Description
Seventies Motor Racing
FOLLOWING ON FROM the success of Sixties Motor Racing, which featured the photography of Michael Cooper, Palawan has turned its attention to the 1970s with a book that showcases a spectacular collection of images taken by Franco Lini.
An intrinsic part of motor racing’s rich fabric for 40 years, Lini even had a stint as Direttore Sportivo of the legendary Scuderia Ferrari, but it’s as a highly respected photo-journalist that he’s perhaps best remembered. The tireless Italian maintained a busy schedule working for Auto Italiana magazine, and renowned motorsport historian and author Doug Nye, who first met Franco in 1966, has carefully curated a selection of his finest photographs to feature in Seventies Motor Racing.
This was an often-turbulent decade in which motorsport was still perilously dangerous and far too many drivers paid the ultimate price. It also saw a rising professionalism and commercialisation, and the beginnings of modern Formula 1 via the growing influence of Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone…
But it was also a decade of iconic cars, great drivers and huge technological advances.
In Formula 1, there were the battles between Tyrrell, Lotus and McLaren that led to Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi trading the Drivers’ World Championship between them, the epic duel between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, and a 1979 title for Jody Scheckter that would prove to be Ferrari’s last until the Michael Schumacher era.
In the World Sportscar Championship, enthusiasts were awestruck by the mighty Gulf-JWA Porsche 917s of Siffert and Rodriguez. Despite opposition along the way from Matra, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Alpine- Renault, this was the decade in which the German marque really stamped its authority on sports car racing – between 1970 and 1979, Porsche took five overall wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Franco Lini was there to see it all and record it on his trusty camera – from the Nürburgring and Spa to Le Mans, Daytona, the Targa Florio, and even far-flung rounds of the newly formed World Rally Championship.
In Seventies Motor Racing, Doug Nye presents over 480 of Franco’s wonderful images from circuit, stage, pit and paddock alike. All of them are accompanied by Doug’s uniquely authoritative, informative and entertaining captions, and placed in the wider context of a world that was dealing with war, political turmoil and economic shocks such as the Oil Crisis.
Each of the 1000 numbered copies will also come with The Seventies, an essay by Michael Bracewell on the popular culture of the decade. A renowned writer, novelist and critic, Bracewell has written a number of acclaimed books about art, music and cultural history. Following the release of Souvenir – Bracewell’s look back at the London of the 1970s and ’80s – fellow writer Jonathan Coe said that he ‘proves himself to be nothing less than the poet laureate of late capitalism’.
A beautifully presented record of a transformative period in motor racing history – and in the wider world – Seventies Motor Racing is sure to become a treasured collectors’ item.
Reviews
This is 1970s motor racing through the eyes (and lenses) of photojournalist Franco Lini. The Italian, who died in 1996, was ever-present at the higher echelons of the sport and highly skilled. His work is accompanied by the words of British doyen Doug Nye who knew the dapper Montovan Lini from the mid-1960s. The book is large-format (300×300mm), printed on thick 170gsm paper and, after a brief introduction by Nye and profile of Lini by Gianni Cencelleri, is tackled year by year, each with an overview and some cultural touchpoints before piling into the photos and their lengthy, highly detailed captions. And it is all about those 480 pictures, which are reproduced beautifully and given the space they richly deserve across 432 pages. If you ever doubt the value of this, check out the picture of Emerson Fittipaldi in the Lotus 72 during practice for the 1972 Argentinian GP – the light and tones transport you straight to the Autódromo de Buenos Aires.There will be only 1050 printed: 1000 numbered copies of the standard edition, plus a 50-off leatherbound edition. Is it an essential addition to every motoring library? To be honest, probably not because it is a posh photobook, containing many images that have been printed elsewhere. It is essential as a wonderful and affectionate tribute to one of the great pit lane characters from an era when motor racing’s doors were usually open to the likes of Lini, Crombac et al and they could engage with drivers and teams on a level not dreamed of today. The shot selection here has been especially magnificent and there is barely one that is simply about cars or on-track racing, the backgrounds often adding their own narrative – such as the shirtless fire marshall at Hockenheim looking on with the ennui of a spotty herbert queuing for ten Bensons in his Spar. Even if you ignore him, the photographer (we think) strolling away from the apex in his singlet vest and tartan shorts is difficult to get your head around. While his action shooting is good, what Lini really excelled at was reportage, whether it was the shot of a fan’s legs signed by multiple drivers or pit-lane scenes. Nor is this dominated by F1, with everything from rallying, sports cars and even ice racing included. Accompanying the slipcased volume on motor racing is a separate, sparsely illustrated three-part cultural essay on the 1970s by Michael Bracewell. It is entertaining enough, but I don’t expect it means a great deal more to those then wrapped up in the F1 circus than kids waiting for the next power cut, next ITV strike or unwelcome appearance of the Bay City Rollers on Top of the Pops – James Elliott Octane June 2024
