Throughout this past year, I’ve continued my Friday tradition of going shopping at three local farm shops. The pandemic allowed me to carry on doing this, so every week I go out in Big Red, we do our shopping and we get out and about. I’ve used her more in the past year than any year before, and I’ve really had to think about the admin side of owning her! How many miles am I allowed to do on my insurance, do I have all the right things – tax, MOT – in place at the right time?

I still MOT her, even though I don’t need to. Clive at Paxford Motors does my MOT for me; he advises me, and I’m happy to listen. I’m no mechanical expert, I only know about the one car, but I can make an educated guess if someone brings me a question!

The other person who helps me look after Big Red is Adrian Wynn, my go-to historic vehicle restorer. He helped with the restoration on Big Red and he does a lot with the Dunsfold collection, the largest collection of Land Rovers in the world.

“Something from nothing is how I’ve always thought about everything”

When I was growing up, my parents had a shop just off Oxford street making theatre costumes and wedding dresses. I was always surrounded by and participating in the making of things, for me it was a very clear and simple thought. A dress needs to be made – a car needs to be made, a book needs to be made, a photo needs to be printed. Starting from nothing, something from nothing is how I’ve always thought about everything. Somebody has to make it – and who is that person?

Making Big Red work was one of my something from nothings. But there’s so much more than just a restoration, and then you’re done. Restoring the car taught me to look after her while I’m using her.

Not long afterwards, I was invited to Spa 6 Hours as a photographer, and I met some people who were happy to take me out on the track. It was a completely different driving experience – you don’t go up to 80mph, you start at 80mph and you’re sometimes taking corners at 110mph!

After that I was hooked, I went and got my motor racing licence. I’ve only actually raced three times, in a Renault Clio, a Golf, and an MG Midget. I’d love to do more – especially hill climbs and sprints, where you’re racing against yourself, which is less stressful. I’ve also marshalled, which is an essential part of getting your racing licence. You learn the other side of motorsport – the flags, the etiquette and responses.

“I love the theatre of the pit lane”

Getting into motorsport photography has been an interesting experience because primarily I’m a portrait photographer. The longest camera lens I use is 75mm, which is not very long – I’m not going to get the best trackside images that people get with their big zoom lenses. It’s not in my desire to have that kind of kit; I prefer the more intimate portrait style. So why go to a motor race? For me, the pit lane is my theatre – I love theatre and performance, and the pit lane has it in spades.

My book Through the Night came about because of my work with Leica cameras, for whom I’m now an ambassador. Years back when digital cameras were coming in and film was being discarded, I came across a fantastic Leica camera kit with this heavy lens called a Noctilux, which was for night photography. I knew it would be a great theatre lens, but what I didn’t realise was that it would be great for night time motorsport.

You need patience in the pit lane; the cars come in for 3-5 seconds and then they’re gone again for two hours. I photographed the work that went on behind the scenes – it was like being backstage at the theatre. Hardly any other photographers would cover the events at night, and I could get these unique shots that new digital cameras couldn’t.

I met Rauno Aaltonen, one of the ‘Flying Finns’ of rallying in the 1960s and ‘70s, at 3am in a parking lot in Valence, a stage just before Monte Carlo during the 2011 Monte Carlo historic rally. I was using my Noctilux lens, and all these night shots ended up being part of an exhibition for which I produced the Through the Night photo book.

“Without racing you don’t get road car”

I love going backwards to look at the present. Without racing, you don’t get road car – the developments made for the track find their way down to the rest of us. There’s a reason that road cars are tested on tracks, and even a manufacturer like Land Rover who might not race, will still test their cars for endurance.

And then with the history of motorsport there’s the society angle – Cecil Beaton and Madame Yevonde both photographed these debutantes who were part of the ‘bright young things’ – they had cars in their garages and were racing at Goodwood and Brooklands. And when you dig you find all these women who were instrumental in developing not just motor racing, but road cars too. There are plenty of examples: the rear-view mirror and the windscreen (Dorothy Levitt), the glove compartment (Kaye Petre), and the Tulips road map (Madame Junek).

On the trail of women in motorsport

After that first Goodwood Revival, and as I looked deeper into the history of motorsport, I started to research historic women racing drivers. I was photographing contemporary women in motorsport, too; Katarina Kyvalova, rally driver and historic car collector; Pia Bianci, who both races cars and flies planes; Maria Costello MBE, a British motorcycle racer. There are more women in motorsport than people realise, and there always have been, right back to the 1920s and ‘30s.

I’ve been privileged to commentate for several years at Prescott for the annual VSCC (Vintage Sports Car Club) August meeting. At lunchtime, when the drivers take a break, my fellow commentator Nicholas Upton and I do a 45-minute session on ‘fast ladies’, historic women in motorsport. I’ve also participated in the inaugural virtual Bugatti day in 2020 with the Bugatti Trust, and Nicholas and I created a video about fast Bugatti ladies.

We’re delighted to announce that Lara will be writing a feature series on women in motorsport for us through this year. In the first of the series, Lara will write about Helle Nice – The Bugatti Queen, a story of a remarkable fast lady whose life was as racy off the circuit as it was on.

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Lara Platman is a photojournalist, author and photo consultant and has photographed motor racing for 15+ years. Lara is the author of four books, Art Workers Guild, 125 Years, Through the night – the passion of motorsport, Spirit of Place, the distilleries of Scotland and Harris Tweed, from land to street.

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