Your favourite motorsports events

[Roo]

great shots. really liking the panning ones

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
We were at the Goodwood 73rd Members Meeting, March 21st and 22nd, a really good weekend with racing like the Revival, but room to move, I was able to set up a tripod and gimbal, be able to pan as wide as I wanted, almost 180deg without upsetting anyone or having some moron with an iPad come and shove it between me and the subject! ;D
I mean space, yards either side!
On the Saturday I was trying hand held panning shots, I didn't realise how slow the shutter has to be to get the panning effect!
On Sunday I was trying out my new gimbal that I got for my birthday! That just about doubled the keeper rate to about 25%, these are not great as this was my first real panning attempt (99% panning) other than trying a few times to get motion blur on a propeller or rotor (1% panning) at the Bournmouth Air Festival, also don't try to pan with a gimbal in the middle of the fastest straight, you'll hurt something! ;D Sorry for rambling, now to the pics!

The following are all from Saturday, hand held panning, didn't know if it would be worth carrying the gimbal to the circuit.
Triumph Dolomite Sprint in the pits. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Dust cloud, tactical or accidental? by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

FORD, Found On Racetrack Dead! by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Does this work on any level? I kinda like the general effect, still able to identify the car despite the blur!
Blurred Mustang. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

The next two were taken after my friend with a Sony point and shoot quit because it was too dark!
IMG_3380_DxO by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

IMG_3404_DxO by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

2 different versions of the same shot.
The first cropped to single car.
Crop without 1/2 car. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

The second including 1/2 of the following car, does including the following car add or detract from the shot, I felt it showed the essence of the race to some extent but not convinced.
Crop with 1/2 car. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
These are following on from my previous set, all taken on the Sunday, the panning was all done using my new gimbal.

IMG_3434_DxO by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Morris Minor Police Car. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

IMG_3444_DxO by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Taping the headlights is compulsory. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Austin Saloon Car by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Austin Saloon Car on the circuit! by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Aston Martin and a Bristol. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Camaro Firebird? by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Yellow flags and safety car. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Mini! by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
Some of the interesting shots!

Escort MKI mowing the infield. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Gauloises Capri tries to go around the outside! by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Gauloises Capri throwing up dust. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Landrover recovery crane. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Crash at the end of Lavant straight. by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Crash at the end of Lavant straight by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Ouch, glad I'm not paying for that! by Valvebounce25, on Flickr

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Roo]

Who's been a busy boy then Graham? ;D

Thanks for sharing. Some really nice shots in there but what idiot races a 50s BMW 502 limousine (img_3444)? lol.

The one you've marked Firebird Camaro is actually a 70-73 Camaro. Sorry I can't tell the specific year. On that series I preferred the RS option which removed the full width bumper and moved the parking lights/indicators up between the headlights and grille.

Nice job of panning with and without the gimball head, especially those 2 low light shots. I can see the Ernst Haas style in the Mustang shot but it doesn't quite do it for me. Of the Dolomite shots, I preferred the shot without the half Mini. The Golf headlight and the toy Austin were cute lol

I had a look at the others you put up on Flickr and there was a great variety of cars and you captured them well.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Tinky]

I love those sprints. They were the cars you wanted your dad to have instead of a maxi. Things like BMWs and Audis were almost unheard of in those days. My Dad had a hillman Hunter, then, groan, an avenger. He worked at the Rootes Linwood factory, but thankfully we never had an imp!

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Phil.
Didn't know 3444 was a BMW, thanks will add that, don't know who entered it! The firebird was a slight play on words about the flames from the pipes, I know the Firebird was a Pontiac Trans Am.
Thanks for the compliment on the anning, I messed up by setting aperture priority to control the depth of field, should have gone shutter priority or manual with auto ISO maybe, was trying to keep ISO under control.
Thanks for feedback on the Dolomite shots, (and the other shots) I think you are right, maybe if it was a full car just slightly OOF it would work?

Cheers, Graham.

Who's been a busy boy then Graham? ;D

Thanks for sharing. Some really nice shots in there but what idiot races a 50s BMW 502 limousine (img_3444)? lol.

The one you've marked Firebird Camaro is actually a 70-73 Camaro. Sorry I can't tell the specific year. On that series I preferred the RS option which removed the full width bumper and moved the parking lights/indicators up between the headlights and grille.

