Private view

A ‘You Were There’ special
An evocative selection of monochrome snaps from the 1960s, originally developed and printed in the family bathroom…

Looking back, Roger Hoyle says it was inevitable that he would accumulate an archive of sorts. His father passed on a keen love of photography – initially via a hand-me-down folding camera – and this proved a perfect complement to another of his passions: motor racing. Roger completed a physics degree and spent his working life in thermo-optics. “Images,” he says, “have always fascinated me. I used to take a lot of paddock shots in the 1960s, but that was usually during practice because I could never afford the right pass on racedays!”

Moving on to a Praktica, with a 300mm lens (“possibly a Soligor”), Roger eventually settled on Canon as his brand of choice. He concentrated mainly on race events in southern Britain, notably Brands Hatch and Thruxton, but also rallied as a co-driver and was an active member of both the Sutton & Cheam Motor Club and Farnborough District Motor Club.

Nowadays, he follows the sport mainly from an armchair because he is “increasingly frustrated with Formula 1”, but he is also a voluntary educational ambassador for the Bloodhound SSC land-speed record project. “I visit schools and help with bespoke clubs,” he says, “to raise the profile of science and engineering and encourage more youngsters to join these professions.”