Learning the art of seeing
Last weekend the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) were at Lime Rock Park for the Trans Am Memorial Day Classic. This weekend was the season opener for this race track as well as the first motorsport event of the year for me. Hope you like the photo’s.
Last weekend went to the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International to see friends, watch the IMSA race, and to practice my motorsport photography. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2017 – Seeing the Six Hours of the Glen at 500mm or more (Jul 6)”
The months of May and June are a great time of the year to be a race car fan with the Triple Crown of Motorsports being held. This week is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A few weeks ago were the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500. They call the Indy 500 “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and you can understand why when you see and hear 350,000 fans cheering at the start of the race as the Indy Cars speed down the front straight. The last couple of blogs were on Fernando Alonso and Takuma Sato. This blog is about the Indy 500 in 50 photos and the stories behind them. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2017 – The Indy 500 in 50 Photos and the Stories Behind Them (Jun 14)”
Friday practice for the 65th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring was held under beautiful blue skies. This was my first race for 2017, and was very excited to be here for this classic sports car endurance race. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2017 – Practice, Drivers, and Qualifying for the 12 Hours of Sebring (Mar 17)”
The 19th running of Petit Le Mans was held at Road Atlanta on October 1. Olivier Pla, John Pew, and Oswaldo Negri Jr. won this 10 hour endurance race in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Honda HPD Ligier JS P2. Eric Curran and Dane Cameron took the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with fourth place in the #31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, with Simon Pagenaud. This was a fitting way to end the season, since this would be the last time Daytona Prototypes would compete in this series. Had a great time photographing under the different light conditions from day to night. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2016 – Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (Oct 1)”
On Friday (September 30) the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship cars were on track for their final practice and qualifying sessions for Petit Le Mans. The #60 Michael Shank Racing took pole position for Prototype class and GTLM pole went to the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing. Pole positions for GTD and Prototype Challenge classes went to the #33 Riley Motorsports and the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, respectively. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2016 – Practice and qualifying at Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta (Sep 30)”
Day two at Road Atlanta would see the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship cars on the track for three practice sessions. Practice one was in the morning, second practice in the afternoon, and the third was at night. This was a great opportunity to explore the track and to get shots of the cars from day to night. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2016 – Practice from day to night at Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta (Sep 29)”
The 19th running of Petit Le Mans was held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, during the last week of September. This was the last race of the 2016 season for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and the end of an era for the Daytona Prototypes. The next few blogs will be recounting my experiences covering this endurance sports car race for the first time. First up is the team paddock set-up day and Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge practice session. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2016 – Day 1 at Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta (Sep 28)”
The second day at the Northeast GP at Lime Rock Park (July 22) was a busy day with back-to-back morning and afternoon practice sessions and qualifying for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2016 – Day 2 at the Northeast GP Lime Rock Park (Jul 22)”
Its been a few weeks since my last blog, but now have a chance to take a look back at round 7 of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship that was held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in early July. CTMP (aka Mosport) is a beautiful natural terrain 2.5 mile road course located in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The 2 hour 40 minute race was won by Dane Cameron and Eric Curran in the #31 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2016 – Mobil 1 Sportscar GP at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Jul 7 to 10)”
The 12 Hours of Sebring started under overcast skies on Saturday March 19th at Sebring International Raceway. Over the course of this endurance race we experienced sun, rain, light, and dark. This blog is about my experience covering the race from the spectator side of the fence. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2016 – 64th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours at Sebring International Raceway (Mar 19)”
