The long, bright evenings. A warm breeze in the air (if you're lucky). Time to allow the mind to wander with thoughts of a summer break, and time away from it all.
A proper holiday is not complete without a good book. A break from a screen, a return to an analogue format in the face of a digital onslaught.
Luckily, for motorsport fans, there's a huge array of recently released titles to choose from. From F1 history, to revealing memoirs, to Le Mans legends, there should be something for everyone.
Here's our guide to (some of) the best on offer:
EVRO £60: https://www.evropublishing.com/collections/best-sellers/products/silverstone
With Formula 1 celebrating its 75th anniversary (yes, we know that it's the dawn of the world championship that's being commemorated, not F1 itself), what better time for EVRO to update Chas Parker's Silverstone tome?
The venue for the first ever world championship grand prix has enjoyed a storied history, and this is retold in detail, with lovely photos, titbits and interesting asides.
The first edition was released in 2013, so the revised version gets to tell the story of The Wing and the arrival of MotoGP, and looks forward to the imminent launch of the new karting facilities.
If you have an interest in understanding how a World War II airfield became the home of British motor racing, this is the perfect place to start.
EVRO £70: https://www.evropublishing.com/products/my-travels-on-racer-road
Each generation of motorsport fan has had an iconic writer with whom their passion deepened. To those coming to the sport in the 1950s, it was Denis Jenkinson, in the 1980s, it was Nigel Roebuck.
For fans who picked up the bug in the 1960s and 1970s, it was Pete Lyons, whose lyrical style brought F1 and Can Am to life for readers of Autosport in the UK and Auto Week in the US, and many others along the way.
As well as many thousands of words (125,000 a year by his own estimation), Lyons also took scores of photos for the magazines for whom he contributed, and these bring to life My Travels on Racers Road, Lyons's deliberately indulgent road trip through his storied and varied life and career.
Lyons was a famously colourful writer, eschewing chronological reportage in favour of something more visceral and emotive. He embraced motorsport at a time of great technological progress and amazing access.
His recollections from the paddocks are interspersed with reprinting of his reports from the time, which include a fabulous passage from the unbelted (!) passenger seat of Peter Revson's Can-Am championship-winning McLaren M8F.
Lyons bowed out from life as a travelling reporter at the end of the 1976 season, tired of political disputes, strangulating regulations and the removal of fast, challenging corners and the Nurburgring altogether.
If that paragraph raises a wry smile or sympathetic nod, you find a friend in Lyons's beautifully presented tome.
Porter Press £69 https://porterpress.co.uk/products/porsche-962-88
Endurance racing is currently enjoying a period of unprecedented manufacturer interest thanks to the current hypercar regulations, but it's unlikely that any of the machines currently gracing the Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Endurance Championship will be as revered as Porsche's 956/962, which was an integral part of sportscar racing during the 1980s, and, thanks to the subject of this book, into the 1990s.
The 19th instalment of Porter Press's Great Cars series takes us to the Porsche 962/88. The 19th chassis to come out of Porsche's factory - 962 011 - it was also the most successful, and the story of how a car that really ought not to have existed is retold in exhaustive detail by Serge Vanbockryck.
After considerable success, Porsche withdrew as a manufacturer entry from WEC in 1987, but was still the numerically dominant car thanks to its scores of privateer entries. And it was one of these, Joest, that persuaded Porsche to allow it to an "out of hours" development of the car, that led to the 962/88.
While the changes were subtle, they were plentiful, and are explained in detail as are its many outings and successes across Europe, the US and Japan in the hands of some legendary drivers such as Bob Wollek.
There are some tremendous behind-the-scenes photos that document how they extended the longevity of an already venerable project in a way that's unthinkable now.
This book packs an incredible amount of information, but it's presented in a way that makes it accessible and easy to dip in and out of. There are great nuggets: did you know a V12-engined version was tested over the winter of 1991/92? And I forgot just how good the car looked in Momo colours.
Evro £70 https://www.evropublishing.com/products/le-mans-2000-09
In terms of outright honours at Le Mans, Porsche was never a contender during the 2000s, the era lovingly retrodden by John Brooks for his maiden book.
Better known as a photographer, 'Brooksy' has revisited the decade when Audi, Bentley and Peugeot ruled the roost, and Porsche battled for GT honours against familiar foes like Corvette, Ferrari and Aston Martin, and some less familiar ones in the shape of Morgan, Spyker and TVR.
The cars are very much the star here, with all the weird and wonderful prototypes of the era featuring. The bio-ethanol MG had slipped the memory, and I'd forgotten just how many different cars the likes of Pilbeam, WR and Courage had produced.
Naturally, there are comprehensive results to remind you of some of those random one-off appearances drivers made - also good for getting up on how the leading team tweaked their line-ups too.
Each race is given a detailed report. But while they cram in the details, they aren't overwritten or impenetrable, as can sometimes be the case when the author has a working interest in the subject matter.
