My Beautiful Suffering, Miroslav Špak

Libor Marčík has already proven his authorial qualities in two previous works on motorcycle history and, in addition to his two recent publications, is now publishing, again at his own expense, another descriptive continuation of Czechoslovak motorcycle history. Years of painstaking work searching in the period press, in state and private archives, as well as examining entries in Latin, German or even in Hungarian-written books written in many registries are rewarded on graphically well-crafted pages. Long-forgotten manufacturers who sought ways of technical development through piece production are listed alphabetically. The carefully crafted text, supplemented by many original photographs, will delight historians and laymen alike, and in the company of the previous two works, a hint of a future complete history of motorcycle production from the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Czech Republic will begin to emerge in many libraries.

The author has compiled the history of the development and production of four-cylinder engines for motorcycles from the first preserved types. After a three-page introduction to the subject, there is the first of the structurally interesting motorcycles with a four-cylinder engine, where we also have a proud world first: the Laurin & Klement with an in-line four-cylinder engine made in Austria-Hungary. From a chronological perspective, various design directions are interesting, often avant-garde, but also some less fortunate ones, which were often limited by the possibilities of workshop processing. The theoretical idea of the designer was timeless, but the appropriate technology had not yet been produced. Detailed technical descriptions of another twenty-five structurally interesting motorcycles of often no longer existing production brands will certainly interest readers of all age groups.