Round 20 of the GT class for the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) was held at Laguna Seca in Salinas, California (September 10 to 13). This 11-turn road course is about 2.3 miles in length and is known for the iconic “Corkscrew” turn. The season finale was won by Alessandro Balzan in the #29 NGT Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia. However, the championship went to Johnny O’Connell in the #3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-VR GT3 who finished 12th over Olivier Beretta who had a DNF minutes from the end of the race. It was certainly a thrilling end to the GT season. Can’t wait for next year. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – GT Class Season Finale at Laguna Seca (Sep 10 and 13)”
GT Class round 14 of the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) was held on Saturday (August 1) at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course. Ryan Dalziel won the GT class driving the #31 EFFORT Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. For GTA class, Frank Montecalvo won in the #66 DragonSpeed Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – PWC GT Class Round 14 at Mid-Ohio (Aug 1)”
GT Class qualifying for the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) was held Saturday morning (August 1) under beautiful morning light. Top qualifier was Ryan Dalziel in the #31 EFFORT Racing Porsche 911 GT3R with a time of 1:19.838 and speed of 101.816 mph. Later in the day was the drivers autographs which was a great opportunity for fans to meet the drivers. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – GT Class Qualifying and Driver Autographs at Mid-Ohio (Aug 1)”
IndyCar practice was held on Friday and Saturday (August 1). Ryan Hunter-Reay in the #28 Andretti Autosport Honda topped the time-sheets with 01:06.5160 at a top speed of 122.208 mph after three practice sessions. Helio Castroneves in the #3 Team Penske Chevrolet was second fastest and third fastest was Jack Hawksworth in the #41 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – Indy Car Practice at Mid-Ohio (Jul 31 and Aug 1)”
The IndyCar Dual in Detroit Race 2 was held Sunday afternoon under overcast skies on a wet track. After 68 laps, Sebastien Bourdais won the race in the #11 KVSH Racing Chevrolet. Second was Takuma Sato in the #14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda and Graham Rahal in the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda was third. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – Indy Car Dual in Detroit Race 2 (May 29 to 31)”
The first IndyCar practice session for the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix was held Friday morning under overcast skies. The light rain at the end of the session was an omen of the wet weather that we would have during the race weekend. For this session started on the front straight, then went to Turn 13, and back to the paddock. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – Indy Car Friday Practice at the Detroit Belle Isle GP (May 29 to 31)”
Rounds 3 and 4 of the GT class for the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) was held on the streets of St. Petersburg in Florida. The picturesque 14 turn street circuit is about 2 miles in length and encompasses the beautiful harbor front, the Al Lang Stadium, Dali Museum, and part of the Albert Whitted Airport. First up is the Thursday afternoon test session. Hope you like the photos.
Continue reading “2015 – PWC GT Class Testing at the GP of St. Petersburg (Mar 27 to 29)”
It was lightly raining as I walked from the Dunlop Grandstand down the hill to the ACO Stand 18, which I arrived at around 4 am Sunday morning. By now I was cold, wet, and very tired. Luckily I had an ACO membership which enabled me access to the private restrooms and food area in the ACO Stand 18. I highly recommend getting membership to the ACO before you purchase your Le Mans tickets, since it gives you an early reservation opportunity and access to the private ACO areas near the Dunlop Bridge and Stand 18. After grabbing some coffee and a sandwich I sat myself down at a table near one of the closed-circuit TVs to watch the race, with a few dozen other tired fans in the room. After finishing my coffee and sandwich I grabbed my photo gear and went up to Stand 18 and found a seat opposite the Audi and Aston Martin pits, where I watched some early morning pit stop action. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2013 Le Mans 24 Hrs (Jun 23, My Night In A Front Straight Grandstand)”
After shooting at Stand T23 walked past the Ferris Wheel and exited the track at Maison Blanche. Could have taken the shuttle, but the wait would have been long. Hence, walked to Virage Porsche, which is a relatively easy walk since its flat and not very crowded along the road. After about a 30 min walk arrived at Virage Porsche for some early evening photography. After the shoot went to the UK foodstand to grab some hot french fries and a cold soda for “dinner” before walking back to Masion Blanche. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2013 Le Mans 24 Hrs (Jun 22, Virage Porsche)”
While at the viewing platform in Stand 23, practiced my panning technique by using lower shutter speeds than I normally use to get more pronounced blurring of the car during panning. Managed to get down to 1/60th of a sec (although a lot of my images shot at this shutter speed were not very good) and got a good shot of the Aston Martin Vantage GTE “Art” Car (Aston Martin Racing, LM GTE Pro class) speeding through the “S” Ford Curves. I think the Aston Martin “Art” car looks great and was one of my favorite cars at Le Mans to photograph. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2013 Le Mans 24 Hrs (Jun 22, Aston Martin Art Car at the “S” Ford Curves)”
