Grapevine: Atlas F1's Ludvigsen Wins Prestigious Award

Atlas F1 is proud to report that senior writer Karl Ludvigsen has won the most prestigious award in motor racing publication this week, when his book 'Porsche: Excellence Was Expected' won the top prizes at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.

Ludvigsen's masterwork of Porsche history won a Gold medal for 'Best Single Marque History', the '2004 Best Book of the Year' award, as well as the highest IAMA honor for 2004 - winning 'Best of 2004'. The IAMA award for Best of 2004 is chosen from among some 400 automotive media entries across 11 different divisions.

"We're very gratified by this recognition of Karl's three-volume work," said Janet Barnes, publishing director at Bentley Publishers, "which we were pleased and honored to bring to the market. It's now well into its second printing, showing that it's the book that the Porsche community was waiting for."

Karl's daughter, Aari Ludvigsen, accepted the awards on her father's behalf. In his acceptance remarks, Ludvigsen said: "I always had a certain passion for Porsches. They're cars built by drivers for drivers, and it doesn't get better than that. I ended up devoting eight years and almost a million words to the story of the company, the men, the cars and the races. Why? I guess because Porsche people are deeply curious about what really happened, and willing to encourage those who try to tell them."

Karl has been contributing regularly to the Atlas F1 Magazine for the past five years. His career in the automotive industry includes management of the racing programmes for Fiat in America in the late 1970s and Ford of Europe in the early 1980s. He wrote numerous books about racing drivers, classic racing cars and engines, and he heads the Ludvigsen Library in Suffolk, England.