In Frame: Reinhard Klein

This article first appeared in The speedarticle Post 005

Who is Reinhard Klein?

Reinhard Klein is one of the definitive photographers of world rallying, having chased the sport from stage to stage since the mid-1970s when he hitch-hiked from Cologne to his first Rallye Monte-Carlo and never looked back. Over the next five decades he shot every era of the WRC, from the Group B years to the modern hybrids, building an archive that has become the visual record of the sport itself. His work anchors the McKlein Publishing catalogue and has defined how generations of enthusiasts picture rallying at its wildest.

The following is Reinhard Klein's account of how he captured this photograph during the 1986 Rallye Monte Carlo.

"January 1986, Rallye Monte Carlo. The most iconic rally in the world, and a moment when the sport stood at the height of its popularity. No fewer than five manufacturers, more than ever before, arrived with four-wheel-drive supercars. Names like the Lancia Delta S4, Peugeot 205 T16, Audi Quattro and MG Metro 6R4 still sound like music to the ears of car enthusiasts. The stages drew the biggest crowds the event had ever seen, though not everywhere.

The special stage from Le Mas to Vascogne in southern France was run from west to east for the first time in 1985, and the road led past the village of Aiglun over the Aiglun Bridge, with a tunnel on either side. Naturally, we photographers had scouted this visual gem before the rally, and the photos were first-class, although it was very dangerous to stand by the roadside there: a rockface rose on the left, and on the right a low stone wall gave way to a 100-metre drop into the gorge and certain death should you fall.

In 1986, we were lucky that the rally was passing through there again, and at just the right time of day. Because the sun sat low in the sky in January, the light only fell directly into the gorge around 1 pm, illuminating it brilliantly. So that meant heading back. There was no access road into the small village of Aiglun once the stage was closed, and it was too far to walk in, so I had to get there early, before the road was shut to normal cars. Then I parked in Aiglun and could only leave hours later, after the last rally participant had passed. That meant this was the only possible spot for photos that day, but it was worth it.

Back in 1985, I'd already noticed that after the gorge, the road climbed through two hairpin bends, and if you scrambled up the rocks at the second, upper hairpin and then over the next ridge, you should be able to see the whole series of bends carved into the rock, lit perfectly by the sunshine from above. So, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I quickly put on my climbing boots, strapped the camera to my back so it wouldn't fall off, stowed the lenses in my coat, and off I went, partly on all fours along the steep slope to the spot I had in mind. The plan worked. The view was sensational, and there I sat, all alone on a rock in the mild sunshine, listening to and watching the craziest cars in rally history tearing through the gorge."

-Reinhard Klein