Johnny Tipler

The story of the Saab 9-3 is full of twists and turns, from its origins before the 9-3 name even existed to its unexpected rebirth as an electric vehicle decades later. Bizarrely, the first-generation 9-3 was in essence the same car as the Saab 900 built between 1994 and 1998. Equally as bizarre, the second-generation 9-3 lived on well beyond the General Motors era, reappearing in 2013-14 and again from 2019 to 2022. In these later years its familiar Gen2 silhouette concealed an all-electric powertrain, now wearing the badge of new owner NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden) in place of the hallowed Saab Griffin. From 1998 to 2011, the Saab 9-3 was manufactured at the Trollhattan factory in Sweden, carrying the brand's distinctive character into a new era. This book charts the 9-3's evolution under General Motors' stewardship, from the outgoing Saab 900 to the fundamentally similar first-generation 9-3, and on to the redesigned Gen2 model of 2002, this new model being built on GM's Epsilon platform and featuring far more GM-supplied componentry. The Gen1 9-3 came in three guises: four-door Saloon (sedan), two-door Cabriolet convertible and five-door Hatchback. Its Gen2 successor offered Saloon, Cabriolet and SportCombi estate car formats, powered by engines ranging from the 2.0-litre petrol Turbo and 1.9 TiD diesel to the 2.6-litre petrol V6 and the 1.9 TTiD twin-turbo diesel. Stunningly illustrated with over 250 images - many previously unseen - Saab 9-3 includes specially commissioned photography of the high-performance Viggen model, factory archive images, an interview with heroic rallycross legend Per Eklund and a Foreword by Saab insider and photojournalist Kenneth Olausson. It recounts Saab's final decade as a car manufacturer through the development of the 9-3 until its abandonment in 2011 by General Motors, and its brief rebirth as an electric vehicle under NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), which lingered intermittently until 2022.

Between 1982 and 1992, the World Sportscar Championship embraced the FIA’s Group C regulations, spawning a generation of long-distance racing sports prototypes representing manufacturer teams such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Mazda, Peugeot, Nissan and Toyota, as well as a host of specialists such as Spice and Tiga. Driven by top-line drivers, these cars competed in one of the most exciting epochs in the annals of endurance racing. This book focuses on the cars, drivers and races of the era.

Between the 1950s and 1971, the halcyon days of long-distance endurance motor racing, Porsche embodied the up-and-coming manufacturer, progressing inexorably from reliable class-winner to outright victor – a platform they consolidated and never rescinded. This book focuses on the six distinct Porsche models that raced from 1963 to 1971. Porsche created a series of racing cars – the 904, 906, 910, 907, 908 and 917 – to run in the FIA-regulated International Sports Car Championship Group 6 Prototype class, the Group 4 World Sportscar Championship, and European Hillclimb Championship events held during that period. These races lasted either 24 hours, 12 hours or 6 hours, or were categorised by distance: 1,000km, 500km or 500 miles. Events took place annually at European tracks including Le Mans, Nürburgring, Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and Brands Hatch, and in the USA at Daytona and Sebring. Chronicling each season, this visually stunning volume records Porsche’s multitude of successes. With over 300 outstanding images, many previously unseen, including professional photos and factory archive pictures, and featuring interviews with heroic Porsche racing drivers – with the Foreword written by two-times Le Mans winner Gijs van Lennep – this book tells the thrilling story of Porsche’s rise from consistent class-winner to incontrovertible outright victor.