Roy Smith is a retired company director with a lifetime passion for motor sport. He began writing in the 1960s for club magazines, recording details of interviews with notables of the time.

A 40-year business career in sales and marketing developed an attention to detail that is crucial to writing a work such as this and his previous works about the development of the first turbo Formula 1 car, the complete history of the Alpine Renault sports prototypes (for which he was awarded the Guild of Motoring Writers Mercedes Benz Prize and the Montagu of Beaulieu Trophy in 2010), a comprehensive study of the racing legend Amédée Gordini and the definitive work on Alpine Renault berlinettes. He has written and continues to write many specialist articles for websites and magazines in the UK, and internationally as a UK historic correspondent.

His aim in this book is, as before, is to record another first in English for future generations.