McKlein Photography

Reinhard Klein started photographing circuit racing in the mid-1970s as a motorsport fan whilst studying at university. In 1975 he went to his first rally, hitch-hiking from Cologne to see the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Immediately he realised he was more a rally than a racing man and preferred to be out in the mountains by himself rather than locked between guard rails and fences. In 1977 he covered most of the WRC season and the following year saw the first of many trips to his beloved Kenya for the Safari rally. Nothing was too extreme for Reinhard, events like the Hong-Beijing rally and the South American marathon, which was 30,000km and five weeks long, typifying his spirit. A master of his art, he spent a lot of time before each event to recce stages, asses the light conditions and access roads in order to be ahead of the opposition. In 1990 he bought himself a Group B MG Metro 6R4 and in the decades following he created the Slowly Sideways movement where collectors of historic rally cars can drive them outside the seriousness of competition, but still on special stages suited to them. Reinhard Klein is very much the complete ‘Rally-man’.

Colin was born into a family passionate about motorsport, his grandfather was a well known Irish journalist and his father competed successfully on motorcycles. It was four wheels rather than two that interested Colin and, with no desire to compete, his passion for photography paved the way into a motorsport career that has spanned four decades. Learning his trade at the UK racetracks he progressed to full-time coverage of F1 Grands Prix before a chance meeting with Colin McRae in 1993 opened the door to the World Rally Championship. Having attended nearly 400 WRC rallies his love of the sport, past, present and future, remains.