The award-winning team of Bernard Cahier and his son, Paul-Henri, have a collection of more than 15,000 photos covering Formula 1 since the ’50s available on their website, the Cahier Archive. All racing enthusiasts will be captivated by the variety of action, pit and personality photos in the collection; but, of course, we entered “engine” in the search function and were treated to hundreds of captivating images.
There are numerous closeups of some of the greatest racing engines ever developed, including Ferrari, Lotus, Honda and Maserati. These shots are from the times of innovation, experimentation and often failure. Seeing how these engines progressed along with advancements in chassis and suspension design is an added treat.
We’ve picked out a few of our favorite eye-catching examples, but there are scores more of just engines and thousands of amazing photos taken at all the classic tracks. For photography buffs, the website even details the camera equipment the Cahiers used throughout the their careers. Enthusiasts can purchase different-sized prints of these classic images for personal, decorative and publishing purposes. Most likely, however, you’ll be spending hours enjoying the history and technology of Formula 1.