Nice job of panning with and without the gimball head, especially those 2 low light shots. I can see the Ernst Haas style in the Mustang shot but it doesn't quite do it for me. Of the Dolomite shots, I preferred the shot without the half Mini. The Golf headlight and the toy Austin were cute lol

I had a look at the others you put up on Flickr and there was a great variety of cars and you captured them well.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Tinky.
Thanks, I love the Sprints too, could you tell? We own one with a blueprinted engine, still gives a good range of modern "sports hatches" a run for their money at the lights!
I'm sorry to say dad had a Hunter for a while, not a bad motor but no competition for the Triumph 2000's we mostly had, (we needed an estate car and couldn't find a Triumph) he then "upgraded" to an Avenger, biggest POS we ever owned, for a week! It rattled, was gutless and uncomfortable to boot, a sad thing to say about a British car, and I respect people like your father who worked hard under less than ideal conditions to make cars designed to be that way!

Cheers, Graham.

I love those sprints. They were the cars you wanted your dad to have instead of a maxi. Things like BMWs and Audis were almost unheard of in those days. My Dad had a hillman Hunter, then, groan, an avenger. He worked at the Rootes Linwood factory, but thankfully we never had an imp!

 

[Tinky]

Hi Tinky.
Thanks, I love the Sprints too, could you tell? We own one with a blueprinted engine, still gives a good range of modern "sports hatches" a run for their money at the lights!
I'm sorry to say dad had a Hunter for a while, not a bad motor but no competition for the Triumph 2000's we mostly had, (we needed an estate car and couldn't find a Triumph) he then "upgraded" to an Avenger, biggest POS we ever owned, for a week! It rattled, was gutless and uncomfortable to boot, a sad thing to say about a British car, and I respect people like your father who worked hard under less than ideal conditions to make cars designed to be that way!

Cheers, Graham.

I love those sprints. They were the cars you wanted your dad to have instead of a maxi. Things like BMWs and Audis were almost unheard of in those days. My Dad had a hillman Hunter, then, groan, an avenger. He worked at the Rootes Linwood factory, but thankfully we never had an imp!

The Avenger was horrid. We got ours used from a cop. It still had a fingerprinting kit in the boot!
I remember the black vinyl seats. In the summer, especially if you wore shorts.. you were melting into the seats.

My Dad has some great stories from that time. The place was run by a drunken corrupt union cabal. My Dad (an ardent trade unionist who later went onto to a degree in industrial relations) noticed that whenever the car lot was filling up (i.e. not shifting enough motors quickly enough) there would be a strike called for the most spurious of reasons. He had no part of that, although he did pockle the odd spare to keep our avenger on the road!

We went from the avenger to a brand new fiesta, thankfully with cloth seats!

Love seeing these cars from the 70s racing around. None of your microchips, traction control or abs. Just a sensitive foot, a bit of feel through the steering and the noise of the tyres. They might not be all that fast by todays standards... but they sound fast and look fast..

A pal of mine rebuilt an Austin Princess vanden plas (the wee cute saloon, not the wedge) and decided for a laugh to fit a tuned 1275 gt engine instead. Gave a few boy racers in their novas a wee fright now and then. Was like a mini rolls royce. Padded red leather seats, walnut dash, chrome chrome chrome, wee flip down trays in the back.

 

[Valvebounce]

Yes the little V.P. cars were very well appointed, comfy too. Mate of mine had a Mini Clubman in that nearly fluorescent green colour, had a 1340cc motor, that went well, but had the wet suspension and handled like a dog! Aaahh old cars, got to love the memories they created. Btw I hear you on the vinyl seats, bloody dangerous to bare flesh!
I have heard various stories like that from leyland employees too. I think they all did it.

Cheers, Graham.

The Avenger was horrid. We got ours used from a cop. It still had a fingerprinting kit in the boot!
I remember the black vinyl seats. In the summer, especially if you wore shorts.. you were melting into the seats.

My Dad has some great stories from that time. The place was run by a drunken corrupt union cabal. My Dad (an ardent trade unionist who later went onto to a degree in industrial relations) noticed that whenever the car lot was filling up (i.e. not shifting enough motors quickly enough) there would be a strike called for the most spurious of reasons. He had no part of that, although he did pockle the odd spare to keep our avenger on the road!

We went from the avenger to a brand new fiesta, thankfully with cloth seats!

Love seeing these cars from the 70s racing around. None of your microchips, traction control or abs. Just a sensitive foot, a bit of feel through the steering and the noise of the tyres. They might not be all that fast by todays standards... but they sound fast and look fast..

