Tracks of Empire

Motorsport may seem like a pastime born of engineering passion and sporting thrill, but its global expansion rode the same railways, steamships, and colonial routes that powered the great empires. Tracks of Empire: How Racing Spread Across the World uncovers the hidden history of speed as a tool of imperial ambition and postcolonial reinvention.From British hill climbs in the tea-scented hills of Ceylon to desert rallies in Fascist Libya and airfield circuits in the Rhodesian Copperbelt, this book charts the rise of racing in the shadow of empire. Each chapter is a vivid journey through time and place, revealing how European powers used motorsport to project dominance, modernity, and control-and how newly independent nations later transformed those same tracks into symbols of pride and progress.Combining gripping storytelling with deep historical insight, Tracks of Empire spans continents and centuries to tell the untold story of how racing became a truly global spectacle-not in spite of empire, but because of it.