The relative lack of results yielded by female Grand Prix drivers – and the fact that no girls have made it onto an F1 grid since 1981 – has been explained away by all manner of theories, all seemingly as implausible as each other. For example, one driver recently told me about a supposed physiological difference between males and females that has lumped the girls with inferior peripheral vision that makes them a liability in a single-seater...

The real reason, I suspect, probably has more to do with the law of averages. The chances of any one particular person, irrespective of gender, colour, or whatever, of actually making it all the way into F1 is so remote, and the number of women who have reached a point where such a move is a realistic proposition is so small, that the chances of the cards falling the right way is miniscule.

Still, with the likes of Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick spearheading a fairly strong female representation at a serious level of racing, maybe something is on the horizon.

They'll be following in some impressive footsteps too, which is where the book 'Women in Motorsport from 1945' comes in.

The book details the career of more than 200 women who have taken to the track since the end of World War II. Arranged as a reference volume, the book is divided first geographically, and then alphabetically. The notes on the inside flap of the dust jacket say that the book "is not about women's liberation, and does not set out to be political, pro-women, or anti-men." This rings true, however it's unfortunate that after a promising introduction the book is devoid of any kind of supplementary information, context, or interpretation.

Short, sharp biographies are rattled out page after page, but the reader develops little sense of issues such as the changing role of women in racing over the past 60 years, or the views of the more successful competitors regarding the degree to which their femininity may have been a help or hindrance as they moved up through the ranks. The latter in particular is something that I have talked about with a few top-class female racers, and often they've had interesting things to say about it. It's a shame that this book shies away so completely from anything approaching an exploration of such elements of the tale.

In fairness, though, such a criticism may be unfair considering that the book's stated aim is "to encourage the participation of more women in motor sport across the world." This probably accounts in part for the substantial variation in class of racer that the reader learns about in this book. There is no doubting that there are a number of female drivers who deserve to be far better known than they are – the likes of Michele Mouton, Pat Moss, Lella Lombardi and Shirley Muldowney are just a few who should be household names.

But this book's close association with the BWRDC (The British Women's Racing Driver's Club assisted with the publication of the book, and I understand that author TP-Jamieson sits high among the organisation's hierarchy) has apparently influenced the inclusion of a number of entries that are no doubt thrilling to the friends and family of the driver concerned, but are absolutely meaningless to anyone else.

The authors' intentions to highlight the accessibility of racing to someone who may be sitting on the sidelines trying to work up the courage to give it a go are as genuine as they are noble, but on the other hand as an international reader I'd expect rather more for my £26 (UKP) than to read about a couple of dozen mid-field club racers whose hobbies include riding horses and spending time with the kids.

The book falls down in a few other areas too, not least of which is a singularly awful layout and some poor photo reproduction. In the case of older shots this is sometimes understandable, but a little extra effort in sourcing high-resolution images of a number of the current cars and competitors would not have gone astray. The occasional repeat appearance of images throughout the book was also a little disconcerting, but not nearly as much as the duplication of captions – something which I don't recall having ever seen before, and with a bit of luck, won't come across again.

A little more vigilance on the behalf of the proofreaders would have helped nail the assortment of grammatical errors and typos that managed to find their way into print.

So what were the most praiseworthy aspects of 'Women in Motorsport From 1945'? The best thing about it was the concept. A raft of motor racing books are released ever year, but very few manage to come up with a completely new angle. TP-Jamieson and Tutthill have done that, and they've picked a topic that will no doubt have a bunch of other writers slapping their heads and wondering why they didn't think of it.

Also, despite the book's shortcomings, the time that the authors have invested is obvious. Even if one does have the BWRDC membership list at their fingertips, drawing together accounts of the careers of a couple of hundred drivers spanning six decades from all over the world (albeit with a serious British emphasis) would have taken a few late nights. A number of seemingly obvious names are absent, but given that the authors point out that a number of drivers who were approached declined to be involved, that can be let slide... although one doesn't necessarily need direct input from their subject in order to write about them.

While this book may yet prove to be a handy reference, it seems to have fallen some way short of the potential suggested by the subject matter. The tone of the book doesn't help much, either: the authors fall victim to their obviously great enthusiasm, and the resultant entries are so sugary that you feel like brushing, flossing, and then brushing again. The need for brevity sometimes causes problems too. For example, it's not always clear what particular series a driver was racing in at a given point in her career, which makes things hard if you're hoping to use this book for research.