L. J. K. Setright

Leonard John Kensell Setright (10 August 1931 – 7 September 2005) was an English motoring journalist and author.^[1]

Born of Australian parents in London, his father Henry Roy Setright, was an engineer who invented the Setright ticket machine used on buses and trams.^[1] Setright studied Law at the University of London and practised for a time but hated the profession. His National Service was served in the Royal Air Force as an air traffic controller.

After writing for the engineering magazine Machine Age in the early 1960s, Setright became a motoring journalist and author. He contributed to CAR Magazine for more than 30 years and wrote several books on cars and automotive engineering. Setright often espoused the virtues of Bristol cars and the Honda Prelude, amongst other things,^[2] while holding a consistent dislike for diesel-powered cars. His writing style polarised readers as some considered it to be pompous and containing excessively esoteric quotes. He also wrote about music, motorcycles and high-fidelity sound systems, and contributed to among others Punch, The Independent, Bike, Back Street Heroes and Car and Driver.^{[3] [4]} He was also known for his love of smoking tobacco, in particular of Sobranie Black Russians.^[2]

Setright was a scholar of Judaism and a practising Jew throughout his life.^[1] Married twice, his first wife Christine committed suicide in 1980.^[4] After this he spent some time in a Lubavitch community in Texas,^[4] later returning to the UK. He succumbed to cancer in 2005.

List of works

Author

• Long Lane with Turnings: Last Words of a Motoring Legend. Granta Books. 2006. ISBN 1-862-07872-6. 
• Drive On!: A Social History of the Motor Car. Granta Books. 2004. ISBN 1-86207-698-7. 
• Mini : The Design Icon of a Generation. Virgin Books. 1999. ISBN 1-85227-815-3. 
• Mercedes-Benz SL and SLC. Motorbooks International. 1999. ISBN 1-85532-880-1. 
• The Guinness book of motorcycling facts and feats, Guinness Superlatives, 1979, ISBN 9780851122007 
• Anatomy of the Automobile. Random House Value Publishing. 1978. ISBN 0-517-26999-6. 
• Bahnstormer: The Story of BMW Motorcycles. Transport Bookman Publications. 1978. ISBN 0851840213. 
• The Designers: Great Automobiles and the Men Who Made Them. Follet Publishing. 1976. ISBN 0-695-80584-3. 
• Motorcycles. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1976. ISBN 9780297772347 
• Turbocharging and Supercharging for maximum power and torque. J H Haynes. 1976. ISBN 0-85429-184-9. 
• Rolls Royce. Haynes Publishing Group. 1975. ISBN 0-85429-200-4. 
• Some Unusual Engines. Mechanical Engineering Publications. 1975. ISBN 0-85298-208-9. 
• Bristol Cars and Engines. Motor Racing Publications Ltd. 1974. ISBN 0-900549-22-X. 
• The Grand Prix, 1906 to 1972. Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. 1973. ISBN 0171480252. 
• Ferrari, Ballantines Illustrated History of the Car, Marque Book No. 5. Ballantine Books. 1971. ISBN 0345023439. 
• Rolls-Royce, Ballantine's Illustrated History Of The Car, Marque Book No. 7. Ballantine Books. 1971. ISBN 0345023862. 
• The Power to Fly: The Development of the Piston Engine in Aviation. Allen & Unwin. 1971. ISBN 0043380417. 

Coauthor:

• Hough, Richard Alexander (1966). A history of the world's motorcycles. New York: Harper & Row. LCCN 66018583 
• Smith, Philip Hubert (1971). Setright, L. J. K.. ed. Valve mechanisms for high-speed engines: their design and development (2nd ed.). R. Bentley. ISBN 0837600197, 9780837600192 
• Setright, L. J. K.; Forsyth, Derek; Newman, Robert (1987). With flying colours: the Pirelli album of motor sport; The Pirelli Album of Motor Sport Series. Summit Books. ISBN 0671644599, 9780671644598 

Editor

• Setright, L. J. K., ed (1969). Twistgrip: a motor cycling anthology. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9780047960314 

References