Product successfully added to your shopping cart
Quantity
Total
Continue shopping Proceed to checkout
New product
Warning: Last items in stock!
Availability date:
| Location | Le Mans |
| Prints issue | LIMITED EDITION 30 prints ONLY |
| Shooting date | 14 june 1953 |
| Original picture | Negative |
| Era | 1858-1960 |
| Colors | Black&White |
| Collection | Endurance |
| New products | New works |
Motorsport Images has the largest motoring picture collection in the world. The archive houses approximately 18 million images of which in the region of half are black and white negatives and glass plates. The library is made up of images from the world of motor sport since it began and every conceivable road car since it's invention. This incredible archive is the result of the amalgamation of a number of previously separate archives, which are now housed under one roof.
Many of the images are published pictures from the magazines owned and bought by Haymarket over the years and the archive contains the original prints from the very first 'Autocar' issue published in 1895 right through to the present day issue. 'The Motor' archive contains more sporting images with black and white negatives, glass plate and acetate from 1924 - subjects include road cars, sprints, hill climbs, motor shows and Grands Prix.
The original Teesdale Company supplied pictures to 'MotorSport' magazine (founded in 1924) and Motoring News (founded in 1955) and has over 4 million black & white negatives of motor racing events from the 1920's through to the early 1990's. The first colour images appeared in the mid 1950's and 30 years of unpublished 35mm colour images remain in the LAT Black Books. LAT now supplies the Haymarket Media Group, commercial clients, the worldwide media and agencies with motor sport coverage from around the world from Formula 1 to karting.
The 'Autosport' archive contains images from the world's leading motorsport weekly. Since 1950 all aspects of motor racing from Formula 1, Le Mans and sports cars, rallying, single seaters and club racing have been photographed and archived in colour and black and white formats.
On his way to victory on June 14, 1953, Anthony Peter Roylance "Tony" Rolt chatted with his mechanics during a final pit stop for his Jaguar XK 120C 3441cc 6-cylinder. He had taken the lead very early, in the 7th hour, despite stiff competition for the overall win. But the Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, Lancias, and Talbots couldn't keep pace with the British sports cars. Only the American Cunninghams managed to do so, at least partially. It was undoubtedly the new disc brakes invented by Dunlop, exclusively for Jaguar, that gave the Coventry factory team a decisive advantage, despite having less power than many of their rivals. Thanks to this technology, braking distances were considerably reduced compared to cars equipped with drum brakes, and they were also less affected by heat.
Tony Rolt, who shared the Type-C with his friend Duncan Hamilton, began racing at a very young age and achieved his first major victory at 20, the British Empire Trophy, driving an ERA, before competing in the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix in 1950. In between, as a Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade, he was sent to France in the spring of 1940 to try and stem the advance of German troops. Captured in May at Calais, just before the Battle of Dunkirk, he was held in various prisoner-of-war camps where he became notorious for his numerous escape attempts, which led to his transfer in 1943 to Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, a fortress renowned for being inhospitable to escapers. Tony Rolt distinguished himself there by being involved in a famous and daring glider escape attempt.
At 35, as a Jaguar factory driver, he would achieve his greatest victory with Hamilton, outshining all the major manufacturers who had rushed to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race counting towards the brand-new World Sportscar Championship. Jaguar would finish the season just behind Ferrari!
