Photo essay | Where the spirit of motor racing’s golden years lives on

In his book ‘Macchina,’ British photographer Jon Nicholson pays tribute to those high-speed chases with a series of snapshots taken from Utah to San Marino

A hot rod at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, in 2022.Jon Nicholson

“I guess you could say that beyond collecting my photos in the world of F1 in the 1980s and 1990s and up to the 2000s, Macchina is a tribute to that world that is being lost with the arrival of the electric car: the old engines of a lifetime, Nascar, muscle cars,” says Jon Nicholson, the author of the photography book Macchina. “The kind of vehicle that, with some luck, you’ll soon be able to take out for a couple of hours on a Sunday because most people are no longer interested in them,”

Early morning during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2022, an endurance-focused sports car race. Jon Nicholson

“This project began as a collection of photographs, mostly in black and white, and ended up being a sort of homage, a tribute to that world in danger of extinction,” he continues.

Roy’s Motel, California, pictured in 2023.Jon Nicholson

To publish the volume, Nicholson partnered with Fyshe, an iconic brand in the field of motor racing. “Thanks to them, who took charge of the publication of the book, I was able to spend two years taking new photos and I can finally see the result. What have I learned along the way? That I want to make more books,” says Nicholson, laughing.

Attendees at the San Marino Grand Prix in 2022.Jon Nicholson
The Car Forest of Goldfield, Nevada (2023)Jon Nicholson
The Circuit des Remparts, in France (2022).Jon Nicholson

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