July 28, 2016



A sizable contingent of New Zealanders, including Bruce McLaren's sister Jan, traveled to the US earlier this month to participate in the '50th Anniversary of the Can Am' tribute at Road America. 

Several of Denny Hulme's former McLaren mechanics stopped by our tent Friday afternoon. We were discussing our display of  Michael Turner Can Am prints and posters when they noticed that we had Max Rutherford's 'Paddock to Podium: The Mechanic's View' on our book table and mentioned that Max had also made the long trip from down under. 

A short while later, Max walked in and introduced himself. He graciously signed our remaining stock of 'Paddock to Podium', which documents his career in motorsports from the early days in New Zealand to his experiences at Team Tyrrell where he wrenched Jackie Stewart's Matra Ford to the 1969 World Championship.

We put a few copies aside for those of you who weren't in attendance. Details below:



Author Signed Copies:


'Paddock to Podium: The Mechanics View'
by Max Rutherford
Foreword by Sir Jackie Stewart OBE


Next time you drive in wet weather, spare a thought to how your car copes with water on the road. Give the credit to motor racing, and to British Formula One driver Jackie Stewart, who went to a motor racing circuit in the Netherlands with dozens of new Dunlop development tires and thoroughly tested them in wet conditions.

There to ensure it all went according to plan was New Zealand motor racing mechanic Max Rutherford, who ran the team of mechanics looking after Stewart's cars in the first season the Scot won the F1 world championship in 1969.

The tyre story is one of hundreds of insightful anecdotes Max tells about the world of motor racing as it entered the modern age, the days of legends like Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Stewart, Jochen Rindt, Chris Amon, Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren.

Max Rutherford was mechanic to several and close quarters observer of them all, his experiences on the circuits of Europe, Britain and America culminating in an award he shared with Hill as the best motor racing mechanics in the world.

This extraordinary collection of photographs and precise narrative on what went on behind the public face of motor sport is a compelling read. It begins with Max's early escapades as a speedway driver in the small New Zealand city of New Plymouth - days I recall as a kid whose father owned one of the cars - and tells of his meteoric rise to be mechanic to motor racing's champions.

Softbound | 222 pages

$49.95 - Order Signed Copies HERE
 

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Remember, our Downers Grove Gallery will be closed the next two Saturdays. Our weekday hours will be 10am-6pm. 

We will not be vending at the Road America IMSA event.

 - Paul
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2016 Summer Saturday Schedule

  • July 30 - CLOSED
  • August 6 - CLOSED
  • August 13 - OPEN 10-3
  • August 20 - OPEN 10-3
  • August 27 - TBA
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