released last April. The company’s second book, launched two months later, was John Surtees: My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheels, a photographic memoir of the only man ever to have been World Champion in both Formula 1 and motorcycle racing.

Now Evro’s two début titles have been selected for the six-strong shortlist for the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Award, the winner of which will be announced at the culmination of the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Literary Festival on the evening of Wednesday 29 October 2014.

“I am thrilled that we have achieved this recognition so early in the life of Evro Publishing,” says company founder and chairman Eric Verdon-Roe. “I think it shows that we are on the right track in our aim to publish top-quality books at affordable prices. It is particularly pleasing that our efforts have been recognised by independent experts: the Royal Automobile Club had the clever idea of inviting a panel of six knowledgeable book people – those who review books for the media – to make the nominations.”