You were there

This month our series of photos taken by you features Long Beach, Can-Am at Riverside, and damaged Mirages

This atmospheric shot was taken by Stephan Pattengale during the 1977 grand prix at Long Beach. “I had recently moved to southern California and, as a lifelong motor racing fan, was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to attend an F1 race just a short drive away. Early Friday morning I arrived at the pre-grid hoping to merely catch my first glimpse of those extraordinary cars. This shot was taken during the race at the Queen’s Hairpin at the end of the Shoreline Drive straight, most of which was a very long, shallow, sweeping curve. Mario Andretti is shown leading Niki Lauda. Crowd favourite Andretti won, with Lauda second.”

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“I watched my first-ever rally in Grizedale forest in Cumbria — the 1973 RAC.” recalls Norman Hayes. “I had been watching circuit racing since ’55 and was lured into the stages by a friend: I didn’t miss an RAC Rally until 2003 when I decided everything had changed for the worse in terms of viewing the rally: we were restricted to certain areas and were not allowed to wander the forests of Wales as I had always done. These days I still watch national rallies as they’re more relaxed than international ones.

“Looking at these photographs from the 1973 event, I shudder to think how l crouched down below ground level to take them; the cars are almost on top of me and I’m looking into the eyes of the driver. It was good to get such shots through my 200mm telephoto lens.”

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A disparate array of shots here from the Don Coles collection: I was introduced to motor racing at Goodwood in the early 1950s by the journalist Tommy Wisdom and his wife Elsie. and have attended all forms of events since.”

With a keen eye for behind-the-scenes images, Coles snapped many of the stars of the last 40 years but now limits himself to select outings: “During the 1970s and ’80s I gained photographer accreditation from the RAC MSA and covered the British GP from 1972 to ’88: many of my framed display panels are in the Kentagon at Brands Hatch, the RAC MSA at Colnbrook, and the administrative offices at Silverstone. In 1984 I had the good fortune to take part in the Mille Miglia with a friend in his Talbot 105 Brooklands. Since moving to Lymington I limit myself to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood.”

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A cracking selection of shots courtesy of Norbert Vogel taken in October 1982 at Riverside: “The occasion was the penultimate round of that year’s Can-Am series. The main event was won by Al Holbert in a VDS-001, while second place went to a very young Al Unser Jnr in the Galles GR3 (a renamed Frisbee), a similar car being driven to fourth place by Geoff Brabham. In the Super Vee event an equally youthful Michael Andretti in an Arciero-entered Ralt RT5 was the man to beat.

“One of the curtain-raisers was a ‘Classic Can-Am’ race which featured an interesting if motley line-up of cars including two Mirages. Remember, this was 1982, the year the M12 made its fruitless foray to Le Mans, so it could hardly qualify as a ‘classic’. It won hands down.”