Preserving motorsport history

I’m passionate about preserving images of the history of motorsport, especially in South Africa – which lacks the museums, events and resources of countries where preserving the past is valued.

This is what prompted me to start digitising my own extensive collection of slides (transparencies). Storage was becoming a problem and the condition of my slides was deteriorating. I bought a good scanner and converted all my slides to digital format. Fortunately I had referenced them well.

Browsing a British historic racing website, I saw some pen portraits of Southern African drivers but no accompanying photos. I sent some photos, which were added to the site. These were seen by a Zimbabwean geologist working in the Middle East, who came to see me while on a short visit to South Africa, and left me with an order to print him more than 100 images.

This brought me round to my wife Marina’s view that my collection not only had historical value, but would be an opportunity to turn my passion into a retirement project. And so www.motoprint.co.za was born.

David Pearson