The Wall of Death: Carnival Motordromes

The Wall of Death: Carnival Motordromes
Author: David Gaylin
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 146712706X

In 1911, the operators of Coney Island's Luna Park premiered a miniature, radically banked racetrack for staged automobile races that seemed to defy gravity. For a fee, patrons would watch from the perimeter of the 85-foot wooden saucer as daredevil drivers raced on the steep angle of the tiny track. The attraction created a sensation and was quickly copied with a show that featured motorcycle riders performing breathtaking stunts. When portable versions were made available, every traveling carnival owner in the United States rushed to have one. Motordromes with perfectly vertical walls soon followed, which permitted riders on their Indian motorcycles to climb, sometimes to a height of 20 feet, with nothing but centrifugal force between them and a trip to the trauma ward. And when full-grown lions were added to pursue riders in the arena, no one could resist buying a ticket! The Wall of Death, a name these shows received in 1917, remained a staple attraction on American carnival midways until the 1970s.

A Life Sold - What ever happened to that guy who sold his whole life on eBay?

A Life Sold - What ever happened to that guy who sold his whole life on eBay?
Author: Ian Usher
Publisher: Wider Vision Publishing
Total Pages: 500
Release: 1901
Genre: Internet auctions
ISBN: 1476093512

What on earth would make someone decide to put their whole life up for sale... on eBay?When Ian Usher decided that it was time to leave the past behind and move on to the next chapter of his life, that is exactly what he did. The results were surprising, entertaining and challenging.However, the auction was only the beginning of the adventure. What does someone do when they have sold their life? Well, just about anything they like really!Armed with a list of 100 lifetime goals, and a self-imposed timeframe of 100 weeks, Ian embarked on what could truly be described as the journey of a lifetime - a global adventure spanning six continents, two years, and almost every emotion.From the amazing highs of achievement, happiness and love, to the terrible lows of disappointment, loneliness and despair, come along and enjoy the rollercoaster ride of life, as experienced by one traveller who is simply looking for a new start.

Lady Long Rider

Lady Long Rider
Author: Bernice Ende
Publisher: Farcountry Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2018-06-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1560377453

Riding 2,000 miles on horseback from Montana to New Mexico sounds like a crazy but thrilling dream or pure hardship and exhaustion. According to Bernice Ende, the trip was all that and more. Since swinging her leg over the saddle for that first long ride in 2005 (at the age of 50), Ende has logged more than 29,000 miles in the saddle, crisscrossing North America on horseback - alone. More than once she has traversed the Great Plains, the Southwest deserts, the Cascade Range, and the Rocky Mountains. Along the way, she discovered a sense of community and love of place that unites people wherever they live. From 2014-2016, she was the first person to ride coast to coast and back again in one trek, winning acclaim from the international Long Riders' Guild and awe from the people she met along the way. Bernice Ende's memoirs are illuminated by accompanying maps of her routes and photos from her journeys, capturing the instant friends she meets along the way, and her ongoing encounters with harsh weather, wildlife, hard work, mosquitoes, tricky route-finding, and the occasional worn out horseshoe. Ende reveals her inner struggles and triumphs - testing the limits of physical and mental stamina, coping with inescapable solitude, and the rewards of living life her own way, as she says, "in her own skin." Saddle up and come along for the journey of a lifetime.

You Can't Wear Out an Indian Scout

You Can't Wear Out an Indian Scout
Author: Allan Ford
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2009-10-15
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1445624427

The fascinating history of the Indian Scout motorcycle and the Wall of Death, revised and updated for 2016.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Vroom!

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Vroom!
Author: Bathroom Readers' Institute
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2012-08-15
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1607106620

Uncle John will get your motor running with this all-new edition dedicated to cars, trucks, trains, buses, motorcycles, mopeds, roller coasters...and of course, the Wienermobile. Uncle John has the need…for speed! (But he always uses his turn signal.) Hop on in and let the Bathroom Readers’ Institute take you on the ultimate road trip. From the first motorized vehicles to the flying cars of tomorrow, you’ll race around the world to learn about some great sets of wheels and the gear heads who make them go. And not just cars, this book has planes, trains, roller coasters, yachts, and massive machines that literally move mountains. So strap on your seatbelts--it’s going to be a fun ride! Read about... Secrets of Hollywood car chases The original Cannonball Run Taking a ride in the hot-tub limo The drag queen The history of airships The Black Beetle: a New York Central train outfitted with jet engines The yacht that cost more than some countries’ GDP Around the world in 25 ways A car without a driver A look at how a jet engine works Ghost planes and haunted ships Pal Newman buys a Beetle The origin of crash-test dummies And much, much more!