A pal of mine rebuilt an Austin Princess vanden plas (the wee cute saloon, not the wedge) and decided for a laugh to fit a tuned 1275 gt engine instead. Gave a few boy racers in their novas a wee fright now and then. Was like a mini rolls royce. Padded red leather seats, walnut dash, chrome chrome chrome, wee flip down trays in the back.

 

[Roo]

Hi Phil.
Didn't know 3444 was a BMW, thanks will add that, don't know who entered it! The firebird was a slight play on words about the flames from the pipes, I know the Firebird was a Pontiac Trans Am.
Thanks for the compliment on the anning, I messed up by setting aperture priority to control the depth of field, should have gone shutter priority or manual with auto ISO maybe, was trying to keep ISO under control.
Thanks for feedback on the Dolomite shots, (and the other shots) I think you are right, maybe if it was a full car just slightly OOF it would work?

Cheers, Graham.

D'oh! That's funny I did look at the flame and missed the reference lol Too clever for me on the day. The beauty of digital photography is that there are any number of ways to skin a cat (hopefully the unethical PETA aren't reading this haha) and you can choose which ever method you want. I know people who do prefer to use AV mode for sports photography but I've found that TV mode works for me a lot of the time because it's easier to adjust the shutter speed to decide how much blur or motion is captured. Not sure if you can set an iso limit on your camera but on the 5Diii I can use auto iso and set whatever I want the maximum to be.

We were lucky that we didn't get the Avengers or similar out here but we did get the Dolomites (I thought they were cool as a kid) and the shot you suggest would have worked

Cheers

Phil

 

[TheJock]

Thanks for all the great recent images guys (Roo, Mickat & Graham), I think this thread should be in the hundreds of pages like the birds and BIF's ;D

 

[Roo]

Thanks for all the great recent images guys (Roo, Mickat & Graham), I think this thread should be in the hundreds of pages like the birds and BIF's ;D

*quietly nodding in agreement*

;D

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Jock.
Also quietly nodding in agreement, but give it time, Rome as they say was not built in a day. (If I have misquoted this, tell someone that cares, it says what I mean) ;D

Thanks for all the great recent images guys (Roo, Mickat & Graham), I think this thread should be in the hundreds of pages like the birds and BIF's ;D

*quietly nodding in agreement*

;D

 

[dhr90]

Went to Brands Hatch a few weeks ago, here are the pick of the shots I got Comments and criticism welcome, more on my Flickr.


Matt Neal, Gordon Shedden and Jack Goff by Matt Roberts101, on Flickr


Andy Priaulx by Matt Roberts101, on Flickr


Gordon Shedden by Matt Roberts101, on Flickr

 

[Click]

Went to Brands Hatch a few weeks ago, here are the pick of the shots I got Comments and criticism welcome, more on my Flickr.

Very nice series. I especially like the second picture. Well done

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Matt.
Good set of shots, also good to see that your 7D 70-200 2.8L IS II combo doesn't have the same allergy to flames that mine has! Nice job on the panning too.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[TheJock]

Hi Matt,

I agree with Graham, flames are always a good thing
Great series

 

[Roo]

Hi Matt,

I agree with Graham, flames are always a good thing
Great series

+ another 1

 

[dhr90]

Went to Brands Hatch a few weeks ago, here are the pick of the shots I got Comments and criticism welcome, more on my Flickr.

Very nice series. I especially like the second picture. Well done

Went to Brands Hatch a few weeks ago, here are the pick of the shots I got Comments and criticism welcome, more on my Flickr.

Very nice series. I especially like the second picture. Well done

Hi Matt,

I agree

Hi Matt,

I agree with Graham, flames are always a good thing
Great series

+ another 1

with Graham, flames are always a good thing
Great series

Thanks guys!

I'm not entirely certain the third shot is quite in focus, its not as sharp as I would like, but its my own fault for trying 1/30th I guess! A monopod would have helped a lot I think. Too many people around on the sunday really to get all the shots I wanted to try.

Fire was something I have been aiming to catch for about a year! I noticed that Andy Priaulx was the only one who seemed to generate fire every time he went through that corner so I went for 1/1000th and full rambo at 8fps with a nice long burst, it generated a nice long series of shots of fire ;D

Will be going back in a couple of weeks for the Blancpain event.

Is anyone ever surprised at the lengths some 'togs go to when they are just spectators rather than working (with that coverted media bib)? I'm a bit surprised at times that you are let in the gate with step ladders or big toolboxes?