Le Mans classic 2014 -final part

The final batch of photos from the 2014 LMC.A sea of red outside the works Ferrari display.A through the wire shot to convey the difficulty of getting action shots through the catch fencing.A real barn find with real patina - and look at the superb Norton behind it.

Three wonderful British classics.-a bulldog trio.Cars entering the infield display area.There were thousands of them and such a variety.A gorgeous Alfa TZ and as a final shot a 911 speeding through Tetra Rouge and onto the Mulsanne Straight at dawn.Lucky bastard.

Another rainy day in Paris....

Here are the second batch of my  photos taken on a rainy week in Paris three weeks ago.Paris was surprisingly photogenic in the rain.Perhaps even more photogenic than usual.

Lancia Appia GTZ-a very rare jewel

One of the great things about the Le Mans Classic is the huge number of classic cars driven to the event by enthusiasts from all over Europe.We even saw 15 Porsches from Porsche Club Poland on their way to the event and that is a long drive.
And for absolute rarity how about this Lancia Appia GTZ we spotted in the very wet car park of the UMarche supermarket
just down the road from the circuit on the Saturday morning?
The Lancia Appia was a small saloon made by Lancia in the 1950's.The GTZ was a Zagato bodied version made in very small numbers in 1957.Sources say that only 39 GTZs were made.So this one is as rare as the proverbial rocking horse droppings.The GTZ was followed by the GTE which had a slightly different body style and was made in much greater numbers.
The great thing about the car I saw is that it is in such original condition and the owner was not being precious about it.And such marvellous detailing and the distinctive Zagato roofline humps-Zagato's "trademark" feature.
Another reason to go to the Le Mans Classic 2016.You'll see cars you've never heard of -yet alone seen before.
When I googled the Appia GTZ I found quite a few photos of this particular car so it does not hide its light under a bushel and is obviously well known in Lancia enthusiast circles.

A rainy day in Paris.......

Well I certainly experienced a rainy day in Paris two weeks ago.In fact I experienced a whole week of them.But you can't fix the weather so I did the smart thing -saw as many exhibitions as possible and picked up my camera and took photos in the rain.All taken on the Leica X1 and converted to black and white with Silver Efex Pro2.
Lately I have been less enthusiastic about all the black and white photography being produced everywhere but I reckon it works for these gloomy shots.
The Eiffel Tower photo is from my hotel window.Not actually the view from the window-it's the view you got if you leaned right out of the window and looked to your right...

Le Mans Classic 2014-part 3

It seems a little trite to be putting up more Le Mans Classic photos after the horrific events of the last few days .Some readers have made the observation that it seems to have rained for the whole event going by my photos.Well they are a bit misleading in that the Friday,practice and set up day,was very hot and sunny but I restricted my photo taking that day as conditions were very contrasty and far from ideal for photography.Little did I know that bright sunshine was going to be in short supply on the Saturday and Sunday although the afternoon and evening/night on the Saturday were dry and most of the racing until Sunday morning was not rain affected.I actually think that the rain shots have more atmosphere than most of my Classic Le Mans shots-from this and previous years.