Your favourite motorsports events

[Roo]

Roo,

You have been very busy, at the races. Great shots of MotoGP, Formula 1 and vintage race cars. The damp track shot of the Moto3 rider, with a single tire track, is a great capture. I really like the tight shot of the Indy car. If I remember correctly, that was the car Tom Sneva drove in the Indy Car series. Many great panning shots in your series. My wife and I are going to the MotoGP race in Austin, Texas in April. Hoping to have some shots to share.

Thanks very much Geoff! I believe you are correct about the original driver of the March being Tom Sneva. I'd love to do a race at CoTA - so many options to shoot backgrounds and especially some shots from the tower. Canon had an exhibition of Darren Heath's F1 photography here that I wish I'd seen before the race - great use of light and colour with very high and really slow shutter speeds. He has some great images of CoTA too.

Tony Quinn through turn 1 in his Aston Martin GT3


Carrera Cup evening race


Fabian Coulthard runing through the turn 3 gravel trap

 

[Click]

Great shots, Roo. I really like the 3rd picture. Well done.

 

[StephenHopkins]

Love the gravel shot! The f1 stuff was also really good.

 

[GN Photos]

My wife and I attended the MotoGP/MotoAmerica races at COTA (Circuit of the Americas) in Austin, Texas on April 12-14. We got MotoAmerica Media Credentials through Cycle Gear to photograph two riders that they sponsor (#2 Josh Herrin and #33 Kyle Wyman). We purchased a new Canon 7D Mk. II as a back-up to my 5D Mk. III. I set up the new camera like mine, including back button focus, and gave it to Barb and said "No pressure, just have fun". With the 70-200mm f/2.8 on hers and the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 on mine, we set out to do our best. Well, with MotoAmerica Media Credentials at a MotoGP race, the "DORNA Police" showed us the exit gate while MotoGP was on track. No understanding or logic excepted. So we shot from the grand stands (with Canon 2x and 1.4x attached) until Sunday, after MotoGP was through with the facility. MotoAmerica Superbikes were the under card for the weekend, and was the last race of the weekend. We were welcomed to the preferred side of the fences for the 15 lap MotoAmerica Superbike race. Barb had never shot with a DSLR, but has a very good eye for racing. The first 4 shots are hers! I am very proud of her captures.




I shot this Moto3 rider/bike last year, while trying some panning at 1/125th second on the front staight.



A shot of #12 Maverick Vinales on his MotoGP Yamaha M1, before the DORNA Police escorts arrived.



Josh Herrin riding the #2 MotoAmerica Factory Suzuki Superbike, was in second place chasing down his team mate Toni Elias late in the race. He was riding so aggressively, he chunked his front tire, and the rubber that came out of his tire tore off his front fender. He still won, on a destroyed front tire.



Kyle Wyman on his #33 Ducati V4R Panigale owns and operates his "Team KWR" (Kyle Wyman Racing), as a very successful privateer.



It was a great weekend, with some highs and lows. Like I say "Expect nothing, and you will never be disappointed".

 

[Click]

Beautiful series. Great shots, GeoffN.

 

[GN Photos]

Thank you Click, Barb and I appreciate the compliments.

 

[Roo]

Great shots Geoff! Congrats to you and your wife

 

[Roo]

I shot my first top fuel Nitro Thunder event at the weekend and with media acceditation...and I didn't get escorted from trackside thankfully

 

[Click]

Another beautiful series. I really like your pictures. Well done, Roo.

 

[GN Photos]

Roo, what a dramatic sky you had that night. Top Fuel at night is amazing. I have never seen that kind of a drag bike, with that much body work. Is it some kind of a motorcycle version of a Funny Car? I see T/B on it, Top Bike? It looks like it's even running Nitromethane fuel. At night, it's easy to see that "Black Mamba" is loosing some cylinders. Yeah, with only one organizing body calling the shots at the facility, that has it's advantages. When you're in, everybody says you're in. Oh, I almost forgot, great/dramatic shots, very nice. And thank you for the compliments, Barb is excited to give it another go at Laguna Seca and Sears Point. I warned her, somebody is going to say, "Those are great. You must have really nice equipment". Now she knows.

