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Archive: photography - Formula 1 - FISA-FOCA war Nature appeal - July 17, 1982 |
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Brands Hatch 18th July 1982 was the 10th round of the world Championship and in the build up to the race there was still no communication between the two governing powers of F1, Bernie Ecclestone and Jean-Marie Balestre, other than through press releases. The fourth round had seen only 14 cars racing after a boycott by many teams and a repeat was not excluded. And no photo opportunities. The Sunday morning papers had only pictures of the Williams-Ford of Keke Rosberg in pole position. The previous day, Saturday 17th, I was wandering in the paddocks with my cameras when I had to answer an extremely urgent call of nature. At the antiquated Brands Hatch there was still space for such natural matters…and for much more. This ‘space' happened to be behind a tyre truck and here was also taking place an extraordinary meeting of the F1 council. Bernie and JMB had escaped the attention of all the press to talk together in the camera free zone. I had to do what I had come to do but was also able to shoot a record of the unique secret talks some 10-12 metres away using a medium size lens. |
But no photo to be seen! Well, in the analogue era the film had to travel a long way before a picture could be printed and delivered to the press desk. The shot was used the following week by the Swiss Edition Ringier in Switzerland and many times more in following years. Brands Hatch and Paddock Hill Bend (the complete bend) has disappeared from the F1 calendar for a long time now and so have the instances of creativity with singularities such as mocking an F1 council meeting, all of us in a state of great urgency.
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