PAST IMPERFECT: BOB MONTGOMERY:A treasure trove of the 1950s Irish motorsport photographs of Martyn Wainwright
IN 1948, MARTYN Wainwright's parents sent him to Trinity College, Dublin, to read law.
Two years later, he had managed to convince his father that law was not for him, and changed courses. Finding that he now had quite an amount of time on his hands Wainwright joined the College Photographic Club with the result that "as the members were a group of true enthusiasts who were doing some very good work, I went again the following week, and that was it, a life-long interest was born".
Soon afterwards, he went to a lecture by the late Maxwell Boyd and discovered that he had a freelance job writing and illustrating articles on Irish motorsport for Motoring Life magazine.
Having already a growing interest in cars and motoring, Wainwright soon found himself acting as Maxwell's assistant, and taking photographs of Irish motorsport all over Ireland.
The major international events in Ireland in the early 1950s were the Tourist Trophy race for sports cars, and the Ulster Trophy for Grand Prix cars - both held on the fearsomely fast Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland.
To cover these events adequately required two people and, very generously, because Motoring Life never had any funds, Maxwell Boyd split his fees with Wainwright.
From the start Wainwright, although monochrome photos were required for the magazine report, also found time to shoot some colour photographs at most events. It is some of these photographs which have found their way into a recent handsome publication called 1950s Motorsport in Colour. The result is a stunning and rare glimpse in colour of several Irish events, as well as events at Goodwood, Prescott Hillclimb, Brands Hatch and Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb.
The Irish events covered are the Dundrod Tourist Trophy races of 1954 and 1955, as well as a hillclimb at Lisdoonvarna in June 1955. In particular, the photographs taken at the Lisdoonvara Hillclimb truly capture an all but forgotten era in Irish motorsport, when enthusiasts drove their road cars to the track and raced in shirt-sleeves - all well portrayed by the choice of photographs in this book.
One slight criticism is the lack of any detail to the captions accompanying the Lisdoonvarna chapter, something that could be easily corrected should this book find its way into a second edition at some future date.
Shortly after Wainwright began working with him, Maxwell Boyd left Ireland to work as motoring correspondent for the Sunday Times.
Wainwright took over his role at Motoring Life, covering many race meetings for the magazine in 1954 and 1955 before his day job and family commitments brought to an end this professional part of his photographic career. After 1955, the only race meetings covered were events at Goodwood, which were attended while on holiday.
Some time around 1960, the colour slides from which these photographs were taken were put away in a drawer, and forgotten until they were rediscovered around about 1998. Thankfully, they survived and today provide a unique record of these Irish events.
• '1950s Motor Sport in Colour' is published by Veloce Publishing (ISBN 1-904788-15-7).