Tag Archives: Alfa Romeo
A Borrowed Alfa
Here we have two photos of the same car, both taken at the Crystal Palace circuit in the south of London itself on April 2, 1938. The driver appears to be the English amateur driver Buddy Featherstonhaugh (pronounced “Fanshaw”!) who had it on loan from its Swiss owner Hans Ruesch. Featerstonhaugh was a professional jazz […]
Alfa Romeo at Bern
Prewar color racing photographs are very rare. This one was taken during practice for the 1938 Swiss Grand Prix on the Bremgarten circuit in Bern. Not only was 35mm color film difficult to find but obtaining a good image of a moving racing car in color was near impossible with a film speed of ASA […]
The Italian Mob
Before the July 14, 1951 British Grand Prix at Silverstone where the modern Formula 1 had begun with the 1950 British Grand Prix here are three of the top Italian drivers, from the left, Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi and Giuseppe “Nino” Farina. Farina was driving for the Alfa Romeo team in an Alfetta 159 while […]
Two Giants of Design
It is August 1949 in Maranello. Most of Italy is on vacation, but not at Ferrari. Sitting here in the design office are the two most influential and talented designers of Ferrari’s early years: Aurelio Lampredi (left) and Gioacchino Colombo. Colombo started at Alfa Romeo about a dozen years before the War and had a […]
His First World Championship Race
Here is a young Stirling Moss about to go out to practice in his first World Championship F1 race, the Swiss Grand Prix which took place on the dangerous Bremgarten circuit at Berne on May 27, 1951. Moss is in one of John Heath’s F2 HWMs which were powered by the two liter four cylinder […]
A Green Alfa
Seen above is an Alfa Romeo P3, now repainted in British Racing Green, being driven by owner Kenneth Evans during the Crystal Palace Cup on the Crystal Palace circuit in London on July 1, 1939. This Alfa P3 had been run as what amounts to a works car by the Scuderia Ferrari in Modena during […]
Donington Grand Prix – 1936
Here we see a photo of the British driver Richard Seaman at “full chat” in an Alfa Romeo 8C35 during the Donington Grand Prix on October 3, 1936. The Alfa Romeo was an ex-Scuderia Ferrari car which had been sold to the well-known Swiss “gentleman diver” Hans Ruesch. Ruesch had previously raced other Alfas, two […]
Fangio at Bremgarten
Here is a fine study of the great Juan Manuel Fangio on the grid for the Swiss Grand Prix in Berne on May 27, 1951. His car is an Alfa Romeo 159 with its double-stage supercharged 1.5 liter straight eight motor, producing about 420 hp. The Alfa 159, or Alfetta as these cars were called […]
The Adoration of the Crowd
Here is Giuseppe “Nino” Farina with a huge winner’s wreath around his shoulders in the midst of a delighted crowd after the finish of the 1950 British Grand Prix on May 13, 1950. The race was held at Silverstone, using the former RAF airfield runways and access roads, and was the first race of the […]
The Lineup
In the early 1950s color motor racing photography was quite rare, primarily because motoring publishers of both books and magazines were unwilling to undertake the expense and difficulties then involved in printing color images. One well-known motor racing photographer of that time said, “Every photo I took in color was one I might have sold […]
Klemantaski Collection 