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Description
A unique collection of over 200 rare original colour photographs of Grand Prix and sports cars, taken between 1954 and 1959 at races and hill-climbs in England & Ireland. This book is an absolute must for Revivalists and all lovers of motorsport. Synopsis
All the pictures were taken with an M3 Leica, and all the action shots with a Leitz 135mm Hektor lens with an aperture of f3.5: this meant that to get decent shots you had to be very close to the action, as many of the pictures reveal ... After nearly 50 years, Martyn discovered the forgotten transparencies and taught himself to digitize them and to repair the damaged pictures. All these rare images vividly recall a very different era of motorsport and, collectively, recapture the spirit of motorsport in the 1950s. Independent Reviews
Review by Hans-Georg Schmitt for Model Auto Review, May 2005
In 1954 Martyn Wainwright started taking colour photographs, alongside his 'official' black and white shots at races and hill climbs in England and Ireland, though he knew they could not be published in magazines, far too expensive at the time. Nearly 50 years later he rediscovered the transparencies and taught himself to digitise them, then to repair the damage caused by age and poor storage. These rare images vividly recall 1950s motor racing and hill climb events including Aintree, Goodwood, Dundrod, Brands Hatch, Prescott, Shelsley Walsh, and Lisdoonvarna, with Grand Prix, sports-racing, veteran and vintage cars, plus amazing specials.
The book gives us a delightfully nostalgic trip back to a time when motor sport was more accessible and less regulated, without commercial sponsors plastering cars and drivers with logos and adverts and without electronic assistance to help the drivers.
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Review by Gaynor Cauter for Classic & Sports Car, February 2005
BEST BOOK - An amazing archive of colour racing photos.
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Review from Classic Car Mart, February 2005
Colour photographs from the 1950s are very rare, so when a book comes along, of original colour pictures of Grand Prix and sports racing cars taken between 1954 and 1959 it's something that enthusiasts are sure to enjoy.
The photographs capture all aspects of motor sport, with images taken around the paddock and many exciting pictures of cars at full tilt; Martyn Wainwright must have got very close to some of the action to capture these images.
This is a treasure trove of images, evocative of what is for many the golden age of motor sport, encapsulating the simplicity of racing in those days of front engined monsters driven by men in shirt-sleeves and goggles.
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Review for Startline, December 2004
Colour images from the 1950s are very rare, so this unique collection of original colour photographs of Grand Prix and Sports Racing cars taken between 1954 and 1959 make this book invaluable for classic motorsport and "revival" enthusiasts, and include races and hill climbs at Goodwood (International meetings), Ulster TT, Aintree (British GP), Brands Hatch, Prescott and Shelsley Walsh.
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Review from Motorsport News, December 2004
Forgotten, but then rediscovered by the author in his attic, these rare colour photos of events such as the 1954 Tourist Trophy at Dundrod and a Brands clubbie from 1957 are a delight. Many of the onginais were badly damaged and had to be digitally repaired, but have not lost their unique feel. You don't have to be a nostalgia buff to appreciate the evocative images within this book.
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Review from Classic Cars, December 2004
Martyn Wainwright was the sports editor for Irish Motoring Life and in 1954 began taking colour pictures as well as black and white. Having forgotton about them for nearly 50 years, he has ressurected them with digital enhancement and this book is the result.
At 160 pages of mainly action shots, it gives a great feel for this era of racing when all the drivers were highly visible, from the club meetings with basic cars through hill climbs; and sports cars to Formula One races.
There's a lot of good photography here and the overall impression is how well Wainwright has captured the variety of driving styles, no matter what the event.
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Review from the Daily Telegraph, November 2004
Anyone interested in motorsport will be astounded by this incredible collection of colour photos of events in Britain and Ireland obtained from previously long-lost images by Irishman Martyn Wainwright. There's the 1955 British Grand Prix, as well as hill climbs and tourist races to drool over.
