Classic Motorsport Photos

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^ A really cool photo of Jamie McMurray pulling the upset and winning the 2010 Daytona 500.
 
2010 is too recent. If you want some classic NASCAR photos, how about the aftermath of Richard Petty's flip at Daytona?

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Or Mario Andretti, the most successful and versatile man in motorsports ever? This is his 1967 Ford Fairlane.

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2010 is too recent. If you want some classic NASCAR photos, how about the aftermath of Richard Petty's flip at Daytona?

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Or Mario Andretti, the most successful and versatile man in motorsports ever? This is his 1967 Ford Fairlane.

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Classic doesnt always mean old.
 
Classic doesnt always mean old.

It does in this thread.

What This Thread Isn't:

-"Here's a photo of last week's Indy Race"
-"Here's a photo of my favourite muscle car"
-Photos of fatalities

What This Thread Is:

-The older the photo, the better
-Particularly interesting or noteworthy photos, e.g. "here's a photo from the last ever race at Riverside"
-Cool photos "here's an F1 car off all four wheels at the Nürburgring" or "here's the flames from the back of a turbo monster"

There is subjectivity in there, sure, but I trust most of you can use your better judgement.
 
I would still judge five years as old enough.

It's not. Even though I've been guilty of posting modern photos myself (1992, 1993 and 1998) the spirit of this thread originally was mainly pre-war after I started hoarding old Grand Prix images but it's expanded to old, interesting and cool photos up to the 1970s and the 1980s at a stretch.

NASCAR is obviously your game and that has been going since the 1940s so there must be loads of great pictures to find. Like the original Daytona race track, in the days when they still raced on dirt tracks and beaches. This is neat.

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In 1958 there was even a race strictly for convertibles.

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It's not. Even though I've been guilty of posting modern photos myself (1992, 1993 and 1998) the spirit of this thread originally was mainly pre-war after I started hoarding old Grand Prix images but it's expanded to old, interesting and cool photos up to the 1970s and the 1980s at a stretch.

NASCAR is obviously your game and that has been going since the 1940s so there must be loads of great pictures to find. Like the original Daytona race track, in the days when they still raced on dirt tracks and beaches. This is neat.

1957-Daytona-Beach-Race-02.jpg


1950s_daytona_beach_stock_car_


In 1958 there was even a race strictly for convertibles.

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Oh yes. Never a shortage of NASCAR. Maybe it would be wise to put that time frame into the op to avoid more confusion? Thanks for the clarification. 👍
 
Whilst not really in the remit of this thread, I didn't know where else to put this: gallaries of images from the 1989, 1998 and 1999 Le Mans 24 hours. There are other years if you use the filter.
 
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- Jarno Trulli's expert parking on top of Jean Alesi at Montreal 1998

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- Mark Webber with Paul Stoddart after finishing fifth in his first ever F1 race at Melbourne 2002

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- Olivier Panis after winning the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, where there were only four classified finishers
 
Interesting tidbit about the 1996 Monaco GP; David Coulthard ended up using one of Michael Schumacher's helmets during the race because his visor kept fogging up and they couldn't find the problem with it. Also of note is how absolutely awful the MP4/11 looks.
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The Eau Rouge doesn't scare Jacques Villeneuve

Villeneuve claims to be the first F1 driver of his generation to tackle the Eau Rouge flat out: "Jean Alesi once came to talk to me in the paddock, vigorously warning me that it was too dangerous. But after seeing me, Michael Schumacher did it without lifting. Then Mika Hakkinen, then some others".

This is what happened in 1998, Villeneuve as world champion, with Williams:

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Jacques: "It's a big one... you walk out of the car and you're not hurt, so it's like you get out of a big fight and you're the one who won it".

1999, Villeneuve moves to BAR. The team arrives at Spa after an awful season in terms of reliability, both drivers struggling to see the checkered flag. During Friday free practice, the right front suspension suddenly collapses while Villeneuve is breaking hard at the end of the Kemmel straight, at more than 300 km/h. Not a good sign considering the load Spa puts on wings and suspensions, especially at the Eau Rouge. The Canadian is still really confident though, they slightly changed the track and he talks about the "new" Eau Rouge: "The corner is easier this year, they've removed the wall on the inside and it's visually not impressive as it used to be. It's going to be flat out". Jacques was so confident that he made a deal/bet with his team-mate Ricardo Zonta, a Brazilian rookie, to do the same.
During Saturday's qualifying, Villeneuve keeps his word, "it's going to be flat out":

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"It's pretty close to last year's, I think the impact was smaller but this time I rolled, so that was a bonus".

After the session has been stopped to clear the wreckage and to check if Villeneuve was ok, qualifying resumes and now it's Zonta's time to honour the deal:

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Zonta loses it at entry of the Eau Rouge, crashes heavily into the inside wall (the one they removed to make it less impressive, according to Villeneuve) rolls twice and finally ends in the gravel after at least 5 360° spins across the track.
The impact was so hard, even his helmet visor has collapsed:

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Craig Pollock, BAR team owner, after Zonta's accident: "I was sitting in the pit wall thinking, this cannot be true, it must be somebody else's car, it can't be my car again..."

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"The good thing is that both drivers are absolutely ok, no bruises. Both of them went clearly too fast into that corner, but we pay drivers to drive to the limit, sometimes they go over it".
 
Isn't this Pollock's entire BAR career? :D

Well, it rhymes with Pollock's.

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Going off the theme from my last post, sometimes you just find a fresh batch of really good quality interbellum photos.

Christian Werner GER

1922 Targa Florio

Car: Mercedes* (4.5L supercharged Daimler I4)
Finished: 2nd in class. Overall unknown.


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1924 Targa Florio

Car: Mercedes* (4.5L supercharged Daimler I4)
Finished: 1st

Celebrations after his win. This was only the third time a non-Italian had won the race.


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*It's a Mercedes but not a Benz.
 
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It's a Mercedes but not a Benz.

So are the current Mercedes AMG F1 cars, it goes around I guess :)

I love that penultimate pic, very telling of the pre-car age, cabbages (of some sort) growing up to the edge of the track on the left and a mounting stone on the right.
 
1931 Monegasque Grand Prix

Driver: Louis Chiron MON
Car: #22 Bugatti T51 (2.3L Bugatti I8)
Finished: 1st

The first and only win in the Grand Prix of Monaco by someone from Monaco. The first photo is the moment he crossed the finish line to win.


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The start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1955. A somber point of this certain photo are the two cars in the center. The #26 Austin-Healey 100S of Lance Macklin and Les Leston and the #20 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR of Pierre Levegh and John Fitch. Both cars played unwanted major roles in motorsport's darkest day.

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The strong American presence in the 1967 running at Le Mans wasn't just Ford but also Jim Hall's Chaparrals. A pair of 2Fs were entered for the 24 hours. The #7 car of Phil Hill and Mike Spence showed great pace in the early hours before the transmission failed. Despite the heroics of the Chaparral team's mechanics, the car was forced to be retired.

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The night is setting in during the 1970 Le Mans. The Ferrari 512S of Jacky Ickx and Peter Schetty leads the pole sitting Porsche 917L of Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens. Both cars later suffered retirements from the race.

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A all-French Chevrolet Corvette driven by Henri Greder and Marie-Claude Charmasson going though the final chicane at Le Mans in 1973. The French Vette finished a respectable 12th at the end.
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The finish of Le Mans 1981 shows the Porsche 936 of Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx taking the checker flag with a stampede of fans coming at the Porsche.

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