 

[Roo]

Roo, what a dramatic sky you had that night. Top Fuel at night is amazing. I have never seen that kind of a drag bike, with that much body work. Is it some kind of a motorcycle version of a Funny Car? I see T/B on it, Top Bike? It looks like it's even running Nitromethane fuel. At night, it's easy to see that "Black Mamba" is loosing some cylinders. Yeah, with only one organizing body calling the shots at the facility, that has it's advantages. When you're in, everybody says you're in. Oh, I almost forgot, great/dramatic shots, very nice. And thank you for the compliments, Barb is excited to give it another go at Laguna Seca and Sears Point. I warned her, somebody is going to say, "Those are great. You must have really nice equipment". Now she knows.

Thanks, it was a dramatic sky and, luckily, there were only a few spots of rain. Top (fuel) Bike is a category and does run on nitro but that that's about the only one with that style of bodywork. Not quite as quick as the cars but the do go under 6s. I was very lucky to do this - it was an opportunity offered by Canon and one of the retailers here but also couldn't have happened without the support of one of the pro togs and a couple of the teams/sponsors, one of which paid our PL insurance.

Ohh...and yes someone will always say "you must have a nice camera/equipment..."

 

[Roo]

Another beautiful series. I really like your pictures. Well done, Roo.

Thanks very much Click

 

[Ladislav]

I noticed Goodwood mentioned few times in this thread. I would like to visit Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is 4 day event running from Thursday to Sunday. Does anyone has any experience with going on Thursday or Friday? Is there less people with full program or is it better to go over weekend? Is it worth going for two days?

 

[Roo]

I noticed Goodwood mentioned few times in this thread. I would like to visit Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is 4 day event running from Thursday to Sunday. Does anyone has any experience with going on Thursday or Friday? Is there less people with full program or is it better to go over weekend? Is it worth going for two days?

Valvebounce (Graham) or tomscott would have your answers for that

 

[Roo]

A few more drag shots with some different techniques/views...
panning @ 1/50th sec

flash at 1/100th sec

rear curtain sync flash @ 1/25th

 

[GN Photos]

Roo, your experimenting paid off. The 1/50th sec pan of Top Fuel, is very dramatic. Zero to 100 MPH in less and 1 sec, is a real challenge. Good job!

 

[Click]

Great shots. Well done, Roo.

 

[Roo]

Thanks Geoff and Click! I was pretty happy to nail them off the line too!

 

[Click]

Awesome! Well done, Roo.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Ladislav.
First, it is a while since we went but from what I see and hear it has only got better!
There is usually plenty happening on each day, you will not see enough in one day, possibly not even in 2 days, if you can swing it go for the weekend pass and if necessary skip Thursday, from memory that is mostly practice, at the very least budget for both Saturday and Sunday.
Then work out if you are going to concentrate on the hill climb or everything else, tip, everything else on the first day you go then the hill climb with a bit of time away from it during less interesting vehicles!
There is so much to see, a rally course, vehicle demonstrations, eg Land Rover off road rides (or similar, we saw Porsche’s suv being hurled round a field) there is just too much to see you will go back the next year.
Of course, make sure it is the FOS (modern vehicles) and not the Revival (historic vehicles) that you want to see, they are both great but the Revival is more our cup of tea, we haven’t missed it for several years unlike the FOS which we keep threatening to go back to but haven’t made it yet!

Cheers, Graham.

I noticed Goodwood mentioned few times in this thread. I would like to visit Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is 4 day event running from Thursday to Sunday. Does anyone has any experience with going on Thursday or Friday? Is there less people with full program or is it better to go over weekend? Is it worth going for two days?