Gasoline & Magic

by Hilar Stadler & Martin Stollenwerk

Everything about them is cool the baby-blue Porsche 917s, the Chevy Camaros, the striped overalls, the women in thick eyeliner and bell-bottoms, the girls in crocheted bikinis at the finishing line. Taken by amateur photographers the world over, most never before published, the photographs in Gasoline and Magic were selected from the archives of Swiss filmmaker and collector Thomas Horat. Together they tell the story of the evolution of motorcar racing from the 1950s with such heroes as Gonzalez and Moss to the turbocharged chaos of the 1980s. While the amateurism is tangible, careful thought has gone into the composition of these photos, and the result is fascinating. Pop culture buffs and racing car enthusiasts who love the sport with their heart and soul will delight in this publication published to coincide with the eponymous exhibition at the Museum Belpark Kriens, Switzerland.

Hilar Stadler is director of "Museum im Bellpark" in Kriens, near Lucerne, Switzerland.

Hardcover | 288 pages