50 years ago, on 14 June 1970, the first Shadow racing car made its race début in the opening round of the fabled Can-Am Challenge, at Canada’s Mosport circuit. A miniature car, literally knee-high and with tiny tyres, this startling newcomer went fast enough for George Follmer to qualify it sixth but its race ended when the engine overheated.

Now, the first history of Shadow racing cars, by Pete Lyons, has just been released by Evro.

SHADOW: THE MAGNIFICENT MACHINES OF A MAN OF MYSTERY could not have a more appropriate author. Pete was there that day at Mosport, witnessed Shadow evolve to become Can-Am champions by 1974, attended the team’s Formula 1 début at Kyalami in 1973, reported on its Grand Prix exploits for four seasons thereafter — and besides all that in latter years he conducted extensive interviews with Shadowman Don Nichols, the Man of Mystery himself, in preparation for this book. From all this top-quality raw material, together with 600 images, a rather special volume has emerged and Evro is very proud to be its publisher.