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Review by Peter Hall and Andrew English for Telegraph Motoring, November 2004
Black and white images of 1950s racing cars are common enough, but Martin Wainwright’s colour photographs (also available as prints) really bring the era to life, not least because of the hues themselves – simple greens, blues and reds – appear rather dull until your eye grows accustomed to them; it’s easy to forget just how colour-saturated the word has become. His subjects are many and varied, but rarely less than fascinating.
Light on text but with engaging captions to more than 200 photographs of 14 amateur and international events in the UK and Eire including Dundrod, Goodwood and Shelsley Walsh, this book is a wonderful evocation of the way things used to be.
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Review from Morton Newspaper, November 2004
Next summer the Ulster Automobile Club will celebrate the Ulster TT Races staged over the Dundrod circuit during the 1950s.
This was a memorable era in matorsport and a new book by Martyn Wainwright certainly helps set the scene as it looks back with a wonderful collection of 200 photographs.
The TT races included in this new book are those held in 1954 and 1955. These pictures take you back to a time when motorsport was much more accessible with relatively little regulation; vivid original colour gives a sense of being there during an heroic era of motorsport in England and Ireland.
Colour images from the 1950s are very rare, so this unique collection of original colour photographs of Grand Prix and Sports Racing cars taken between 1954 and 1959 make this book a must for classic motorsport and revival enthusiasts.
In addition to the Dundrod races, hill climbs and races covered include Goodwood (international meetings), Aintree (British GP), Brands Hatch, Prescott and Shelsley Walsh.
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Review by Charles Leith for the 750 Motor Club Bulletin, November 2004
After nearly 50 years, Martyn Wainwright discovered in his attic his forgotten colour
transparencies he had taken all those years ago at a variety of race meetings, from the TT in 1954, taking in hillclimbs and club events until the Goodwood Easter Meeting in 1959. Having decided to throw them all out in 1998, being in an appalling state, he changed his mind and set to it to clean his collection of transparencies, teaching himself in the process to digitize each illustration featured in this new book, full of previously unpublished photographs.
As a rebellious young man at Trinity College, Dublin, and determined not to follow his father into Law, he switched courses from Law, and in addition, quite by accident, took up photography. Attending a lecture given by a professional working in Dublin, Max Boyd, he soon found a freelance photography job with Max on the Irish Motoring Life magazine, taking motoring photos all over Ireland in the course of duty. This included the Ulster Trophy and the TT, Max generously splitting his fee with the author. Promotion was around the corner, Max moving on to the Sunday Times, leaving Wainwright the freelance job on the Irish Motoring Life.
Covering as many meetings as he could, distractingly, Wainwright was soon sent off again by his father to train, this time to be an accountant – which he most certainly did not want to do. In between times at this point, and for some reason, Wainwright decided off his own bat to take the wonderful colour shots seen in this book – for colour was not required by the Irish Motoring Life, being a mono paper. Besides, colour was prohibitively expensive at the time.
So here we have a new motor racing pictorial history book, crammed with around 200 action photos that have not previously seen the light of day – pictures that are typically faded in some respects, the colour processing of the time also producing those wonderful pastel shades which older colour photos tend to feature. Featuring Club racing up to Grand Prix cars and sports cars, pre-war cars up to the rear-engined Coopers of 1959 are also featured, with a comprehensive index in the back outlining each car in the book. A welcome new book and great to see new historical photos published. Hopefully as a result we will see more of the author's work in other new books in the future. Additional Information
All the pictures were taken with an M3 Leica, and all the action shots with a Leitz 135mm Hektor lens with an aperture of f3.5: this meant that to get decent shots you had to be very close to the action, as many of the pictures reveal ... After nearly 50 years, Martyn discovered the forgotten transparencies and taught himself to digitize them and to repair the damaged pictures. All these rare images vividly recall a very different era of motorsport and, collectively, recapture the spirit of motorsport in the 1950s.
 
The downloadable sample PDF requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to be installed on your computer.
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