This is my third time to the Le Mans 24 Hrs, and feel very fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to attend this race. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “2013 Le Mans 24 Hrs (Jun 22, At The Esses)”
On Saturday took the TGV from Paris to Le Mans and arrived at the track at about 11.30 am. The race started at 3.00 pm and I stayed at the track for the whole 24 hrs, with only about a half hour nap on Sunday morning. It was a marathon photography adventure with the rain, wind, night, crowds, fatigue, and little sleep to contend with. By the time I got back to Paris and into bed I had been up for about 40 hrs. But it was worth it, and what an experience to be with the estimated 245,000 spectators at the track, especially late at night and in the early morning hours at Tertre Rouge. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “Quick Blog – Audi Wins the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hrs (Jun 23)”
I’m on my way to the Le Mans 24 Hrs race in France. France is one of the most favorite countries my wife and I like to visit, so the “deal” is that I can go to Le Mans as long as we go to Paris for vacation, which is not a bad “deal”. We left the USA last Friday night (luckily the Air Traffic controllers and train strikes were over in France) at about 10.30 pm and flew Air France to Paris. We arrived, at the Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG) at about 11.20 am on Saturday morning. As we entered the immigration area, I saw to my left a large advertisement for the 2013 F1 Ferrari watch from Hubolt, which I’m sure is out of my price range. Hope you like the photos. Continue reading “Quick Blog – On my way to the Le Mans 24 Hrs, via Switzerland (Jun 14 to 19)”
I must admit before the Nurburgring 24 Hrs I had never heard of the Lexus LFA, guess I’ve been “living under a rock!” Then on our first day at the track I saw the Lexus LFA for the first time at the Breidscheid spectator area. A sleek looking car was quickly decelerating as it came down the steep hill in torrential rain, with its yellow headlights blazing (which always makes it difficult to get correct exposure, BTW) before turning sharply to the left, and accelerating down another hill, before climbing up a hill and shooting through a slight right-hand curve into the mountains. I thought to myself “wow” what a car. When I got back to the hotel I showed other guests the photos of this car, and they told me it was a Lexus LFA. I immediately did some research on the web about this car. Continue reading “Spotlight – Lexus LFA at the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hrs”
Got to bed at about 12.30 am last night, hence getting up today was hard, with my bodying aching with all the walking and carrying the camera gear over the last few days, but it has been great exercise. The race was restarted around 8 am, with the rain gradually getting lighter to overcast skies with periodic light showers. Got to the GP circuit part of the track (didn’t feel like going to the less accessible parts of the track due to the wet conditions, mud, and traffic) around 11.30 am, which gave us about 5 hours for photography. Continue reading “Quick Blog – 2013 Nurburging 24 Hrs (May 20)”
Turn 1 (inside turn from Turn One Club, mid-afternoon)
By mid-afternoon started to get hungry so walked over to the Audi Turn One Club for a late lunch and sat in a small Grandstand which was right next to the inside of the apex of Turn 1. This was a great place to be very close to the cars, but taking photos of the cars was very challenging since it was a blind corner. Continue reading “2013 Sebring 12 Hrs (Mar 16, part 3)”
After watching the start of the race I decided to walk over to the outside of Turn 1. This is where a chance meeting led to a great photographic opportunity. On the way I stopped at a restroom, then as I was leaving the restroom, put my camera backpack on a Golf cart to organize my gear. As I was doing this, the gentleman who owned the Golf cart asked “where was I going?” I mentioned I was on my way to Turn 1, so he said, “I’ll take you there”. Continue reading “2013 Sebring 12 Hrs (Mar 16, part 2)”
Got up early and got to the track around 9 am. Drove through Gate 1 and parked at the Audi Corral overflow car park (thanks again to the Audi fan who gave me a spare parking permit). On race day its very hard to find a general parking area and would recommend parking in the overflow parking area through Gate 3 if you don’t have access to car corrals. I had the day all planned in terms of which track location I would be at, what time of day etc. Had planned to shoot the start of the race between the inside straight between Turns 2 and 3 to get front shots of the cars speeding down the straight and bunched up (like I did last year). However, as you know, all the planning gets “thrown out the window” when you are on site, and in this case it led to some great photographic opportunities, which I’ll expand later in this positing. Continue reading “2013 Sebring 12 Hrs (Mar 16, part 1)”
For the ALMS qualifying sessions I walked from the Audi Turn One Club to the inside of Turn 3 to 4 areas since the afternoon sun would be at my back and would be illuminating the side and front of the cars facing me. I used the 300mm with 2x extender to get tight shots of the cars exiting Turn 3 and going into Turn 4. Tried to shoot as low as possible 3/4 front shots of the cars to give them depth and to capture some of the spectators in the background. Continue reading “2013 Sebring 12 Hrs (Mar 15, part 3)”
DLY Motorsport Images 