Close-Up Action on the Streets of Angoulême

The French town of Angoulême just might have leapfrogged all the way to the top of this Automobiliac's must-visit list after seeing the eye-popping photos and write-up by Ian Wilson over at Motorsport Retro.  Not only are the selection of cars at this historic racing festival fantastic but what really gets me going is how close the photographers are to the action. I have often complained about the boring flatness imparted upon racing photos by the mammoth telephoto lenses used by today's motorsport photographers. This is of course necessitated by the extreme safety measures that keep even pro lensmen fairly far from the trackside. Here in Angoulême, the photographers are close enough to use wide angle lenses just like the Klemantaskis and Alexanders of yore while the cars whizz by right under their noses. The results are nothing short of thrilling, and the photos feel just as vintage as the cars they are capturing. See the whole photoset at Ian Wilson's picasa album.  Additional pics from last year can be found here.

Last but not least, here is some onboard footage from a prewar car, looking quite at home racing through the streets of this ancient town. It really feels like a step back in time!

All photos: Ian Wilson - AutoGraph racing

Hat tip to Off Camber

Elf Scan 22: Alpine Renault Formula 3

This amazing shot of Patrick Depailler in action is our penultimate Elf Scan. Notice the faint whiff of blue smoke from his right front tire, which is juuuust at the threshold point of lockup! Click to enlarge this awesome shot!Obviously, the Alpine team was more well known for their A110 Rally program as well as their assaults on Le Mans in their own sports prototypes. But under the generous financial umbrella of Renault, Alpine also ran a successful Formula 3 program throughout the mid to late 1960s.  Alpine eventually even designed and constructed a Formula 1 car, but sadly it never raced.

Elf Scan 18: Jean-Claude Andruet in his A110

Elf Scan 15: Jean Vinatier and his Alpine A110

Note the driving mocassins!

Elf Scan 13: Jean-Pierre Jabouille

Jean-Pierre Jabouille started his racing career in the Renault 8 Gordini single-make series.  After a promising start, he scraped enough cash together to purchase a Brabham Formula 3 car, and was the only independent entry to qualify for that year's Monaco F3 race. After varied success he joined the Alpine team, racing for then in F3, F2 as well as sports cars.  When this photo was taken, his glory days in F1 and Le Mans racing were still ahead of him.  He is still with us today, and was more recently head of Peugeot Sport before starting his own racing team.