> How did an English pub inspire a legendary road safety feature?

> Which F1 driver had to wear leg braces as a young boy in hospital, yet started his own winning team?

> What prompted a young woman from Alabama to invent the windscreen wiper?

> Who was the "bloody fool" from Yorkshire who master-minded the VW Beetle's rise from the ashes of the Second World War?

40 Motoring Heroes offers a fact-filled, illustrated insight into motoring history, not only for petrol heads and motoring enthusiasts, but anyone with a passion for fascinating people. The little-known men and women featured include inventors, innovators, engineers, financiers, and others at the sharp end of automotive and social history. Their stories shine a light on ingenuity, determination, fights against prejudice, and even bravery, self-sacrifice and destitution.

Of course, being a motoring hero does not equate with sainthood or even likeability; a fair number of the book's subjects demonstrated unpleasant human qualities but we acknowledge their professional achievements. Not all made fortunes out of their ideas, but their ideas added to the wealth of our enjoyment of motoring.

Compelling, intriguing and full of surprise, the must-read biographies in 40 Motoring Heroes showcase the struggles, adversity and perseverance of these motoring marvels.