The greatest motorsport image of all time

In a world of instagram, twitter and facebook, imagery has never been more available. On a minute by minute basis we can see excellent, thought provoking images, and as a motorsport fan I always keep an eye out for interesting racing shots. Despite photographers being moved further and further away from the action, some amazing photos still emerge.

A photo by Peter Fox taken during practice for the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix is a case in point. It shows Nico Rosberg going through the Degner One turn at speed. It’s quite hard to portray downforce and grip in a shot, but this does it. The car looks like it’s deforming. Not only is it hunched down on the left rear, with the front right almost in the air and sparks appearing from beneath the diffuser, but you can actually see the distortion in the tyre sidewall.

Another great shot that appeared recently was of the Rally Finland. Some people I showed this to thought it was photoshopped, and I can understand why. It hardly seems possible that a car can jump that high and far in a rally stage. Photographer Adrien Fourmaux has managed to encapsulate the sheer speed and spectacle of the World Rally Championship, plus the close proximity of the crowd, with the car looking like it’s jumping over them.

These images got me thinking, what is the greatest motorsport image of all time? That’s a really difficult question to answer, especially considering over 100 years of motorsport history, across multiple disciplines. What I have put together therefore are my favourites.

The first image that came to mind was a photo by Louis Klemantaski of Peter Collins at the 1957 Mille Miglia. 

This was the final year of the fabled 1,000 mile road race across Italy. The image was taken in the hills outside of Rome. Collins asked Klemantaski if he would like to accompany him during the race and also act as navigator. When Klemantaski wasn’t navigating he would fire off some snaps. This image captures perfectly the enthusiasm of the Italian spectators when seeing their beloved scarlet Ferraris. It also captures the relative calmness of Collins, arms straight easing the car into the hairpin. It’s a rare insight into what was the greatest sportscar race in the world.

Next up is a shot taken at the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix. It was taken at the Burnenville corner and featured Jo Bonnier’s crashed Cooper.

This was the race which triggered Jackie Stewart’s quest to improve motorsport safety. Stewart having gone off at the Masta Kink during a sudden downpour and being trapped in his BRM drenched in petrol. The image shows the remains of Jo Bonnier’s Lola at Burnenville having crashed in the same downpour. This image demonstrates the luck of a Grand Prix driver in 1966. Another two mph and Bonnier might have gone over the edge. It also shows that he could have easily have ended up in a tree or a house. Sadly Bonnier’s luck did run out at Le Mans in 1972. What this really symbolises though is that from this race onwards the attitude to motorsport safety changed for the better.

Another famous wet race was the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril. This shot captures Ayrton Senna entering parc ferme just after he’d won his first ever Grand Prix.

There are three things which jump out at me with this image. Firstly, you can see how wet it is, and anyone who wins in the wet in a turbo-charged Formula One car must be a special driver. Secondly, the joy that Senna is showing, this really meant something to him. Thirdly, the joy on Peter Warr’s face. Lotus hadn’t won a race since the Austrian Grand Prix in 1982, Warr was probably also thinking they had a special talent on their hands. He was right.

Another brilliant shot from 1985 came from Rainer Schlegelmilch. This was of Stefan Johansson’s Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix.

This shot perfectly illustrates what motorsport in the 1980s was about. Power. Johansson is wrestling with around 1,000bhp and a manual gearbox. The flames shoot out the back of the diffuser as he changes down under braking and revs the engine. You can almost feel the heat, it’s very different to today’s sanitised, energy recovery focused cars. The flames together with the colour and speed make this a truly great shot. 

Back to the 1950’s and perhaps the most interesting driver of the decade, Alfonso de Portago. This shot taken in 1957 is brilliant for a number of reasons.

This image captures the typical playboy racing driver from the 1950s. Portago is sat in his car wearing a polo shirt (no fire suits back then), cigarette dangling from his lips whilst a gruff looking mechanic checks the fuel level behind his back. The obvious threat of fire hasn’t entered either of their heads. This really captures the attitude of drivers in this era. Portago was a daredevil. He once flew his airplane under a bridge as a bet, he was an ex Olympic bobsleigher and horse racer. He didn’t like to wash but women found him irresistable. Life was one huge adventure performed with effortless carefree style. I think this shot captures who Portago was.

