About the only reason you might not want to read this book about a great technological adventure is because Hawley has written a more recent biography of Craig Breedlove. Otherwise, this is a fine telling of story of Breedlove's competition with Art Arfons, and how for a hot minute they became household names. ( )

My daughter and her wife presented this to me for Xmas knowing my lifelong interest in racing cars although more in the GP, Le Mans sports cars, and motorcycles sectors. But this was interesting and in a field, I knew of but little about - Breedlove's name was familiar, Arfons - think so, and the others unlikely. I'm more of a Clark, Gurney, Agostini guy. So this book turned into a really nice surprise and certainly opened up a recent era, now extinct, that was fascinating both from a technology and protoganist's perspectives.

When the aforementioned went after the Grail they were chasing Cobb's decades-old 400mph land speed record. By the end of the book, 700 had been exceeded - yup that's over Mach 1! What amazed me was, with the possible exception of tyres, the designs were almost handcrafted and built in regular garages. The book very successfully describes this and equally so, the drivers and the main protagonists.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this informative and entertaining book.

The book was written by a Canadian, from Kingston Ontario, who signed my book - difficult to do with a Kindle version! Thanks, ladies.

@samuelhawley1 ( )

A top-notch history of the Land Speed Record in the 1960s. I finished my first read of Speed Duel on the day after starting it. The story telling is that good. Revisiting it a year later was just as enjoyable. Samuel Hawley interviewed many if not most of the surviving subjects and it shows in the depth presented here for each LSR team's story. Donald Campbell is the only one who's efforts are a bit lacking here. The duel comes down to Arfons and Breedlove, with their terms and sponsors behind them. There's a tremendous amount of original material here, even for people who already know the story well. ( )

An excellent telling of the history of the attempts on the Land Speed Record in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. The author's story telling style reminds me of "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand, engaging and atmospheric, yet factual and detailed. Fans of the technical details of the vehicles might feel let down a bit as this is not the main focus of the book, but there is still a lot to enjoy even for them. Plenty of photographs are included. Very highly recommended. ( )