We love the dynamics of this photograph. It shows Denny Hulme with his McLaren M7A turning into Tabac Corner during the Monaco Grand Prix on May 26, 1968. Tabac was so called because of a tobacco products store which was once on that corner. The narrow entry to Tabac swung the cars under full acceleration onto the wider pit straight. It is a rare image of quality where the car is not central to the photograph. But here the change of direction going on with the McLaren provides the feeling of speed and movement with the still position of the corner worker heightening these impressions.
In practice the McLarens of Hulme and Bruce McLaren were nowhere near competitive with the Team Lotus 49B which was in the hands of Graham Hill or the Rob Walker Lotus 49 of Jo Siffert. Hulme was 2.2 seconds off HIll’s pole time with McLaren himself only close to a second faster.
The race went no better for the McLarens. with McLaren retiring due to an accident which began in the tunnel on the first lap and finished shortly afterward in a collision with Jackie Oliver’s work Lotus 49. Hulme struggled on and was classified fifth, the last runner, some seven laps down to Hill’s winning Lotus having been aided by the string of accidents and mechanical failures which befell most of his competitors.
Photo by Nigel Snowdon ©The Klemantaski Collection – http://www.klemcoll.com
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