Books by Johnny Tipler

Named after Elisa, the granddaughter of Lotus's owner at the time, Romano Artioli of Bugatti fame, the Lotus Elise was launched at the Frankfurt Show in 1995. In the subsequent twenty-five years it has not only established itself as the embodiment of what Lotus stands for, it retains a unique place in the international sports car market. The Elise story is one of steady evolution. The original car, conceptually a true Lotus complying exactly with the mantra ‘performance through light weight’, employed traditional Lotus construction practices, based on a radically innovative extruded aluminum chassis. The Series 1 Elise opened the gates for the Series 2 (S2) model and its principal derivative sibling, the more track-focussed Exige, and the concept matured steadily, with powertrain revisions, styling facelifts and chassis modifications though the next two decades. No other manufacturer came up with a car to seriously rival the Elise, nor the Exige, in terms of handling dexterity on both road and racetrack, and it aptly characterizes the definition of a sports car.  

Porsche applied turbocharging to its racing cars in 1972 and, within a year, this technology had crossed over into its production cars: the first road-going 911 Turbo was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1973. Johnny Tipler tells the story of the air-cooled turbocharged 911s, starting with the 934 and 935 race cars that fostered the Type 930 in 1974. the 930 accounted for over 21,000 vehicle sales before being replaced by the 964 Turbo in 1990, followed by the 993 Turbo in 1995. With 300 colour photographs, many taken specially by renowned photographer Antony Fraser this book also presents exclusive interviews with Klaus Ludwig, Jochen Mass and Nick Heidfeld, as well as including full specification tables for each key model type. Foreword is by Alois Ruf.

The complete story of the innovative, iconic and enduring Porsche Carrera. This book takes the reader on a journey from the development of its risky water-cooled design through its racing success and continued production today, to practical maintenance and modification. This book is a true homage to the Porsche Carrera and covers the concept, design and evolution of the 996,997 and 991, including an interview with harm Lagaaji, stylist in the Porsche design studios. Other interviews include racing drivers - past and present - Mike Wilds, Timo Bernhard, Richard Attwood, Richard Westbrook, Mario Andretti, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Wolf Henzler, Brendon Hartley and Peter Dumbreck. There is also a section on how to buy, maintain and modify a Porsche Carrera.