Another daredevil driver was Gilles Villeneuve. There have been many great photos taken of Gilles, normally with his car in lurid slides. At the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix, he spun off as his tyre exploded. Rather than parking the car, he decided to reverse the car back onto the circuit and proceed at great speed back to the pits.

Gilles knew only one speed, which was flat out. Drifting through most corners, by the time he got back to the pits the wheel and suspension was destroyed. Two things make this shot. Firstly, Gilles amazing car control drifting the Ferrari on three wheels. Secondly, the hundreds of spectators in the background with their eyes transfixed on the artist at work.

Speaking of throngs of spectators and wildly driven cars, it would be remiss for a Group B rally shot to not make the list. This 1984 shot of Atillio Bettega in his Lancia 037, at the Fafe jump in the Rally Portugal really speaks for what this era of rallying was about.

Spectators would literally stand in the middle of the road until the car launched off the jump. They would then scatter before it hit them, with a few brave souls attempting to get a photo. In another rally one spectator didn’t get out of the way quick enough of a Peugeot 205 T16. When the Peugeot mechanics were servicing the car after the stage they found two fingers in the side mounted radiator.

Fan behaviour was particularly bad on the Rally Portugal and it all ended in tragedy in the 1986 event when the Ford RS200 of Joaquim Santos crashed into the crowd, killing three people. The FIA banned Group B shortly after.

Another epic rallying shot came in 1996 at the San Remo Rally. This shot (part of the McKlein Image database), was of world champion Colin McRae.

McRae was probably the most flamboyant driver in rallying history. If he wasn’t winning rallies, he was crashing. What makes this a great photo is the angle and attitude of the car. It’s flying but there is a slight dab of opposite lock on, almost like McRae is anticipating the landing already. McRae’s face is also illuminated, making this the perfect shot of a great driver at work.

Tragedy has always had a place in motorsport history, some well known like Ayrton Senna, other less so like Ricardo Rodriguez.

This shot taken during practice for the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix shows Ricardo kissing his father Don Pedro’s hand whilst his young brother Alejandro looks on. Ricardo always did this before he went out on circuit as a mark of respect for his father and for luck. Within minutes Ricardo was dead, crashing his Lotus at the Peraltada corner. It’s an incredibly respectful, poignant moment, almost a final goodbye from son to father.

I have only one picture hanging in my office at home and it’s of Chris Amon in a Ferrari at Oulton Park in 1968.

I love the composition of this image, but mainly the balance that it captures. It symbolises the final throws of this type of driving, where massive oversteer was seen as the quickest way round a racing circuit. You can see the mid-mounted wing on the Ferrari, this was the first year of wings in F1 and what followed was more planted cars which required a smoother driving style. It’s almost like Chris is having a final bit of fun in this type of car and harking back to the way he drove his Maserati 250F in New Zealand at the start of his career. 

Another amazing drifting shot was of Vic Elford and Pedro Rodriguez at the 1970 BOAC 1000km at Brands Hatch.

It shows the Porsche 917Ks of Vic and Pedro drifting perfectly out of the Druids hairpin. This is possibly the greatest wet weather drive of all time, with Pedro winning the race and lapping the field five times. Vic and Pedro are like figure skaters coming out of Druids Bend, drifting in perfect harmony whilst each feeding in 600bhp. I got chatting to an old man at Brands Hatch a few years ago, who had been coming to the circuit since the 1960s. I asked if he was present during this race. His eyes lit up. “Normally because of the weather spectators would have left that race” he said, “but we all knew we were watching something special so we all stayed”. From this photo you can see why.

