Six decades of great F1 drivers in Igor’s collection of pictures and autographs

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The pictures include some of F1's most dramatic moments

Remember I said I didn’t see the point of autographs? I take it all back. Have a look at these great pictures from Igor’s massive collection of F1 driver autographs.

From Vettel to Andretti, and Massa to Scheckter, his collection spans six decades of Formula 1 and mainly centres around Ferrari drivers, plus a few others including Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham.

He’s even got a picture of the infamous 1997 Schumacher-Villeneuve collision signed by both drivers, and one of the 1990 Senna-Prost clash with Prost’s autograph.

Igor explains:

I wrote to many retired Ferrari drivers. I send only best quality pictures, mostly 20 x 30cm and always add a nice personal letter.

With all responses I have and some really nice words from such legends like Dan Gurney, Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Chris Amon, and others. I truly believe that they enjoy this as much I or other collectors do.

Having autograph on a nice racing photo or a candid portrait, creates one of a kind item and makes a special connection.

I sent Ross Brawn a letter last month with some photos from Australian and Malaysian GPs. Last year it “worked” with Gerhard Berger, I sent him a letter congratulating on Vettel’s victory at the Italian GP with lots of photos of him driving for Ferrari, as well as of Vettel and Boudais.

A small selection of Igor’s photos are below. To see the full lot visit his Picasa page here.

If you can top that collection – or even approach it – I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a line via the contact form or you can share pictures on the F1 Fanatic drop.io.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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32 comments on “Six decades of great F1 drivers in Igor’s collection of pictures and autographs”

  1. That is one hell of a collection Igor… Nice work that is!

    Keith the responses were nice, especially the first one :) – very nice indeed. But, just would like to know, whose words are they? yours? or excerpts from somewhere?

    1. Hi Mani
      Indented paragraph after “Igor explains” is from my email to Keith. So, these are mine :-)
      Well, I love F1 (as all folks gathering at this terrific site), I have deep appreciation of F1 photography, this is an art in itself. And it’s just a hobby for me, a real fun.

  2. WOW!! Really great work DUDE!!

  3. Scott Joslin
    14th May 2009, 9:23

    Very Jealous Igor. When I was 8 (1988) I wrote to Nigel Mansell and got a very nice picture and signature. Makes me want to find it and dust it down.

    I think it is great that drivers and team figures can find the time to respond to requests like this.

  4. This is just… amazing. :O

    Just… wow. I’m just awestruck.

  5. Really great stuff. Wish I had the patience to do it.

  6. http://picasaweb.google.ca/Igor.Entin2/MyCollectionOfFerrariDriversAutographs#5215821820760058418

    Just a question about this image – it says it came from August 1979, but it already mentions his death in Zolder in 1982. How did that happen?

    1. I think this is the image of a photocomposition Igor made using the pic of 1979.

    2. This came from a well known German collector. The photo was signed sometime between 79 and 82, and he assembled whole display after Gilles’s death.

  7. Very impressive collection you’ve got there. I can’t believe you got both Villeneuve and Schumacher to sign that 97 picture.

    1. Well, this came from very trusted source. I know the guy and I didn’t have any doubts about this photo.

  8. I think this is the image of a photocomposition Igor made using the pic of 1979.

    Oooh, I see. A shame – he should’ve maintained the original picture.

  9. very nice collection. ironically u so a senna photo there. aida was his penultimate race. i think he was hit from behind by mika hakkinen. Igor are you from soviet union?

    1. To be “politically correct” LOL, Ukrainian-born – South African – Canadian :-)

  10. how did u manage to get the signatures of both massa & raikkonen at singapore.they must have been really furious after the race.

    1. Sent photo to my “source” in Maranello… got it signed. At the end of the day, it was racing… things happen, stupid things, brilliant things, it’s all part of history how. I guess they are cool about it now.

  11. theRoswellite
    14th May 2009, 14:54

    Wonderful, wonderful shots. Congratulations, especially on obtaining the autographs.

    I’ve been able to attend some first rate races over the years, and worked at trying to get quality work…it really requires effort. Many tracks and promoters make no effort to have photo opportunities open to anyone other than those with credentials. This is a bit sad as many fans also suffer from the photo bug.

    My best effort at getting close, other than showing up as a rep of the newspaper in my small town, was to sneak into the pits at Long Beach at around 4:30 AM…sit down…and watch everyone else show up. Those shots were great,but they finally nailed me.

    It would be very “fan friendly” if more tracks were proactive about photo locations and limited passes.

    1. Well, shots aren’t mine. They are all found on the net, some recent ones (Vettel, Massa) from this particular site. Thanks to Keith :-). I just selected what I REALLY liked and did my best to get them autographed.

  12. thanks for sharing these. very nice!

  13. Great collection, I always find it interesting to find out about other peoples F1 memorabilia.

    So generally, do people on here with F1 photo collections download pictures from the net and print them out using a decent photo printer or do they buy prints from professional sources?

    1. I always use photo lab, always looking for high-res pics on the net, always looking for great racing scene or portrait photo, selecting best of the best to be sent to a driver. I have probably three thousands photos, maybe about thousand high-res, good to be printed at 20 x 25 cm or better at 20 x 30cm.

  14. I have Jim Clarks autograph somewhere in the house, Will try and scan it and upload it.

    An aunt of mine got it at Mosport Park in Canada in I think it was ’64. He was there for lower Formule race. Not F1.

  15. Just fantastic. I’m going to see if I can make good wallpapers out of some of my favourites here.

  16. Igor,

    Congratulations for having patient and motivation enough to produce this great collection of pics.

    I have already “stolen” most of them for my personal “library” of F1 pics!!!

    Tons of thanks for sharing this with us!

  17. Wow! Those are really impressive!

    I have some I really treasure, like Stirling Moss, but your collection is amazing!

  18. Fantastic!!…great collection Igor,thanks for sharing.

  19. Great collection, Igor. You should be such a brave man to ask Alain Prost to sign a Picture in what Senna push him out of the track. Good one ;)

    I hope he was more excited than the nowadays guys

  20. Im impressed…. cant wait to try my luck!

  21. I must compliment your collection Igor – they are indeed rare & simply amazing! Nice ones bruv!

  22. Bigbadderboom
    15th May 2009, 16:54

    Fanatastic set Igor, some great names and pics

  23. Great job, buddy! Amazing pictures. I think you are the guy!

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