Classic Formula 1 Calendar 2013

by Paul-Henri Cahier

By starting this 13-month wall calendar with December 2012 it gives you a good reason to get a head start! Its 16.625 x 10.75” format is pretty standard so if you already have a faded spot on the wall, this calendar will fit right in it.

The photos are by Cahier père et fils. The former, Bernhard, is of course no longer with us (1927–2008) but his son, Paul-Henri (b. 1952) is still at it. Their combined archive numbers in the hundreds of thousands of images and other artifacts and is the only collection to still be in family hands. Bernard approached his photography primarily as a reporter whereas Paul-Henri has a more artistic approach. In this calendar you can actually tell that difference just by looking at the composition/framing of the images.

All photos here are in color, the oldest one from 1953 and the newest from 1988. The list below shows the photographer’s initials at the end:

  • 1978 Monaco GP, Mario Andretti in a Lotus 79 – BC
  • 1953 French GP, Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari 500 – BC
  • 1985 Dutch GP, Alain Prost in a McLaren MP4/2B – PHC
  • 1966 Dutch GP, Jack Brabham in a Brabham BT19 – BC
  • 1983 Dutch GP, Nelson Piquet in a Brabham BT19 – PHC
  • 1988 Monaco GP, Ayrton Senna in a McLaren MP4/4 – PHC
  • 1965 Dutch GP, Jim Clark in Lotus 33 – BC
  • 1961 German GP, Phil Hill in a Ferrari Dino 156 – BC
  • 1976 Spanish GP, James Hunt in a McLaren M23 – PHC
  • 1957 French GP, Juan Manuel Fangio in a Maserati 250F – BC
  • 1984 Brazilian GP, Niki Lauda in a McLaren MP4/2 – PHC
  • 1973 Monaco GP, Emerson Fittipaldi in a Lotus 72D – BC
  • 1969 Dutch GP, Jackie Stewart in a Matra MS80 – BC

Why these cars/drivers and in this random order is anyone’s guess. The bottom half of each folded-open month has the actual calendar (days of the month) and a photo caption listing the event, car, and driver with his basic stats. Now, a calendar is not a textbook but it seems a little more detail in the captions (see this publisher’s Pete Lyons calendar) would go a long way towards enticing new readers to develop an interest in F1, or photography. Nothing is said about the cars, the tracks, the context of the photos—a whole wealth of interesting, and tantalizing, information thus remains unexplored.

Except for a “Cahier Archive” slug the racing images are free of any other type and thus suitable for framing. (They will of course have a hole for wall-mounting at the top.)

It may be interesting to note that Bernard took up F1 photography the year his son was born, 1952 (that’s one way to get out of the house . . ). He co-founded the International Racing Press Association (IRPA) in 1968 and remained active both in photography and as public relations consultant for Goodyear in F1 well into the 1980s. American readers will, or should, know that Bernard came to the US after WWII and sold cars at a Los Angeles import-car dealership (Roger Barlow’s International Motors) alongside such future luminaries as Phil Hill and Ritchie Ginther.

 

Copyright 2012, Sabu Advani (speedreaders.info).

Classic Formula 1 Calendar 2013
by Paul-Henri Cahier
Octane Press (October 1, 2012)
24 pages, softcover
List Price: $29.99
ISBN-13: 978-1937747053

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