DPerceptions

#17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR: Bryan Sellers, Wolf Henzler (Darren Pierson)

Mid-Ohio, the land of the photographer trailer/media center with no internet connectivity. Are they mad at us? Was it something we said? Why can I not upload any of my files?

The Thursday photo meeting in the trailer was the usual excitement. Well, not really, it was scheduled for under the Goodyear Tower and then changed to the photo trailer (sorry, the non-working SSID was media_trailor). I was late, but since nobody shot at me or anything, I assume I didn’t miss out on any new instructions. Files needed uploaded, but the wi-fi had not yet been installed or turned on so I went out into the Ohio sunshine to photograph some sports cars on the track. The late afternoon light was particularly nice and not many people had been allowed into the track yet, so the background distractions we few. The sun was in the perfect place to shoot from the most interesting parts of the track so I went out and played. While out there, I noticed some people shooting from really bad directions. Sometimes you have to go out out shoot, sun angle be dammed. Other times, you can go to where the big glowing orb is your friend. I find it strange to watch photographers shooting into the sun when they don’t have to. Weird.

#8 Drayson Racing Lola B09 60 Judd: Paul Drayson, Jonny Cocker (Darren Pierson)

Friday consisted of two practices and then qualification. I missed morning practice. I am a bad man. Beautiful gobs of warm morning light and giant blue skies….I missed it. Had things I needed to take care of, I suck. Sorry. I did however, show up in the photo “trailor” in a vain attempt to upload my Thursday files. Nope, the connection was up and down. Mostly down. Always slow. Not a media center. Why bother? Up, down, up, dead, dead…..Are they doing this on purpose? What?! Drayson grabbed the pole in quali? How and Why? Very cool. You have to love Paul Lord Drayson’s efforts. He just wants to get out there and race. Qualification over and I am going back to camp; there is an elm there with a better signal to noise ratio than the connection at the photo “trailor”.

#8 Drayson Racing Lola B09 60 Judd: Paul Drayson, Jonny Cocker (Darren Pierson)

Saturday, race day! Clear and not completely hot. Nah, it was hot, but not Lime Rock hot. Mid Ohio races ALMS on Saturday because Der Danika says so; annoying, but not so annoying as Long Beach. The crowds on the Grid Walkabout were not too heavy, so I headed out so shoot some of the cars on the grid. Mid-Ohio starts the race on the back straight, so there isn’t really any place from which to shoot the start. I decided that the best place for me would be the flag stand over the start-finish line. It wasn’t the greatest spot since the LMP cars were single file by that point, but the GT and LMPC classes were fairly tight coming out of the last turn. I think I got some decent shots from the stand, but I will look for a better place next year.

Race Start at 2010 Sports Car Challenge at Mid Ohio

#55 Level 5 Motorsports Oreca FLM09: Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut (Darren Pierson)

Skip forward to the end. Chris Dyson is leading the race. The snake/shark bit team was winning….finally. I thought it best to go to the Highcroft (where were they in this race anyway?) pits to watch the last few laps. Watching Brabs and Marino yelling at the monitor, encouraging Simon, was great fun although it did not help. In the end, Dyson was triumphant. Risi also continues their winning form and Level 5 was back on the top spot of the podium.

Next time we will be writing from the other RA, Road America. Join us for some fun. Thanks for reading and looking. My Mid Ohio Sports Car Challenge gallery is available online at DPerceptions.com

2009 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid Ohio

We are sitting in a campground near Mid Ohio listening to the rain drumming on the roof. Why does it seem to rain everywhere we go this summer? It even rained in the desert when we were in Utah. Whatever, shooting in the rain makes for more dramatic photography. Also, I brought my camera’s rain gear, so take that you water! Not sure what to expect out of this year’s race weekend, last year we camped at the track in a tent. Wednesday night (tonight) was freeeeeeezing and it rained Thursday and Friday quite a bit. Saturday was cloudy and then clear, so the race was quick and fun. I have seen weather predictions indicating similar events for this year. Maybe we can skip the downpours though.

