FIRST IN A NEW SERIES

Welcome to the first in a regular series of newsletters from the Mike Hayward Collection of classic British motor racing photographs. Our unique library dates back to the early 1960s and covers events ranging from Grands Prix to Hill Climbs.

All the images are the work of lifelong motor racing enthusiast and professional photographer Mike Hayward, who started visiting race meetings with a Brownie camera when he was just 12 years old.

“It was much more of an experience photographing racing cars in those early days,” says Mike. “There were far fewer safety restrictions, and photographers could get close enough to almost touch the cars.

“The first race I ever went to was the Oulton Park Gold Cup in 1959, which was won by Stirling Moss in a Rob Walker Cooper 51. Neither my Brownie Cresta camera nor my schoolboy photography skills were really up to the job, and all I got were pictures of the backs of people’s heads. Fortunately I got better as time went on!”

The collection continues to expand, with Mike adding unscanned images from the past 40 years as well as new photographs taken at today’s classic events such as the Oulton Park Gold Cup.

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