#klemcoll

[klemcoll]

Varzi at Geneva - 1946

We are in Geneva for the Grand Prix des Nations on July 21, 1946, one of the most important races to take place soon after the end of the War. This was temporary city street circuit with a lap length of just over 1.8 miles. Seen above is the famous prewar Italian driver Achille Varzi with an Alfa Romeo 158 with two-stage supercharging  entered by Alfa Corse the company’s racing division. Alfa had…

[alperalakavuk]

@Regrann from @old_race_pic_stories - Wind brake... Great photo of 2 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR during the sad 24h of Le Mans in 1955. Both going into the esses, using their air brakes. An innovation by Mercedes to compensate with the disc brakes of their rival Jaguar. The Mercedes of Pierre Levegh will crash in the Saturday evening, killing 83 people & Levegh itself. Later in the night, Mercedes withdrew its other 2 cars. 📷 by : Louis Klemantaski @klemcoll #motorsport #rennlegenden #grandprix #whenracingwasracing #racing #vintageracing #lemans #lasarthe #lemans24 #24hlemans #enduranceracing #mercedes #mercedes300slr #louisklemantaski #11june1955 - #regrann (Antalya, Turkey)

[klemcoll]

Before the Last Mille Miglia

Inside the wall of the Ferrari factory in Maranello is a lineup of racing cars which will soon depart for Brescia and the start of the Mille Miglia which will take place for this team on May 12, 1957. Car n. 534 is a Ferrari 335 Sport which will be driven by Peter Collins with photographer Louis Klemantaski as his navigator. They will lead the race at a record pace until the car’s final drive…

[klemcoll]

Avoiding Disaster

What we see here is the multi-car crash that occurred at Tabac corner doing the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix on May 21, 1950. Car n. 38 is the Ferrari 125C of Luigi Villoresi while also visible are car n. 44, the Maserati 4CL of Franco Rol, and n. 42, the Ferrari 125C of Raymond Sommer. The crash had taken place due to the water on the track from wind-driven waves hitting the structure…

[klemcoll]

The Bugatti 251

Sitting the pits before practice for the French Grand Prix at Reims is the new experimental Bugatti 251 F1 car which will compete in this important race on July 1 , 1956. Automobiles Bugatti had selected the French driver Maurice Trintignant to handle this innovative new car. The Type 251, one of two constructed, was built in 1955 but Reims would be its first appearance. The Type 251 had a de…

[klemcoll]

Fangio at Mirabeau

Jim Sitz, one of our old friends and himself a motor racing photographer of great talent, asked us to post once again this iconic Klemantaski image of Juan Manuel Fangio in his Ferrari-Lancia D50 at Monaco. This photo was taken at about 6 A.M. on May 11, 1956 in the Friday early morning practice prior to Sunday’s Grand Prix. Klemantaski had taken a room in the front of the Hotel Mirabeau which…

[klemcoll]

Rain at Monaco

Hers is Jackie Stewart in his Tyrrell-Ford charging up the hill from Sainte Devote toward the Casino during a very wet Monaco Grand Prix on May 14, 1972. In somewhat unusual weather conditions for Monaco both the Saturday practice and the Sunday special practice were wet. The adverse weather continued through the start of the race and there were repeated showers during much of its planned length…

[klemcoll]

Hopping to Victory

Here is Nelson Piquet having a bit if a light moment in downtown Long Beach during the United States Grand Prix West on March 30, 1980 with his Brabham BT49. This race was an opportunity for the normally-aspirated Ford-Cosworth-powered Brabhams to make up ground on the turbo Renault RE20 with which René Arnoux had won the previous two races in Brazil and South Africa. In practice Piquet was ahead…

[klemcoll]

Michael Schumacher and Ferrari

We have some wonderful photos of the great champion Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari so here are two superb photos from a race he did not win, the 1996 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 10, the first race of the year. Schumacher who had just joined Ferrari from Benetton qualified only fourth, behind his teammate Eddie Irvine and three-quarters of  second adrift from the…

[klemcoll]

42 Years Ago

Next Thursday will be 42 years since the famous Ferrari F1 driver Gilles Villeneuve was killed at the Zolder circuit In Belgium during qualifying for the next day’s Belgian Grand Prix. The images on this page were both taken during practice at Zolder before the fatal accident. This race followed two weeks after the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola where Villeneuve’s teammate Didier Pironi had…

[klemcoll]

Searching for Speed

In the years before aerodynamics were “discovered” for racing cars. streamlining was often thought as being the way to go for greater speed. Here are two examples as tried in practice at the French Grand Prix which would take place on July 1, 1956 at the Reims-Gueux circuit. Above is one such trial of a special nose and side sponsons between the front and rear wheels, copied no doubt from those…

[klemcoll]

The Last Mille Miglia

In keeping with the new film “Ferrari” now in theaters here is the winner to be of what will become  the last Mille Miglia on May 12, 1957. The driver is the “Silver Fox” Piero Taruffi. driving alone over roads with which he was deeply familiar, having already competed in this difficult race 13 times without a win. Taruffi’s car was a Ferrari 315/335 Sport. Although when sold by Ferrari at the…

[klemcoll]

Here is Gilles Villeneuve

Here is Gilles Villeneuve at Interlagos, the twisty yet very fast circuit in Sao Paulo Brazil which had been renamed the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in honor of the Brazilian F1 driver who had been killed in a small plane crash near Sao Paulo three years before. This would be the Brazilian Grand Prix, the second round of the 1980 Championship, on January 27, 1980. The Renault turbo-engined cars…

[klemcoll]

The Mexican Wonder Boy

Here is a close-in photograph of the then 20 year old Mexican driver Ricardo Valentin Rodriguez de la Vega in a Ferrari Dino V6-engined 156F1 at Zandvoort during the Dutch Grand Prix on May 20,1962. The younger of the two Rodriguez brothers can always be recognized, once he had joined Ferrari, by the Ferrari emblem on the front of his helmet and the colors of the Mexican flag on its side. Ricardo…

[klemcoll]

Phil Hill with a Ferrari

During 1959 Phil Hill drove his first full season in F1 cars for Ferrari, as here with a Dino 256F1 accelerating out of the old station hairpin at Monaco during the Grand Prix on May 10, 1959. The large radiator intake was a common modification for front-engined cars at Monaco in order to maximize cooling on then twisty Monte Carlo circuit. The Dino 256F1 was an upgrade of the 246 as used in…

[klemcoll]

On the Starting Ramp

We are about to head up the starting ramp (seen at the base of this photo) for the Mille Miglia on May 2, 1954. The car is a new Lancia D24, what would be the ultimate Lancia sports car of designer Vittorio Jano, this one to be driven by the Italian Gino Valenzano. Lancia had entered four of these cars to be piloted by Valenzano, Alberto Ascari, Eugenio Castellotti, and Piero Taruffi – a very…