2009 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid Ohio

I have mentioned in other posts that I am not too keen on the ALMS/IndyCar weekends. Mid Ohio seems to be the worst of those as the IndyCar fans drive me bonkers, I feel like I am at a NASCAR race some of the time. We will see how it goes and I will tray to stay on my side of the fence.  I really like shooting here even though I HATE photo holes.  Hopefully nobody bought their lawn chair.  EDIT: It has been pointed out to me (fairly) that some tracks don’t even have photo holes.  I prefer holes over no holes, but it seems that the photo holes are often just exactly not quite where they should be.  Similar to the mystery of who decides where the photo stands are placed.

2009 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid Ohio

Look for Thursday images to go online Thursday night at DPerceptions.com

#32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: Bret Curtis, James Sofronas (Darren Pierson)

After the desert heat of Utah, we were looking forward to the cool mountain breezes of Eastern Connecticut and the alpine majesty of Lime Rock Park. Silly us. Friday started out well enough with partly grey skies, but the day kept creeping towards monsoon season. The 1st practice was slightly wet and damp, but afternoon practice and quali were full wet conditions. During qualification, I was standing in the pit lane watching a small river run across my shoes. The conditions on track had to have been horrendous for the drivers.

#37 Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER: Jon Field, Clint Field (Darren Pierson)

The rain on Friday finally let up towards the end of qualification and as the times started to drop, David Brabham went out and laid down a monster time and took P1 pole.  My entire body was soggy, so as soon as the grid was set, we headed out from the track to our campsite nearby in New York.

#1 Patron Highcroft Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-01c: David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud (Darren Pierson)

Lime Rock apparently had an issue in their park, because they no longer allow people to bring dogs.  Last year, we stayed inside and were bummed not to have our girls with us. This year, we have been traveling with them so we had to find a place nearby.  We ended up staying at Rudd Pond State Park a few miles away in New York, which was really nice and tranquil until the three cop cars and two ambulances and a flatbed pulled up at the campsite next to us.  Apparently, our neighbor had been going around stealing things from other’s tents and had been caught.  Not sure why it took so many vehicles or what the ambulances were for since he seemed to go quietly.  It was quite odd, normally you assume your camping neighbors are on the level and trust that your belongings are safe.  In our case, it helps to have locking doors and two german shepherds with us as well.

Saturday, race day, was forecasted as hot with a 40% chance of thunderstorms.  We didn’t see any rain, but they did get the hot part right.  I was looking forward to putting on my black fire suit and standing out in the sun, this was going to be a great day.  This season, the ALMS decided to do away with morning warmups, not sure why exactly, but until Lime Rock, on race day, we had no chance to shoot the cars in morning light.  I assume since the Northeast Grand Prix is only two days:  two practices and quali on Friday and the race on Saturday, they brought back the warmups to have cars on the track.  For whatever reason, it was good to be shooting in the morning sun.  I did hear talk in the media center that they were considering reinstating the morning warmup sometime this  season, I hope that they do.  The fan walkabout on the grid looked to be too crowded, so I skipped it and went straight to turn one to shoot the start of the race.  Turn one at Lime Rock is an enigma as there isn’t a convenient way to get there.  Essentially, you have to use a pedestrian bridge to cross over the front straight to get to the outside of the track.  Before you are completely off the bridge, you have to climb over the railing using the bars as ladder rungs and jump down onto the ground.  Once down, you follow the armco down to a break where the runoff area starts and cross over the track to outside turn one.  At the start of the race, as soon as the last car passes, we have to run across the runoff and get behind the frontstraight armco.

Northeast Grand Prix 2010 Race Start

 If we don’t cross back on the 1st lap, we have to stay at Turn One for the entire race, not fun.  Lime Rock is under 2 miles, so there isn’t much time to do this.  I imagine it looks rather odd to see 20 photographers all running across the track at once.  Getting back out is the reverse except you jumped down, so getting up to the 1st rung on the railing is no easy task especially if you are holding cameras and lenses.  As I type this, I realize that an easier way to get out there, you could cross the cold track from the inside T1 flag stand, but what would be the adventure in that?

