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

Early life and education

Setright was born in London to Australian parents; his father, Henry Roy Setright, was an engineer who invented the Setright ticket machine used on buses and trams. He died when Setright was 11 years old.^[1] Setright attended Palmers Green Grammar school before studying law at the University of London which he practised for a time but hated the profession. His National Service was served in the Royal Air Force as an air traffic controller.^[1]

Writing career

After writing for the engineering magazine Machine Age in the early 1960s, Setright became a motoring journalist and author, contributing to Car Magazine for more than 30 years and writing several books on cars and automotive engineering.^[2] Setright's writing style polarised readers as some considered it to be pompous and excessively esoteric, while others found his erudite style and engineering knowledge a welcome change from the usual lightweight and largely non-technical journalistic style.^[1] He had a strong enthusiasm for Bristol Cars and for Japanese engineering, in particular Honda.

Setright also wrote about music, motorcycles and high-fidelity sound systems, and contributed to, among others, Punch, The Independent, Bike, Cycle Guide/USA, Motorcycle Sport under the initials LJKS, Back Street Heroes and Car and Driver.^{[3] [4]}

Personal life

Setright was also known for his love of smoking tobacco, in particular Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes,^[2] and for his elegant sartorial style. He was described as resembling "a gaunt Old Testament prophet in Savile Row clothes".^[5] He was an accomplished clarinet player.^[4]

Setright was a practising Jew and a scholar of Judaism.^[1] He was married twice; his first wife, Christina, committed suicide in 1980.^[4] After this he spent some time in a Lubavitch community in Texas,^[4] later returning to the UK, and he settled in Surbiton, near London, where he died of cancer in 2005.

List of works

Author

• Setright, L.J.K. (1971). Ferrari, Ballantines Illustrated History of the Car, Marque Book No. 5. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-02343-9.
• —— (1971). Rolls-Royce, Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Car, Marque Book No. 7. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-02386-2.
• —— (1971). The Power to Fly: The Development of the Piston Engine in Aviation. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-04-338041-7.
• —— (1972). Automobile Tyres. Chapman and Hall. ISBN 978-0412098505.
• —— (1973). The Grand Prix, 1906 to 1972. Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. ISBN 0-17-148025-2.
• —— (1974). Bristol Cars and Engines. Motor Racing Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-900549-22-X.
• —— (1975). Rolls-Royce. Haynes Publishing Group. ISBN 0-85429-200-4.
• —— (1975). Some Unusual Engines. Mechanical Engineering Publications. ISBN 0-85298-208-9.
• —— (1976). The Designers: Great Automobiles and the Men Who Made Them. Follet Publishing. ISBN 0-695-80584-3.
• —— (1976). Motorcycles. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-77234-7.
• —— (1976). Turbocharging and Supercharging for maximum power and torque. J H Haynes. ISBN 0-85429-184-9.
• —— (1978). Anatomy of the Automobile. Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0-517-26999-6.
• —— (1978). Bahnstormer: The Story of BMW Motorcycles. Transport Bookman Publications. ISBN 0-85184-021-3.
• —— (1979). The Guinness book of motorcycling facts and feats. Guinness Superlatives. ISBN 978-0-85112-200-7.
• —— (1999). Mercedes-Benz SL and SLC. Motorbooks International. ISBN 1-85532-880-1.
• —— (1999). Mini : The Design Icon of a Generation. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-815-3.
• —— (2004). Drive On!: A Social History of the Motor Car. Granta Books. ISBN 1-86207-698-7.
• —— (2006). Long Lane with Turnings: Last Words of a Motoring Legend. Granta Books. ISBN 1-86207-872-6.
• —— (2017). A day to remember. Uitgeverij Nobelman. ISBN 978-949173-729-9.
• Setright, L.J.K. (2019). A day to remember, the writings of L.J.K. Setright for GranTurismo Magazine. Uitgeverij Nobelman. ISBN 978-94-917373-0-5.

Coauthor

• Hough, Richard Alexander; Setright, L.J.K. (1966). A history of the world's motorcycles. New York: Harper & Row. LCCN 66018583.
• 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 0-671-64459-9.

Editor

• Setright, L. J. K., ed. (1969). Twistgrip: a motor cycling anthology. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-0-04-796031-4.
• Smith, Philip Hubert (1971). Setright, L. J. K. (ed.). Valve mechanisms for high-speed engines: their design and development (2nd ed.). R. Bentley. ISBN 0-8376-0019-7.

References