My first experience of international motor racing was the BOAC 500 sports car six-hour endurance race held at Brands Hatch in 1967. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, I was witnessing the arrival of a new type of race car, one that developed the science of aerodynamics and changed race car design forever.
I was also witness to the final race in the notable career of one of Americas finest drivers, Phil Hill. Both Hill and the slightly alien-looking white Chaparral 2F, with its metre-high rear aerofoil and automatic gearbox (heresy!) cruised to a comfortable victory at the car’s only appearance in the UK. I had just begun to take a serious interest in photography and my basic Olympus half-frame 35mm camera was not the right tool for motorsport photography. I persevered and this image was the first photograph I took but I later discovered the first frame had suffered a light leak that fogged part of the negative. Even so I decided that the fault had created an unusual background effect that I rather liked.
From the book ‘Moments in Motorsport’ by Trevor Legate