#61 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT: Mika Salo, Pierre Kaffer (Darren Pierson)

#37 Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER: Jon Field, Clint Field (Darren Pierson)

My plan was to shoot the start and then work the pits through the first stop, after that, I was going to shoot around the track until about forty-five minutes to the end and then go back to the pits for the finish and podiums.  I’m not sure why I planned it that way, since it caused me to have to wear my fire suit for the entire race, something that wasn’t exactly pleasant in the heat.  At one point, I was standing in pit lane, leaning against the pit wall in front of Level 5, trying to find some shade, sweat pouring down my face.  The IMSA pit boss walked up to me in much the same condition and said, “Funny that so many people think we lead glamorous lives out here in the pit lane”.  Did I mention it was hot?  There had been so many yellows, that nobody was pitting and I started to worry that I was wasting time and needed to get out on the track.  Finally a few cars came in and I got my shots and left to shoot from the slight coolness of the trees.   I found an area near a new fan viewing spot that I though might yield a good look and shot there for a while.  All too soon it was time to head back to the heat of the pits for the finish.

#6 Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder: Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf (Darren Pierson)

The finish was actually pretty exciting since I could hear Hindy on the PA and for once actually had an idea of what was happening.  Klaus Graf had the CytoSport Spyder in the lead, but to me the surprise was Gunnar Jeannette running in P3 in an LMPC car.  He actually ran out of gas on the last lap and lost his overall placement but still won the LMPC class.  I really enjoy shooting at Lime Rock, hopefully you can see that in my images.  We are headed North to Mid Ohio, hope to see you there as well.  My entire Northeast Grand Prix image gallery is online at DPerceptions and is available for viewing and purchase.  Thanks for reading and looking!

2009 Utah Grand Prix Risi F430 pits during friday practice

I am posting this from the Grand Canyon while we are having morning coffee.  Technology can be a groovy thing, can’t it?  Rather than flying out like I did last year, we decided to bring the entire family and make a holiday out of it.  We have traveled through, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and finally Arizona.  Tomorrow, we head north from the Canyon and up into Utah.  Part of the trip so far has been trying to see as much of Route 66 as is left.  Sadly, most of it has been consumed by time and I40, but there are still many interesting detours.  We also took a detour in Louisiana to see the site where Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and riddled with bullets.   Its been a fun and interesting trip.

Cadillac Ranch

No trip through Texas would be complete without a stop at Cadillac Ranch.

My coverage of the race will begin on Friday at www.dperceptions.com, and I really cannot wait as I feel some of my best work came for the track last year; excited to tweak my shots and to find new ones. I was unable to make it out to Laguna Seca, so it has been quite a while since I have been out there with the circus. Here’s to hoping for less mayhem on the start this year. See you soon!

2009 Utah Grand Prix Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud celebrate their win

Long Beach.  Long flight back.  Not so bad going out, where did your day go coming home.  Its a street course, something I used to like; now I am not so certain, narrow lanes affording little passing.  Then there is the whole issue of the “main” series, the parade and posturing.  I grew up in Illinois not terribly far from Indy, so the 500 is definitely something that I still appreciate.  No idea why, though, it was killed in the mid 90′s when the most recent split happened.  Yes, Paul Tracy won and was rooked; I’m a believer.  Things seem to be better on 16th Street now though, new blood, old blood, a 2010 season with fewer ovals, turning right, you know…racing.  Then again, I was there, sorry ABC shills;  there were more people in the seats for the ALMS race on Saturday than the IndyCar race on Sunday..

Ok, enough bitching about IndyCar.

We flew into the Long Beach Airport (recommend) on Thursday afternoon and made it to our hotel around 3:54.  Not quite in time for me to cab back over to the convention center for the 4PM photo meeting.  On one hand, I had nothing better to do than sit by the bay drinking Cucapá Chupacabras and eating ceviche all evening.  On the other, I was now faced with a 6:15Am photo meeting.  It didn’t really matter since the time zone killed me.  I was in bed around 8PM California time and back up at 4:30AM. The Passport Bus system didn’t start running until 6AM, so I had a cab waiting for me in the morning dark.

The Long Beach Convention Center is a huge place and I doubt I would have easily found the meeting if I had not run into Adriano Manocchia who showed me around the place for a bit.  Could this place be any more cavernous and winding?

