Race Face
By Jeremy Braithwaite
The Grand Prix Historique de Monaco is renowned as being the historic race meeting in the world. The cars are iconic, the drivers enthusiastic, and the circuit—well, what can you say about the Monaco circuit? It is also a racecourse where a photographer can really get up close and personal with the cars and drivers when they are competing. As Australian photographer/publisher Jeremy Braithwaite says in his intro, “Here you can see the drivers at work, especially in the more open cockpits and you can clearly see their eyes. The eyes are very expressive. They give you a real insight into the driver.…” Hence the title “Race Face.”
This extra large format book, which will just fit on your coffee table, is a collection of high-definition photos from the 2008 Grand Prix Historique de Monaco. Its 174 pages are divided into the classes that competed, including pre-1947 GP cars, pre-1961 sports cars, pre-1966 3-liter GP cars, and so on. The book is not intended to be a blow-by-blow description of the race meeting, but more of a pictorial history of this magnificent event. And magnificent the photos certainly are. Taken with a Canon EOS 5D camera with a 400-mm lens, the detail is stunning and a joy to true believers of historic motor sport. Each car, at the meeting, is featured, with marques including Alfa, Bugatti, Connaught, Gordini, Lola, Stanguellini, and Veritas. I just love the photo of the 1949 Skoda 1101 Sport.
Printed in Australia, Race Face is also available in a Gold Edition, which is limited to just 350 signed and numbered copies. The Gold Edition is bound in red leather with gold lettering and is printed on heavier 250-gsm paper and is priced at Aus$495.00. One copy of the Gold Edition corresponding to their race number is reserved for each entrant, with the remaining 133 copies made available for sale. In total, there have been 1,000 copies printed, with the remaining 650 Silver Edition printed on lighter weight paper and bound in black cloth with silver lettering. Race Face is available either direct from the publisher at http://j2bpublishing.com/index_ files/Ordering.htm or from Enthusiasts Books in the United States via http://j2bpublishing.com/index_ files/Stockists.htm
