It took exactly 66.658 seconds to produce the contents of this book. If you add up the exposure time of all 320 photos shown, you get little more than a minute. However, if you add in the breaks between shots, the development of the images, the flights from race to race and a few hours of sleep, you end up with a total of 72 years.
Since 1950, Josef "Katastrophen-Sepp" Reinhard has not only photographed traffic accidents, which earned him his nickname, but also car races. His son Daniel, who took over from his father in 1979, has now published a book entitled "Inside Formula 1 - A motorsport journey through time - 1950 to today", which brings together the best pictures and stories from 72 years of Reinhard racing photography.
Previously unpublished contemporary documents
However, the title "Inside Formula 1" is a little misleading at first. Not because of its somewhat peculiar bilingualism, but because the work is not just about the premier class on four wheels. Living up to the "motorsport journey through time" advertised in the subtitle, the two Reinhards present themselves here as "full-spectrum experts" from the hill climbs of the 1950s to rallying and modern Formula E. Even the motorcycle races of the Hailwood era are briefly touched on.
As Reinhard has drawn exclusively from his own archive, his book does not contain the usual photos that are already familiar from other motorsport chronicles. And that's a good thing, because we've seen Hans Herrmann being thrown out of his BRM on the Avus in 1959 many times before. A personal letter of thanks from Herrmann to a photographer, on the other hand, is a rarer sight. The result is a very personal, unfamiliar and sometimes unusual view of the well-known events of motor racing - from the 1000-kilometer race in Monza to Ayrton Senna's death, always from the perspective of the same two photographers.
Of course, the majority of the photos are black and white. The closer a race is to the present day, the higher the proportion of color photos. It is therefore all the more remarkable that a few of the few color photos that are over 50 years old are as sharp and true to color as if they had been taken only yesterday.
Beautiful stories in no particular order
The pictures are accompanied by the story of how they were taken, i.e. how Reinhard chose his position on the route, what motif he had hoped for and how things ultimately turned out quite differently. Apart from that, there is room for little stories such as the search for ORF reception with a VW K70 in the mountains, the supposed "Mercedes mechanic" Josef Reinhard or the Italian doctor Dr. Ferrari. Reinhard even has an anecdote about Walter Röhrl, who has almost been quoted to death in car and motorsport culture, that you have never heard or read before.
Photos and stories are not sorted chronologically, but grouped into topics such as tire damage, race start or flying sparks. In addition to the action on the track, the Reinhards always had an eye for supposed trivialities such as the pilots' eyes, their helmets or - a professional group that is often neglected - the marshals.
However, there is no logic to the order of the individual chapters. Or are naked breasts really more important to a motorsport fan than glowing exhaust manifolds? So if you want to find something quickly, you should memorize the page number or at least the name of the chapter the first time you turn the page. Only death comes, how could it be otherwise, at the end.
Conclusion
You will look in vain for race results, statistics or even telemetry in Reinhard's book. It lives solely from and solely for its great, partly previously unpublished photos and the short but consistently readable and amusing stories. This means that "Inside Formula 1 - A motorsport journey through time - 1950 to today" is not a reference book for studying Formula 1, but a picture book for racing enthusiasts and nostalgics who are inspired by the McLaren M3A against a monumental mountain backdrop, even without results lists. However, this does not mean that there is nothing for the historian to discover in the pictures, which have been kept under lock and key for 72 years.
"Inside Formula 1" is now available from us, GeraMond-Verlag and bookshops for 59 euros or 79 Swiss francs. A second part is already planned.
Bibliographical details
- Title: Inside Formula 1 - A motorsport journey through time - 1950 to today
- Authors: Daniel Reinhard (text), Daniel Reinhard and Josef Reinhard (photos)
- Languages: German
- Publisher: GeraMond
- Edition: 1st edition January 2022
- Format: Hardcover, 26.8 x 28.9 cm
- Size: 288 pages, around 320 pictures
- ISBN: 978-3-96453-086-8
- Price: EUR 75.00 / CHF 79.00
- Buy/order: Directly in the Zwischengas store or in relevant bookstores