6:15AM photographer meeting

I shot a picture with my BlackBerry so you could the glamorous life of photo meetings.  Having no real idea of where to go shoot after then meeting, I followed some good advice and headed to T11.  The light was great, but I was outside the track and was not really liking the angle so I headed up the front straight to aquatint myself with T1, the Fountain Area and the rest of that side of the track.  I imagine there might be a good shot or two in the street canyons over by the back straight, but I never made it over there as it did not look terribly interesting on the map.  I spent a good portion of my Friday learning some of the holes and vantage points on the course; thinking about where the sun would be later in the day.

#45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR: Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Long

Long Beach weekend  is pretty heavy for ALMS.  Friday morning practice, Friday afternoon qualification, Saturday afternoon race.  Not much time to acclimate to a very slick and demanding street course.  Not sure why they do it to be honest.

Since the race was only 100 minutes, I reasoned that I would not have time to shoot in the pits so I decided to work them during qualification.  Similarly to Sebring, the light was long and colorful during quali.  Also similar to Sebring was the extremely boring quali session.  Again, the only highlight was the LMPC class battle with Christophe Bouchut and Gunnar Jeannette trading fast laps.  I find it odd that the qualification can be so uninteresting when the race itself is full of excitement.  Hopefully that will change as the season burns in.

#99 Green Earth Team Gunnar Oreca FLM09: Gunnar Jeannette, Elton Julian

Saturday was race day and I started the afternoon by shooting the start from atop the T1 walkway.  Half of the walkway was dedicated to pros, half was sold to people who wanted the “pro” experience.  My wife, Kim, commented later that half of the people shooting from above T1 left after the 1st 5 or 6 laps; I guess if you are paying to be up there, you need to get your shots.

Race Start #007 Aston Martin Racing Lola B09 60 Aston Martin: Harold Primat, Adrian Fernandez

I spent most of the ALMS race working the inside of the last few turns as I was liking the light on T9 and T10.  I got some great shots in the hairpin, but had no idea the Pagenaud made that great pass on the final lap until I watched it later on the internet.  Happily, the hat dance was modified from Sebring and went much more quickly.  Unhappily, Long Beach did not let fans into the area to watch, so again, very few live people saw the trophies handed out.

Podium Ceremony GT Class Champagne Battle

Thanks for reading and looking!  My ALMS Long Beach Grand Prix Photo Gallery is available for viewing and instant download at DPerceptions Motorsport Photography.

-Darren

We decided to make the drive up to Connecticut and back into a quick Northeastern Tour.  Camping the 1st night partway into Virginia in the Shenandoah National Park and then on the 2nd night in the Catskills at North-South Lake Campground.  Day three found us pulling into Lime Rock Park around 7pm.  The people with my credentials (which double as an entry ticket) had already left for the day.  Dumb planning on my part, but luckily the Guest Services woman believed my story and let us sign in.  We rounded up our rental golf car and headed into the park.  May I say that Lime Rock Park is beautiful? What sets it aside from most tracks is that there are no bleachers or grandstands, just hills and grass from where you can watch the racing.  We found our spot, and got set up just in time for a lightning/hail/wind storm to batter us for a while.  The storm didn’t last very long and afterward the sky erupted in a spray of blue clouds.

