Category auto racing

Ferrari, Nurburgring, klemcoll, Ascari, Farina

The Start of a Competitive Life

We are at the fueling point behind the pits at the famous Nürburgring on August 29, 1953 before practice for the next day’s 1000 Km. race. The car is a Ferrari 375MM with a 4.5 liter V12 motor and the latest Vignale spyder bodywork. It will be driven for Scuderia Ferrari by two of their […]

Phil Hill, Monaco, Ferrari, klemcoll

Chasing Moss

Here is Phil Hill at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 14, 1961 charging up the Ste. Devote hill toward Casino Square. At this race Klemantaski was experimenting with what was then called a Press Camera which he had modified to use 120 size film as used in his Rollei. This type of camera could […]

Ferrari, Sebring, klemcoll

Bubble Top

This is a Ferrari 312P at the Sebring Hairpin on March 21, 1970 during the 12 Hour race. Driven by Mike Parkes and Chuck Parsons, it would finish sixth overall and fourth in the three liter sports class. This 312P had first appeared at the 1969 Le Mans race where it lasted only part of […]

Ferrari, Mille Miglia klemcoll, Ascari

A Busy Barchetta

This photograph was taken in the Piazza Vittoria in Brescia during the pre-race checks before the Mille Miglia which would start late that evening April 22, 1950. At the wheel of this works Ferrari is future world champion Albert Ascari with his navigator Senesio Nicolini. This barchetta was a very special car and was called […]

Ferrari, Le Mans, klemcoll, Pedro Rodriguez

First One Out in Front

Pedro Rodriguez has just made an outstanding start in The Le Mans 24 Hours on June 20, 1964. Rodriguez is driving a four liter Ferrari 330P entered by Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team. This was a car that had competed at Le Mans the year before, finishing third, as a works 250P with a […]

Ferrari, Le Mans, klemcoll

Ferraris at Le Mans

Three Ferrari berlinettas are lined up in front of the Le Mans pits during practice for the 24 Hour race to be run on June 13-14, 1953. The first one is a Ferrari 375MM which will be driven by the friends and teammates Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi. The two other Ferraris are 340MM berlinettas […]

Ferrari, Maserati, Monza, klemcoll

The Three Kings

We are looking at the front row of the grid before the start of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on September 13, 1953. Color motor racing photographs from the early 1950s are very rare because in those years few if any publishers would print in color. On pole at the left side of the […]

Le Mans, klemcoll, Cadillac, Cunningham

A Grand Touring Car

In 1950 Briggs Cunningham decided to try his hand at Le Mans. He liked Cadillac’s new 5.4 liter V8 which had the basics to be a powerful engine. Cunningham had wanted to enter a pair of “Fordillac” hotrods, being lightweight Fords with the Cadillac V8, a creation of his driver Phil Walters, but Le Mans […]

Gilles Villeneuve, Long Beach, Ferrari, klemcoll

What a Difference a Year Makes

This is Gilles Villeneuve hard at work trying everything he can to find the success he had had a year before. Villeneuve had won the Long Beach Grand Prix (more correctly known as the U.S. Grand Prix West) in 1979 with the Ferrari 312T4 and with his teammate and eventual Championship winner Jody Scheckter second. […]

Stirling Moss, Maserati, Monaco, klemcoll

Into the Trees

  For the Monaco Grand Prix on May 13, 1956, Klemantaski had arranged an upstairs room on the front facade of the Hotel Mirabeau which was situated at the sharp right hand bend of the same name. For the early morning Saturday practice Klemantaski sat on his balcony with a cup of coffee taking a […]