Renowned speedway author Jeff Scott, of ‘Showered in Shale’ fame has published his third book through Methanol Press.
The new book entitled ‘Shale Britannia - A Sideways Glance at Speedway’ comes in the guise of a picture book this time around. But fear not as just like Scott’s previous work this is no normal speedway book and is once again full of this charismatic author’s wit and wisdom but this time without the words.
However, if you are looking for a book that contains photographs of your favourite rider in some sort of stunning action shot you have got the wrong book. You are more likely to get a picture of your clubs tractor driver than your favoured clubs number 1 in ‘Shale Britannia’.
The glamour of speedway is a million miles away from that of premiership football and other high profile sports in this country, but that is what we love about our sport and this book too. There are no multi million pound stadiums, club superstores or trophy rooms here. This is British Speedway at every level where trophies are kept in carrier bags, club shops are old cargo containers and comfort is bringing your own garden furniture to sit on.
Shale Britannia is described by Scott as an entire speedway meeting in pictures. It highlights the sights that we all get through the course of a meeting, from pulling up in the car park to leaving through the turnstiles at the end. They are sights that the hardened regular speedway follower takes for granted, the gritty, dirtier, unpretentious side of our beloved sport that is speedway.
The book may take more than one brief glance through to be fully appreciated, however I urge you to do that and look through it again and then watch as a smile comes to your face as the visions and memories come leaping back in their thousands. Suddenly it will all make sense and you will realise what a special and unusual book this really is.
Finally the front cover in our opinion at Worldspeedway.com sums up the sport and this book perfectly and perhaps it’s not always what we see automatically but what is on the inside that really counts.
You can buy this book today from www.methanolpress.com for the bargain price of £15.00 (+ £3 p&p) Or send a cheque made payable to J Scott, to Methanol Press, 2 Tidy Street, Brighton, BN1 4EL