You will notice the big class A rig parked to our left. The RHR logo on the golf cart and the Ohio plates gave us a clue as to who our neighbor was, and our guesswork was confirmed early Friday morning as Bobby Rahal left the rig and drove off to the garages. I can state categorically that they were superb neighbors and never once woke us up with any 3AM Metallica. In fact, the whole park was pretty sedate the entire weekend. I was up early Friday morning as I had to go back to the main gate to get my entry credentials before the photographer’s meeting at the media center. The morning started out very foggy and damp, but just before the first ALMS practice session, the sun broke though and started to dry everything out. I had never been to Lime Rock before, so I was again behind the eight ball trying to learn the track.  The system they use there for gaining entry to trackside areas is quite ingenious. Many of the gates are not near flag stands and posting guards at them would require staffing, so they have coded locks on all of the gates. Maybe this is common, but I thought it to be pretty smart. As in Utah, I was amazed at how open and helpful many of the photographers were. I had several talks about exposure compensation due to the high direct sun blasting the windshields of the cars and more than one suggested places and angles to try. As soon as they found out I had never shot there, they would offer their advice on good spots to shoot from. One guy did suggest a part of the track that no longer existed, but I will chalk that down to memory loss. During the lunch break, Kim and I hopped into the cart to head down to the vendor area to poke around.  We parked the cart, took the key and wandered around.  When we got back, the cart was gone.  Since every golf cart on the planet uses the same key, they are not exactly hard to steal.  As we stood in the empty spot, I saw a cart loaded down with box fans heading off in the distance.  I jogged after them and sure enough the cart was #13.  I yelled for them to stop, but they were already at their destination, The Patron VIP tent.  Not sure what is it about the Patron people, first they laugh at my coffee in Utah, then they steal our cart in Connecticut.  They do seem to be breeding them like bunnies though.  I have a theory that if you pour Patron on a bunny, it turns into a person wearing some sort of Patron clothing.  Seriously, the woman who took our cart was mortified, she thought it was the Patron cart since it was parked next to the tent.  It was actually pretty funny at the end, just disconcerting at the beginning. The heavy clouds were back for qualifying so the exposures were a bit more consistent. Its not fun going from dark gray, to blazing sun and then back to darkness all in the space of a minute. Usually, the sun comes out exactly when either one of the BMWs or Dysons comes through. Then you are not only overexposed, you get the added bonus of completely blown whites. Such is the life of action photography I guess. The day became darker and lightning started flashing behind the nearest bluff. It was a good time to be able to go all the way down to 2.8, because it got dark fast. At the final part of P1/P2 quali, it started to rain a bit and all the photographers in my area ran away. It was just me and a Brit standing out on a hill in the rain and lightning….holding big metal electrical devices……on metal mono pods……not too smart I guess. Qualifying finished and we drove back to the RV just before the skies opened. The only Wi-Fi at the track was in the media center which was a wet ride down the hill so I pulled out our AT&T connect card so I could upload some of my files. Just like at Sebring, the data net was being crushed to the point of non usability. We had 5 bars and could call out, but the data network was pretty much dead. In desperation, I turned on Airport and was able to connect only to someone’s wireless HP printer. Resigned to uploading from the media center early the next morning, I went back to culling and correcting the day’s images.

It rained off and on all night, but the day started out clear and dry. After a crash filled Formula BMW race, the ALMS cars finally took the grid. The pit lane walk lasted about 10 minutes due to the overun from the support races.

I had decided to start the race in the RahalLetterman pits. There was a bit more mayhem in the pits than usual. The #90 BMW broke a driveshaft about halfway through the race and wax fixed in the pit box. The Robertson GT40 left with only one drive tire and had to be pushed back. The Panoz had its entire back undertray ripped out during a late pit stop and drove back into the race looking like something from the movie Brazil. All in all it was an exciting race. The Corsa Motorsports Team took their maiden podium with their Hybrid Ginetta-Zytek 09HS, the bulletproof Lowes-Fernandez car had trouble for the 1st time this year, Patrick Long & Joerg Bergmeister put the #45 Flying Lizard on the top step and Dyson had one car out early and the other one in for a win. If you have never been to Limerock, I suggest it highly, its a great place for a motor race. My entire Northeast Grand Prix gallery can be viewed HERE.  Thanks for reading.

I was in Utah once before as a young lad.  Kim and I have also been through SLC airport many times on our way to Cali and Vegas.  Still, the differences I noticed when stepping outside in search of my rental car were staggering.  I left Atlanta on a red-eye and it was already oppressively muggy for May.  The 10AM air in Utah was warm, but completely lacking in moisture.  There were mountains everywhere, there was SNOW on them.  Weird.

I acquired my Hyundai Accent (no thank you, I don’t wish to upgrade to a similar POS car for only $3.86 more a day) and headed out of the airport in search of my hotel.  Strangely, my hotel was at the next exit, exactly where it was supposed to be. Even more strange, the chipper desk clerk Nancy let me check in to a room at 10:30AM.  Things seemed to be going well so I went to my room to freshen up and to send a twitpic back home to my wonderful wife.