Sounds of the ’70s – As tributes to racing decades go, this box-cased special mixes sport, culture and stylised design, says Gordon Cruickshank. You can tell from the pale orange endpapers that this is going to be presented in some style, and it is, Palawan style with groovy covers and a smart box case. Essentially a photo collection, it’s drawn from the archive left by Franco Lini, reporter and photographer for Auto Italia on all fields of motor racing through the ’70s and briefly Ferrari’s sporting director. And as one who knew him from 1966 and now keeper of his archive, Doug Nye is well placed to introduce us to the man and provide knowledgeable and generous captions to over 480 photos in this muscle-testing volume. But that’s only part of it: as a companion to the beefy photo book there’s a slimmer volume which doesn’t mention motor racing at all. Instead it’s an essay on the cultural and intellectual aspects of the 1970s, and if it didn’t carry through the design of its companion book you would never imagine they’re a pair. Written by novelist and cultural commentator Michael Bracewell, it’s meant to give a context to the decade illustrated in the main work, but it’s a million miles from the average motor racing article. Sample: Throughout the 1970s an exhausted deliquescence prevailed, creating a depressed if atmospheric theatre of endings.” It’s a heady culture casserole – Brian Eno, Germaine Greer, the Oz trial, Ralph Steadman, Bertolt Brecht, Sex Pistols, David Bowie. It’s writing you’d expect to see in culture mag Frieze or in the catalogue at Hackney’s hippest gallery. Is it interesting? I guess so. It highlights patterns that you don’t see when you’re living through the era. Does it add to a book about motor racing? Questionable, except to remind us that even racing takes place in a wider world. Doug too, touches on this momentous decade in his introduction, but he displays a crisp enthusiast attitude – ignore the wider world and “close one’s eyes to boring, oppressive reality – just concentrate on the next race”. So, back to car pictures. Lini would travel to Indy, Can-Am, Tour Auto or F3, but it’s Formula I which makes the bulk of this book. In those easier days he became a popular part of the travelling circus that accompanied the sport, allowing him access to those off-duty moments that tell us much more than picture of cars on track – though there are of course plenty of those. For example, Berne Ecclestone confronting a Dutch FIA official or James Hunt reading The Dogs of War. It’s divided into year blocks, each opened with Doug’s succinct summary of the season- handy, and topped by brief notes of what was happening in politics, literature, art and sport, which frankly manages what the culture volume does while eating fewer trees. Like the Branger book, The Last Eye Witness, that we featured last month, this scores with Doug’s in-depth knowledge in the extensive captions – a Chevron on the Targa Florio may be an also-ran but Doug knows all about its local driver, and elsewhere he’s as likely to slip in a bit of Italian constitutional history as team details. Favourites? A colourful 1971 Buenos Aires 1000Kms grid, an outdoor driver discussion under a Kyalami tree or the russet woods behind Watkins Glen with Niki Lauda’s Ferrari bellowing towards us. Not the sharpest shot, in fact it’s not the only one which is less than pinpoint. Some are surprisingly soft, but Palawan’s designer goes bold, pushing the size up to make it grainy but arty. Still, for each of those there’s another which grabs – like Merzario swapping seats with Carlos Pace, the back of Arturo’s overalls soaked with the effort of wrestling a Ferrari around the Nürburgring You may only read the accompanying culture volume once, but if the 70s was your era, you’ll find yourself dipping back into the main course often – Gordon Cruickshank Motor Sport May 2024
You can tell from C&SC regular Julian Balme’s stylish cover that this is going to be a treat, and his design deserves special mention because the colours, themes and fonts all perfectly complement the fantastic imagery that forms the basis of the book. It’s the work of the late Italian Franco Lini, curated by Doug Nye. To set the scene, a slim companion volume features novelist Michael Bracewell’s essay The Seventies, an absorbing analysis of the decade’s cultural, social and political change. The main book begins with an introduction to Lini by fellow Mantuan Gianni Cancelleri, followed by a year-by-year record, each introduced with a summary by Nye. Lini’s images are superbly reproduced on thick paper, with Nye’s effortlessly knowledgeable captions. It’s not just race shots, but also candid pit, paddock and spectator scenes from F1, sports cars, Can-Am, Indy, Touring Cars and more, most in rich full colour and big enough to really dive into. Only the heady price counts against it – although you can buy the essay on its own for a bargain £25 – Alastair Clements C&SC May 2024
The 70s began to permanently change motorsport – the racing cars (Porsche 917! / Ferrari 512 S!/ Porsche 935l) became increasingly stronger, as did the formula1-Companions got faster and faster. Motorsport was still dangerous, as the many deaths proved, but it also became more professional, sponsors began to stake their claim, and Commerz slowly took on an increasingly important role. Bernie Ecclestone also contributed to this, reshaping Formula 1 according to his ideas – in short: motorsport lost its innocence and companies realized that a lot of money and a lot of honor could be won on this battlefield. Franco Lini accompanied this development as a photographer and journalist for 40 years and also directly controlled it as Ferrari’s sports director – his photo collection is legendary, so it was time to publish them in a volume.A typical task for the British Palawan publishing house, which has been printing and distributing some of the most beautiful and unfortunately also the most expensive automobile volumes in small editions for decades. Volumes where the basic circulation is between 500 and1,000 copies – like here – plus elegantly equipped luxury editions, which in this case amounts to 50 copies. Luxury volumes that – once sold out – are traded at many times higher prices. This will probably also happen with the Seventies Motor Racing volume, in which the renowned author Doug Nye has compiled and congenially commented on an excellent selection of photos by Franco Lini. Yes: 400 sterling is a considerable sum, but the 430 pages tempt you to read and look at the same time – and you literally breathe in the sound, the scent and the atmosphere of those years. The volume in a slipcase is complemented by a small volume with an essay by Michael Bracewell about the pop culture of this decade. Highly recommended – Jürgen Lewandowski, Bulletin of the Motorworld Germany March 2024