#30 NGT Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: Martin Ragginer, Carlos Kauffman, Henrique Cisneros (Darren Pierson)
That was a very long drive across the states. Along with all of the normal fun and excitement of a cross country trip, we got to spend the better part of two days in Mercedes dealerships. Driving though Denver at 3pm on a Saturday, the resonator on the turbo cracked and needed replaced. Two days later in Vegas, the charging tube from the intercooler blew off (I imagine from the previous mechanic’s haste). Aside from those two incidents, the trip was great fun. Kim, who drove the entire way, might have a few other words to say about the drive, but I do know she was happy to see the surf in Ventura when we hit the opposite coast.
This was going to be a busy weekend, all of the normal fun of shooting three series with the addition of a joint Cooper/Mazda press conference, an early Cooper Field group photo and the final GT3 race on Sunday morning. We have never been to Laguna, it has always been on the list, but for one reason or another, we had never made it out there. Now that we were there, we were not sure we wanted to leave. We were certain we did not want to drive back across the country for Petit. That is another post however.
#15 Wilzig Racing Cooper Prototype Lite: Alan Wilzig (Darren Pierson)
To say Laguna Seca is a beautiful and iconic track, is roughly equivalent to saying the sky is above the ground. Elevation changes, sweeping corners, incredible vistas, amazing spectator viewpoints….the corkscrew; it has it all. Its not a track to walk around though, so I was happy to have our LaVita scooter along. Thursday morning began as a cool cloudy flat day and having no real idea of where to start shooting the 1st Cooper session, I headed to Turn 5 by default since it was the closest to our campsite.
It turned out to be a mostly cluttered background area but since I needed to get a few tight shots of the cars in the bag, I fiddled around there for a while as I worked up towards the outside of the bridge just before Turn 6. You cannot hang around Laguna Seca for very long before gravity begins to pull you to the corkscrew. We have seen it on TV a million times and everyone remembers Zanardi’s pass, but actually being there and looking at the insanity of the abrupt left hander and drop is unequalled. The elevation change alone over such a short distance would be roller coaster-like anyway. Couple that with the quick left-right and you can understand why every driver loves/hates that corner combo so much.
#3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1: Olivier Beretta, Tommy Milner (Darren Pierson)
Friday wasn’t much better as far as far as the lighting and temperature went but it was fun to learn the track and to find new places from where to shoot. Laguna is a lot like Miller and Road Atlanta; you don’t have to have long glass, but you can certainly use as much as you bring. The longest lens I had with me was a 300mm so shooting up into the Andretti Hairpin was a test of keeping the distant junk like port-a-potties out of the frame. I could do it, but it would have been easier to isolate the cars a bit more with a 500mm.
#007 Aston Martin Racing AMR/ Lola Coupe B09 60: Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat, Stefan Mucke (Darren Pierson)
Cooper and GT3 were keeping me pretty busy again, so I planned on doing most of my ALMS shooting on Saturday during the race, this was helped somewhat by the final GT3 race of the weekend being run on Sunday morning rather than Saturday. I was really happy to see the AMR Lola back Stateside though, our P class offerings have been pretty sparse this season. Luckily, Saturday was beautiful. Clear blue skies with just a touch of white puffy cloud, warm enough to be pleasant but not so hot that wearing a black firesuit was an insane proposition. This was good since I was scheduled to shoot a grid shot for the Cooper Lites Series early in the morning. The race start is often a challenging decision. You need to be in a place to capture the cars at the critical point, but that spot can be very elusive. This time I had the good luck to be able to shoot the start from the wind tunnel of a starter stand. Its a very narrow and windy perch positioned below a bridge that crosses the track. If you cannot be on the very front, you have to lean way out over the track. Even then it can be difficult to keep the flag from completely blocking your shot.
Race Start ModSpace ALMS Laguna Seca (Darren Pierson)
I did get a technicallybetter shot of the start than this one, but I like the action of the green flag coupled with the pack and spinning LMPC car. For some reason, the last GT3 race of the weekend was held on Sunday. It was quite odd to get up on Sunday, have most of the carriers gone, the crowds gone and still be shooting a race. To be honest, it was like shooting an Historics or Sportsman race. Not many fans, but the few in attendance were very enthusiastic. GT3 is a fun series to watch, the races are hotly contested and there are always off track excursions and bits of Porsche flying. The final race of the weekend clenched the Platinum Class season victory for Henrique Cisneros and the Gold Class season for 15 year old Madison Snow. Other excitement included me breaking my 300mm again. This was twice this year, the 1st time at Sebring Winter practice. I think KEH needs to do a better job repairing it this time.
Henrique Cisneros celebrates his Platinum Class Season Championship(Darren Pierson)
We now have a very long drive back across the states to Road Atlanta. Its even worse for Petit since there are cars on the track on TUESDAY, so we really have to hustle. See you there! All of my galleries and other blog posts can be found at dPerceptions. Links to individual galleries for Cooper, GT3 and ALMS are below. Thanks for reading and looking!
-Darren
Cooper Highlights – Cooper Weekend
ALMS Highlights – ALMS Weekend
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