(This was written in 1997--Editor) When the 1998 printing of Motocourse rolls out of Hazelton publishing, it will be the twenty-second year of publication of the famed Grand Prix racing annual. Time now to have a look at the story behind the very best Grand Prix motorcycle annual in the world.

Motocourse is not just a pretty picture book, but a well-respected annual and, in the right circumstances, a great financial investment.

For twenty-two Grand Prix seasons, the book has changed slightly. The only difference between the 1976 and the 1997 editions are that the latter has a great deal --100% really -- more four-color photography. In the first seasons of the annual (until the mid-1980s), the photography was almost completely black and white. That's not bad of course, black and white is still the format of choice for some purists, the images show a tone and emotion that would be lost if you viewed them in color.

Motocourse's focus has always been the FIM Grand Prix series, with series round-up coverage of most of the important national series in the world running as an accompaniment. World Superbikes are only given token coverage, yet even that is changing as the years pass and World Superbike becomes the premier world championship racing series.

History: Since the early days there have been four editors, all of them non-Americans. The renowned Chris Carter started the book in 1976 and 1977, but in 1978, fellow Brit Barry Coleman was on top of the masthead. Coleman also wrote a hard-to-find Kenny Roberts biography in 1982 and is said to be one of Roberts' three former business managers. Coleman edited Motocourse in 1978 and 1979 before making way for a young Brit named Peter Clifford. Clifford changed the tone of the Motocourse to more of a technical nature and the book stayed that way for nearly a decade. Clifford at the same time wrote copy for Marlboro and sold freelance stories around the globe -- he was once the Grand Prix editor of American Roadracing. Clifford stepped away from Motocourse in 1990 and Brit Mike Scott took over the editor reins. Scott edits the annual to this day.

The first three editions of Motocourse, from 1976-1977 through 1979-80, are remarkably scarce. Hazelton, with Carter as editor, published the first copies in December of 1976 (at less than eight English pounds retail) and there have only been single printings since that day. "The book has grown over the years, with copies in the 1970s at a lower production level, and now (they're) almost impossible to find," says Richard Poulter, Publisher and Managing Director at Hazelton Publishing.

Former Cycle News editor Gary "The V" Von Voorhies was the American contributor to the early Motocourse annual and even he has never seen an early copy. "I just sent them some copy (text) and later heard they'd published it," says the now legendary Daytona International Speedway PR-man.

German editions were published in 1980-81, and Italian and Japanese versions of the book were published in 1989-90. Those too are quite rare.

Tom Warth was the founder of Classic Motorbooks, which is now Motorbooks International, and as a retirement occupation/hobby, he collects and sells rare motorsports books including Motocourse. He was the first distributor of Motocourse in the States and says, "I think we only imported one hundred copies each of the first three editions. Back then, it was kind of a tough sell. The collector field for motorcycle books wasn't what it is today."

In the last few years, thanks to the inevitable passage of time, the popularity of Grand Prix racing in the US glory years, and a brief mention by Brock Yates in Car and Driver, collectors have begun to flock to Motocourse as a collectable. Complete collections in mint condition have sold for more than $2000. Single issues from the seventies can cost more than $450 per copy, and commonly available volumes from the mid-to-late eighties are climbing to above $100 per copy. Recently I was offered a 1979-80 edition in decent shape for $195, and a battered 1992-93 for $100—overall condition of the book, including the all-important dust cover, is paramount.

If you HAVE to have the early years, it's becoming very expensive if you're buying now. "The Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts (championship) years fetch very high prices in the U.K," says Poulter. "(They) vary between one hundred and two hundred English pounds ($167-$335) per copy." The first year's collectibility is added to because it contains an introduction by multi-time world champion and legend, Mike Hailwood.

Some enthusiasts own them all. Poulter states that a reasonably good estimate of complete 1976-1997 collections is perhaps fifty in the States and five hundred throughout the world. Several notable individuals have complete collections, including Kenny Roberts and Kel Carruthers.

Warth states that he's seen an increasing demand for Motocourse annuals in the last year, and that his Minnesota shop usually has on hand a representative of each edition—even the first three.

On the day we called, his 1976-77 had a price of $300; the 1977-1978 was $350 and 1978-79 was $450. "I've sold three 1976-1977s and twelve 1979-1980 editions in the last year," Warth says. He also states that many of the Motocourse annuals he sees today in the US he suspects have come from Australia or England through private channels.

And although there is certainly a great deal of satisfaction and exclusivity in owning many of the yearly 1976-1982 volumes, one might find the early years a bit lacking from a modern standpoint. They're neat to look at, for about fifteen minutes, but like a mint RD350 versus new Yamaha's R-1 hyperbike, nostalgia only goes so far.

The saving grace of many of the early editions is the wonderful writing style of Carter and Coleman, and the photographs of legendary shooter Don Morely.

The sales and production numbers grow each year: Poulter states the best selling edition of Motocourse yet was the 1996-97 edition.

Annuals like Motocourse usually take a slow ride on the investment cycle, depreciating quickly to less than retail, then slowly building value as the years pass. In the mid-to-late-1980s, you could buy old-stock 1976-1980 Motocourse annuals for as little as ten or twenty dollars. Now, the late-1980s and early 1990 annuals are cheap, but if the past is any indication of the future, they won't be in five years.

If you're in desperate need of a certain year for your own collection, Motorbooks International in Osceola, Wisconsin (800-826 6600) or Warth's Automotive Books in Marine on the St. Croix, Minnesota (612 433 5744) might be of service. Amazon will search for out of print books as well.