Old Photographs

[Robin McInnes]

In the seasons since the advent of the 'net, and particularly after the arrival of the digital camera, there is a wealth of photographs of F1 available for reference. The main Pitpass site galleries are a good example.

But where is there an easily accessible archive of photos of the earlier F1 era?

It is not as if F1 is a shy & retiring activity, and whenever I've been to a grand prix there have always been a myriad snappers snapping pretty well constantly, so there must surely be miles of exposed film out there with F1 imagery on it.

A personal view, perhaps rose-tinted with nostalgia, but the cars from that earlier era seem so much more visually interesting; the quirky, cobbled-together ones of the early 1970s being particularly so, although arguably not necessarily very attractive.

This type of photograph can also reveal the very different ambience of 'real' motor racing, as it was in the relatively recent past, with familiarly-named works F1 teams slumming it in grass paddocks and so on.

I have recently discovered this website, (*see below), which brings back many memories, but are there any similar ones out there to fill in the gaps, does anyone know?

Is there any possibility of Pitpass itself having some sort of 'Historic Picture Gallery', or would it be too cost-prohibitive? (Or could it be done cheaply with enthusiasts themselves uploading their own, maybe?)


* http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo_f1.html
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Cheers,
Robin
-Team McLaren Mercedes Supporter

[mercw125]

Motor Sport have run a feature for a while now called (I think) "I was there" where people dig out old photos from the "good old days". There are a few books around covering the subject but it would be good to have an online gallery of photos to look at.

[D-Type]

Copyright is an issue. Many people appear to believe that they can indiscriminately download and re-publish pictures they find on the net regardless of who own its the copyright. Consequently the owners of commercial archives are reluctant to post any images on the web other than in low resolution form and/or with watermarks.

There are some other sites out there. Try a Google 'Images' search for Ferrari, Jaguar, Lotus, etc and keep trying.

Caution: don't try a search for Lola though!
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The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know.

[Genespleen]

Paul Henri-Cahier's site is a really good one, though it is a market site. The search feature is very well set-up:

http://www.f1-photo.com/