British photographer Jon Nicholson was embedded with some of motorsport’s legendary teams including Ferrari, McLaren, Stewart and Williams.

His archive includes photographs from the tragic weekend at Imola in May 1994 including his haunting image of Ayrton Senna taken at the San Marino Grand Prix just hours before his passing, plus previously unpublished contact sheets documenting Senna and teammate Damon Hill deep in discussion with engineers ahead of the fateful race.

Nicholson’s images feature in a new book and upcoming London exhibition. Macchina is an exquisite, limited-edition, hand-crafted volume of Nicholson finest photography, documenting the people and passion of motor sport. It is published in late April by Fyshe.

The book’s release will coincide with an exhibition of the same name at Aperture Gallery in London W1, opening in May, when Nicholson will release a 30th anniversary signed, limited-edition print of his famed final photograph of Ayrton Senna, taken just hours before his death at Imola in 1994.

Jon Nicholson on Ayrton Senna

“Ayrton Senna. Well what can I say, it’s all be said, gone through with a fine-tooth comb. During the winter of 1993 I started working on a book I was to produce with Damon Hill. It was going to be all about his 1994 season, racing with the all-time great Ayrton Senna. Damon and I watched on like small children as Ayrton went about his duties within Williams GP team and his personal business. Damon and I would come back from eating dinner (we were at Paul Ricard in the south of France) to see Ayrton in his car drowning in faxes. He was non-stop.

“Over those few months before the start of that season Ayrton would chat with me and was interested in the work that Damon and I were doing. The team was very close and it was the most amazing experience to be part of such a huge set up like this.

“On the Thursday of that weekend when we all arrived at the circuit, Ayrton handed me an envelope saying have a read and let me know on Sunday night what you think. It was an invitation to do some work with him too…

“We all know what happened that weekend in Imola, but for me as a close observer it was just awful and still lingers in my mind to this day. This Image of Ayrton sat in a filing cabinet for 24 years. I came across it by chance whilst looking for something completely different.

“I was standing in the middle of the garage and turned to watch him put his helmet on before he left the garage for the first session on Saturday morning. I took the picture, not so special at the time, but 30 years later I can’t help but notice how incredibly poignant it is. The look on his face against the white wall of the garage tells such a story.”

The Macchina book

As Christopher Nurse writes in the book’s foreword; “At its heart Macchina is about human endeavour: people striving to excel and achieve something of significance through the application of knowledge, skill, ingenuity and willpower.”

Macchina features images of road trips on two-lane blacktops crossing the deserts of the USA, stock-car racing in Tonopah, Nevada (passing through Goldfield, home to the blind DJ ‘Super Soul’ from the 1971 film Vanishing Point), speed trials on the dry lakes in Utah, drag racing in Southern California, NASCAR racing in South Carolina, the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, a hill climb in the UK, races involving historic machinery around the ramparts of Angoulême and the streets of Monaco, the iconic race around the clock at Le Mans, and of course the incomparable Formula One.

During his career Nicholson has been granted unprecedented access to leading personalities and events, however his focus as a photographer is never merely on the personalities themselves, but how people prepare for their gladiatorial moments.

Nicholson comments, “In the process I’ve met people whose raw passion for the automobile and motor racing is second to none: people who travel the world in search of the perfect drive, be it in a straight line, around a dirt oval or on a modern Grand Prix circuit. I’ve met some who give everything they have just to race at the weekend, working hard and then even harder on their car just to go that little bit quicker. The stories behind their love of racing resonate with me. I admire people who never waver from their goals and I share their passion and commitment.”

Macchina chronicles the freedom, excitement, teamwork and poetic essence at the heart of this unique sport. These are the atmospheric images that take you behind the scenes into every aspect of the world of motor sports, from the raw, grass roots energy of banger racing to the spectacular verve and passion of Grand Prix. As such, Macchina is a fascinating social commentary as well as a unique photographic journey.

The book features insightful accompanying text by writer and former Guardian chief sports journalist Richard Williams, and an introduction by Jon Nicholson, the book is beautifully crafted in Florence and released as a numbered, limited-edition of just 1000, signed by Nicholson.

The Macchina book is available to pre-order via www.fyshe.com from April.
Jon Nicholson’s Ayrton Senna 30th anniversary limited edition print is an edition of 30 prints, 20″ x 16″ at £2,250 available from May 2024 via Aperture Gallery in London.