We are now in the serious end of the list, starting with Bill Vukovich after he won the 1953 Indianapolis 500. Vuki was arguably one of the greatest talents ever seen at Indy, nearly winning in 1952, but actually winning in 1953 and 1954. The 1953 running was the hottest on record, with an air temperature of towards 100 degrees and a track temperature of 130 degrees. Vuki was also driving a big front-engine roadster, with all that heat coming back into the cockpit. Imagine having your car heater on full, on the hottest day of the year, whilst driving at up to 170mph, with no power steering, for nearly four hours.

It was so hot that one driver, Carl Scarborough, died during the race of heat exhaustion. Vuki won and is seen here in his garage after the race completely drained. His loyal wife Esther at his side.

This photo shows how exhausting it was winning a race back in the 1950s. Vuki is covered in oil, he looks completely finished as he stares to the far side of the garage, despite just winning the greatest race in the world. Also, that he has a loving wife by his side, which makes it all the more tragic that he was to lose his life whilst leading the Indy 500 in 1955.

There are two images from Brooklands which are in the running. The first one is of Norman Wilson racing an ERA in 1939. The photo was taken by Louis Klemantaski, who captured Wilson’s total concentration perfectly. I’m yet to see a better photo of a racing driver focusing on the job at hand. Amazingly the car ERA R4A still races to this day, although Wilson died during the Second World War.

The second photo is of John Cobb as he was setting the Brooklands lap record in 1934. Cobb was driving the W12, 24 litre Napier Railton and the photographer captured the moment the car took off on one of the bumps. Brooklands was laid with concrete, which made it very bumpy. Almost more amazing is the line of photographers lying down hanging over the edge of the banking, completely oblivious to the danger they were putting themselves in.

Another excellent photo of the Indianapolis 500 was taken in 1964 and it’s of winner AJ Foyt.

Foyt had gotten out of his car and was about to be presented with the Borg Warner trophy. At this point he didn’t know Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald were killed in the massive crash in the early stages of the race. The tradition was the winner was handed the newspaper which announced their victory, but Foyt’s simply read ‘Foyt winner in 500, Sachs, MacDonald die’. The look on Foyt’s face says it all despite the crowd around him being caught up in the moment.

Another powerful image is of Gilles Villeneuve at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix.

This was the race where the Ferrari team mates of Villeneuve and Didier Pironi were leading home a dominant one two, before the team told them to hold station and save fuel. What happened next was the ultimate act of betrayal from Pironi, where he attacked Villeneuve and took the lead from him. A confused Villeneuve took it back, before they swapped it back and forth for the remaining few laps.

This image shows a jubilant Pironi spraying the champagne having taken the victory, with a disgusted Villeneuve hardly able to look on. What came next is the real tragedy, vowing to never speak to Pironi again, Villeneuve pushed too hard in qualifying for the next race in Belgium and crashed fatally. He was trying to beat Pironi’s lap time when he crashed. It’s safe to say Pironi never really got over this, he himself crashed later in 1982 ending his career, before succumbing to injuries sustained in a powerboat crash in 1987. Pironi’s wife was expecting twins at the time of his death. When they were born she called them Didier and Gilles.

Which leaves the greatest motorsport image of all time, in my humble opinion.

From the moment I first saw this shot I knew it was the greatest motorsport image I had ever seen. You might think this is similar to Chris Amon’s drift in the Ferrari at Oulton Park, but it has a lot more. Firstly the car, it’s a Maserati 250f, perhaps the most beautiful F1 car of all time. Then there is the setting. This is an extremely fast corner, the downhill right past the pits at Rouen. I shudder to think how fast Fangio is going here but it must be 130mph. On the edge of the circuit are trees, the car has no roll bar, no safety fuel cell and no seat belts. So no margin for error.

The way that Fangio is balancing the car in a drift, with his head cocked to the side, with a wisp of smoke off the left rear tyre is almost poetic. Also, the front of his car has had a bump, yet he is still pushing on hard despite the overwhelming risk. I think the main reason why this is such a good shot is because Fangio might possibly be the greatest driver who ever lived, and to see such a driver demonstrating his art so well is a priviledge.