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Tag Archive for Momo Moretti

Living The Dream

January 16, 2012 John Brooks Obituary, Real Men

Very 'appy

Back in late 1997 I decided to leave work and go motor racing. I would earn a crust as a photographer, well it should be easy enough, look at all the guys in F1, driving flash cars and living in big houses.

In common with most snappers of the time I was technologically illiterate and failed to see the massive iceberg on the horizon, the cheap DSLR. Sure there were some strange contraptions around that were “digital” but they cost a year’s salary and produced tiny images, OK for the Fleet Street Boys but not for us artists. Kodachrome and Velvia were our weapons of choice. It proved to be taking a knife to a gun fight. Since then Titanic-like we have sailed at full pelt into this object, wrecking our businesses in the process. It was going to be great, no more loading or buying film, no more processing, no more chemicals, no more screwed up shots. It was all going to be easy.

Well that bit we got right, but the law of unintended consequences also followed. If it got easier for us, then the same would apply to those who wished to enjoy the hero status of being a professional motorsport photographer, now you struggle to give work away.

Red On Green

But at least we are living the dream.

Momo

My first race as a full time Pro was the 1998 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. It seemed a great adventure at the time, my costs paid for by the charming Laurence Pearce of Lister Cars fame. I thought that this was how it was going to be, travelling around at someone else’s expense, shooting race cars and getting paid for it. What a fool believes……………….

Keep The Flame Burning

The winner of that race in Florida was one Gianpiero Moretti, who owned the fabulous Ferrari 333SP that he drove to victory with Mauro Baldi, Arie Luyendyk and Didier Theys. “Momo” had chased success over many years in IMSA and 1998 he won the Big Three, Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen. Not bad for a guy in his late-50′s.

The news came down the Mojo wire at the weekend that Moretti had passed away, another good man gone. Living The Dream…….some get to do it better than others…………Rest In Peace, Momo.

John Brooks, January 2011

No comments Daytona, Ferrari 333SP, Le Mans, Momo Moretti

Time Machine

September 3, 2011 John Brooks Nostalgia, Real Men

It is held that the past is a foreign land, once visited, but one that we are destined never to return to. Well, that may be true but sometimes, in special circumstances, we can bring the past to us in the here and now.

"He was the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1" Niki Lauda on Gilles Villeneuve

It is hard to imagine that Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton will be racing on Italy’s roads in late October but some 30 years ago that is what happened. Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari’s Grand Prix star and runner up to Jody Scheckter in the 1979 F1 World Championship took part in the Giro d’Italia that autumn.

Gilles..............

The Giro d’Italia was a madhouse event, part rally, part race held on the roads and tracks of Italy from 1973 to 1980.

I'll have mustard with that.........

Italy will be celebrating 150 years of unification in 2011, so some bright spark had the idea of reviving the Giro to add to the nation’s gaiety. How inspired. I am planning to cover the event when it happens in late October.

So when the organisers of the 2011 event put out a series of photos from the 1979 and 1980 events it seemed a good excuse to run some Group 5 goodness.

Villeneuve’s co-drivers on the 1979 event were Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdöfer, here enjoying 70′s style hospitality.

Stratos

The star trio finished top of the pile in their Lancia but were later disqualified, the reason I am informed, is driving on a motorway!

Group 5 Madness

Also disqualified was the other factory Lancia, which finished second on the road.

Lancia Battle

Here is the Lancia on one of the circuits.

Patrese and Son

The second car was driven by Riccardo Patrese.

Patrese was driving for Arrows in F1 that year.

Now Maximum Attack

His co-drivers were Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki, the reigning World Rally Drivers Champion.

The Serious Bit

The Lancias were the class of the field.

Momo

After the exclusion of the Italian pair, victory fell to that great expat Italian in US Sportscar racing, Giampiero Moretti.

935 K3

Moretti was accompanied in Italy by Giorgio Schon and Emilio Radaelli (ITA) in his Porsche 935 TT biturbo. He is famous for winning the 1998 Daytona 24 Hours and, of course, was founder of the Momo brand of racing accessories.