A book that does not just tell the exploits on the track, but digs into the murky where motorsport intertwines with crime, scandal, and life on the edge. Crime & Motorsport. Facts and misdeeds in the world of racing by Mario Donnini and Andrea Cordovani (Giorgio Nada Editore, 28 euros, 240 pages, hardcover with dust jacket, 12 black and white photos and 27 in color) is truly a different work in the Italian motorsport publishing scene.
Read more MG GO!, new electric hatchback arriving in 2027
The two authors, well-known faces in sector journalism – Cordovani is editor of Autosprint, Donnini a veteran journalist of the weekly and writer – are not satisfied with the usual stories of victories and records. They go further, “fishing in the murky,” as they write themselves on the back cover, to deliver a motorsport told in a noir key, where adrenaline, risk, and criminal law mix in a disturbing and fascinating way.
True stories that seem to come out of a movie
The book collects a series of real episodes ranging from the 1950s to the present day, always on the razor’s edge between track and prison. It talks about the kidnapping of Juan Manuel Fangio, the jeweler Gianni Bulgari, the exploits of policeman Armando Spatafora who chased bandits through the streets of Rome in his Ferrari 250 GT 2+2. It reaches the involuntary kidnapping linked to one of the most sensational cases of cannibalism in modern news, incursions into the rally world by “illustrious” and historic mafia bosses, and even the triumph at the 24 Hours of Le Mans financed… with marijuana trafficking.
Read more Hyundai IONIQ 9, how it changes with the Model Year 2027
Of course, Pablo Escobar, a skilled driver in his free time, is not missing, nor the most sensational case of sports fraud in Formula 1 history: the 1984 Tyrrell, which led to the exclusion of a team from the entire championship, the harshest penalty ever imposed in F1. Each story is constructed with the precision of a journalist and the rhythm of a true story narrator. The result is a volume that reads like a thriller, but is all documented and real.
The project
The editorial care of Giorgio Nada Editore is evident: handy format (14×22 cm), hardcover with dust jacket, a generous photographic apparatus alternating historical black and white images with more recent color photos. The photos are not simple “decorations,” but help contextualize characters and moments often little known or deliberately obscured by the official motorsport narrative. Thus Crime & Motorsport becomes a book for those who love motorsport beyond the track: for those fascinated by the thin line between heroism and madness, between genius and criminality, between legend and true crime. Donnini and Cordovani manage to maintain a balanced tone: never sensationalist for the sake of scandal, but always direct and straightforward. The result is an original, courageous, and very well-written work, which enriches the panorama of Italian motorsport literature with a new perspective. VB
Read more MG Cyber Concept, new electric SUV in the D segment
