'GOLDEN ERA' IS CELEBRATED IN 'THE BAHAMAS SPEED WEEKS'

A flamboyant race series held on an exotic island little known for motor sport is documented and illustrated in a new book recently launched.

Titled 'The Bahamas Speed Weeks', author Terry O'Neil from Stourbridge, England has spent six years researching and refining the history of a series of major sports car races which epitomise an age recognised as the 'golden era' of sports racing.

Starting in the mid 1950s and continuing for 13 years, it was a race series on a huge scale for a location just outside Nassau on the island of New Providence.

Considered the world's leading event after the World Championship series, the Bahamas Speed Weeks attracted most of the world's internationally acclaimed sports car drivers.

For many taking part, they came together as much for the sun and the parties as for the racing.

This intensely researched account tracks the roller-coaster history of one of motorsport's most fascinating curiosities. 

Terry said: "More famous races such as Le Mans and the Mille Miglia have been well documented over the years.  However, this was an era of motor racing which had remained unexplored and myths associated with the races had become an accepted fact with the passing of time."

"My research has led to some of these myths being exposed for what they really were, purely myths, but other stories reported at the time will forever remain a mystery."

"Historical research can be exciting, frustrating or very complex, not to mention never ending and full of traps."

Terry's research involved in-depth interviews with 27 drivers who took part in the Speed Weeks.

Incredibly, Terry's book captures the magic of the Speed Weeks in full colour with rare documentation, original race reports from newspapers in the Bahamas and the USA, race programmes, race result sheets and original photographs.

Former international racing driver and motoring correspondent Denise McCluggage, who raced in the Speed Weeks, said: "Given the scattered and scarce documentation, Terry O'Neil's diligence in tracking down the details of the 13 years of Nassau racing staggers the senses.  What is huggermugger in memory, or erased entirely, is magically here."

The 368-page story of the Speed Weeks includes over 450 photographs, most not published before.  It also features all known verified race results over the 13 years.

Priced at £55 ($99.95), 'The Bahamas Speed Weeks' is published by Veloce Publishing and is now available in bookshops or can be ordered via the internet.