The BSA Bantam Bible

The BSA Bantam Bible
Author: Peter Henshaw
Publisher: David and Charles
Total Pages: 505
Release: 2015-05-15
Genre:
ISBN: 1845848500

Year-by-year evolution of the BSA Bantam, a simple commuter bike that thousands learnt to ride on. It became the standard GPO ‘telegram bike’ in the 1950s and was a huge success, with 100,000 built in the first four years of production. It’s a story with interesting asides, like the Hummer, Harley-Davidson’s version of the DKW that inspired the Bantam, and survived into the 1960s. But it’s a sad story too – BSA failed to follow up the Bantam’s early success by developing it, and by the mid-1960s it was looking outdated, especially next to the new breed of four-stroke Hondas. That the Bantam was allowed to fizzle out in 1971 symbolised the state of the industry that produced it, but today there’s a thriving community of Bantam owner/riders. The book ends with a guide to buying a secondhand Bantam, along with useful appendices on specifications, engine/frame numbers, and contacts among the clubs and Bantam specialists. Every Bantam owner, or would be owner, needs this book - the Bantam Bible!

Burt Munro

Burt Munro
Author: Neill Birss
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2016-06-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1743487207

Previously unpublished interviews with Burt Munro, legendary Kiwi motorcycle rider made famous in the movie The World's Fastest Indian. Colourful tales of a life well-lived. Invercargill, at the far southern end of New Zealand. It's the late 1960s and two blokes sit in a modest shed drinking tea. The old bloke is telling stories about his life; the young bloke, a junior reporter, is typing earnestly on his Olympia portable typewriter. Dramatic tales abound – of youthful scrapes, motorcycle races and ingenious repairs, of international travel and friendships and road trips, of high speeds and accidents and meetings with dutiful policemen. Burt Munro became known around the world through the 2005 movie The World's Fastest Indian, but had long been known to motorcycle fans as a colourful character and speed record-holder. Our young journalist, Neill Birss, moved away from Invercargill and the interviews he had typed out were never published. In fact, they were lost during the move and only resurfaced under strange circumstances many decades later. Here they are in this book – the lost interviews with Burt Munro, legendary Kiwi motorcycle rider – his voice as fresh and his stories as vivid as the day he told them to the young reporter.

Riding Rockets

Riding Rockets
Author: Mike Mullane
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2007-02-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0743276833

Selected as a Mission Specialist in 1978 in the first group of shuttle astronauts, Mike Mullane completed three missions and logged 356 hours aboard the Discovery and Atlantis shuttles. It was a dream come true. As a boy, Mullane could only read about space travel in science fiction, but the launch of Sputnik changed all that. Space flight became a possible dream and Mike Mullane set out to make it come true. In this absorbing memoir, Mullane gives the first-ever look into the often hilarious, sometime volatile dynamics of space shuttle astronauts - a class that included Vietnam War veterans, feminists, and propeller-headed scientists. With unprecedented candour, Mullane describes the chilling fear and unparalleled joy of space flight. As his career centred around the Challenger disaster, Mullane also recounts the heartache of burying his friends and colleagues. And he pulls no punches as he reveals the ins and outs of NASA, frank in his criticisms of the agency. A blast from start to finish, Riding Rockets is a straight-from-the-gut account of what it means to be an astronaut, just in time for this latest generation of stargazers.

Guy Martin: When You Dead, You Dead

Guy Martin: When You Dead, You Dead
Author: Guy Martin
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2015-10-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0753551543

'The maddest 12 months of my life. The journey starts with an oddball race up an American mountain and ends with me checking myself out of hospital with a broken back. Again ...' As Guy’s Latvian grandfather frequently reminded him, ‘When you dead, you dead’. So before it’s all over, Guy Martin is making the most of the time he’s got. In this past year alone, Guy has raced the Isle of Man TT and finished on the podium; bike trekked through India; competed in solo 24-hour bicycles races; flown a stunt plane; broken a go-kart speed record down a French mountain and attempted to break the motorcycle land-speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats. And he’s done all this around his day job as a truck mechanic. But let Guy tell you about it himself: ‘This book starts in a Transit, ends in a Transit, and in between I’ve raced a few pushbikes, raced a few motorbikes and got a fair few stories to tell you.’ Spot on.

Gravity-Defying Stunt Spectaculars

Gravity-Defying Stunt Spectaculars
Author: Paul Harrison
Publisher: Capstone
Total Pages: 17
Release: 2010
Genre: Daredevils
ISBN: 1429646179

Describes various life-threatening stunts, including tight-rope walking, BASE jumping, and human cannonballs.