I needed to drive out to Tooele to check-in and pick up my credentials, so I threw a few cameras over my shoulders and headed down to the car.  As the desk clerk watched me leave the hotel with my gear, she offered, “Good Luck”. This gave me pause, but I left anyway.

Driving on I-80 around the lake is surreal.  I assume it must be somewhat like driving on the moon.  Nothing, lots of nothing. Well, mountains and a big ass lake I guess, but that’s about it.

I followed my directions onto a few county highways and then exited onto “Sheep Lane”, no shit, Sheep Lane.  Lots of cows, a few horses, an airplane, no sheep.  Hey look!  A racing complex.

Miller Motorsports Park is fantastic.  The place is scenic, well maintained, clean, new, ready to roll.  The staff in the media center and in the courtesy vans were amazing.  I have not felt so pampered and cared for since the Omni Royal Orleans last New Year’s.  Even MMP’s marketing person, Jen (@MMP_Utah) was tweeting at me out on the track to keep hydrated. As a photographer, when I am working, I have become accustomed to feeling somewhat like an unwanted insect.  Miller’s people reminded me that I am actually doing something that a lot of people wish/think they can do.

Fast forward a few days and several Polygamy Porters.  Race day!  7:30AM photographer meeting.  I leave my hotel in the pre-dawn and watch the sun rise on the tops of the mountains as I head towards Tooele.  Its early, too early, but I have never been here before and don’t want to get stuck in traffic.  Not to worry as the mighty Hyundai gets me to my parking spot by 7AM.  I land next to some Patron team members who shout at me that my coffee mug is too small. Weird way to to start the day.

The morning continues on its oddball bent as I arrive at the locked Media Center.  The major-domo is standing there talking on her cell phone, trying to get someone to come unlock the door.  I drink my inadequately sized coffee and wait.  Eventually she finds her way in and we all go inside and prepare for the day.

Fire suits are hot.  Sounds stupid but true.  I had never worn one, but to shoot in the hot pits during the race, you have to be protected.  Eventually my body acclimated and I forgot about my discomfort.  Cars flying in and about and tires, fuel, screeching and away will do that to you.  At one point, I was leaning into a Flying Lizard pit stop and got hit in the head with the ground clamp.  It was disconcerting to get whacked, wonder what happened, look down, see a jumper cable clamp, realize you are not really hurt and then go back to shooting all in the space of 1 second.  I looked up later and saw the mortified look on one of the Lizard pit crew.  I gave him a thumbs up and he smiled and went back to work.  Good on him to notice and then drop it.

The race was great and the venue was tip top.  I met a bunch of people that I hope and expect to see again soon.  Oh yeah, my pix are sick. You can view the complete ALMS Utah Grand Prix photo gallery and the Mazda/Jetta photo gallery.

Life doesn’t seem too bad

I was thrilled to finally see the newest iteration of the racing BMW M3 at Sebring.  Rahal-Letterman entered two cars and the presence of Dr. Mario Thiessen indicated that the BMW factory was seriously interested in returning their cars to racing prominence in North America.

It was not be be however.  Bill Auberlin’s #90 M3 failed to fire from the 6th spot on the grid and had to be wheeled to the pits for repair.  After nearly an hour of work the #90 did manage to join the race.  27 laps later the #90 M3 was forced to retire with an unrepairable oil leak.

The #92 of Dirk Müller started from 13th and slowly worked its way up through the field to second position.  Near the five  hour mark of the twelve hour race, the #92 M3 broke while launching from the pits and had to be retired also.

Sebring is a very rough and demanding track and for their first outing, at least one of the M3s showed the promise I was hoping to see.  I am sure that Rahal-Letterman will have sorted out the gremlins and will be back in full form for round two in St. Petersburg. My image gallery of ALMS Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring is available online.

We were headed back to the campsite from shooting the Driver Autograph Session when I saw this HUGE sign that said Parking for Scott Atherton. I walked over to shoot a picture of it and noticed this rather un-Panoz Panoz.  I am going through the files and will upload more tomorrow to Flickr and to DPerceptions.  (Edit:  Life interfered, images will be up Wednesday night)