Author Carlos de Paula, known for his historical auto racing books, has launched a new book, the "24 Hours of Le Mans Curiosities", which is available in most Amazon shops worldwide. The 279-page book contains year-by-year milestones of the great race, including details on drivers, constructors, regulations, track changes, basic statistics, nationalities represented, debuting marques, plus curious details that may be overlooked even by the most knowledgeable racing enthusiast. It is meant to be a fun book, offered at a lower cost than most 24 Hours of Le Mans books. Carlos de Paula has authored several auto racing books since 2018. The book is selling well in several markets besides the United States, such as UK, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, Australia. Because the book is sold in non-English speaking countries, it is written in simple English. The Le Mans book follows the successful Formula 1 Curiosities series that took Amazon by storm in 2022
Racing history enthusiasts will readily remember some of the darkest days of the sport, when multiple drivers and spectators died on a same race. Le Mans 1955, Monza 1933, Rouen 1970, Indy 1973, Imola 1994, are just some of those sad days that remind us how thousands of people lost their lives at race tracks or places where races were held since the late 19 th century, in spite of today’s false sense of security. The earliest races took place on open roads, generally from one city to another. With increasing number of vehicles and the inconvenience of closing roads for racing events, soon closed circuits emerged, while the “stradale” Targa Florio insisted in remaining open for business until the 70s. Now such racing is restricted to rallies and hill climbs. It is not surprising that it was in Italy, in spite of the veteran Monza circuit, that there was some resistance to building of purpose made tracks with a semblances of safety. Very dangerous races were held in seve