P98
BOOK REVIEWI
RACING HITLER, BY
T
here are two things the
modern-day MotoGP
gods and those who
buckled leather straps for hel-
mets on their heads a century
ago have in common: a love of
sheer, unbridled speed.
The heady mix of going way
too fast for any normal human
being binds these people, the
utter joy of reaching terminal
velocity far outweighing the
very real risk of mortality.
However, unlike the boys, we
watch every second Sunday,
covered in kangaroo leather
with airbags and helmets that
shear impact forces when you
hit the ground, the subjects in
the latest book, Racing Hitler,
by renowned MotoGP journal
-
ist Mat Oxley, were covered
by mere dressing gowns by
comparison as they endeavored
to go faster on two wheels than
anyone thought possible.
This was the 1930s and
while the world was gearing up
for yet another damned war, a
select few from England, Italy
and Germany were determined
to outdo each other in an ever
more dangerous race of land
speed record breaking.
Racing Hitler dictates how
one "skint, plucky Brit," as Oxley
calls him, by the name of Eric
Crudgington Fernihough (has
there ever been a more Brit
-
ish name?) took on Germany's
Ernst Henne, who had direct
backing from Hitler's Nazi
Motor Corps, and Italy's Pierro
Taruffi, himself enjoying the
backing of Mussolini's National
Fascist Party, swapping the
land speed record between
