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

I have shot open cockpit cars may times.  Most of the P1 and P2 cars in ALMS are open.  Formula BMW and Star Mazda are open. Hell, even the IMSA Lites are open cockpit.  Why was I having trouble keeping the stupid mirror out of the driver’s face?  Its a mystery.  Seriously, it, like everything else, its a matter of timing and figuring out the right angle from which to shoot.

Dario Franchitti rounds the Keyhole during practice for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio ©2009 Darren Pierson/DPerceptions

It had been raining off and on Saturday morning so I was hoping to shoot some giant rooster tails, but it was not to be. The Speed World Challenge cars dried out the track and during the small bit of rain during IndyCar practice, only a few people ventured out on full wets. I had to be content with intermittent showers and no light.

It was still great fun to shoot them though, the braking and cornering they are capable of is astounding.  I’m old though and wish for a return of the days of multiple engine manufacturers, differing chassis marques, turbos and drivers who knew what a right hand turn looked like.  For certain, many of the current drivers in IndyCar have roots in karting and other forms of non circular motor entertainment.  The problem lies in the disparity in skills.  Most all of them are good at planting their right foot and turning left, some of those are also very good at shifting and turning right; not many are good at both.  That’s where the skill and entertainment value are lacking.  I don’t really want to see Justin Wilson or Robert Dornboos drive 250 miles in a circle, I want to see car control, stalking, overtaking, out breaking, you get the idea.  Since great drivers like Paul Tracy and Will Power don’t have rides and lesser mortals do, I don’t suppose those days are coming back.

Marco Andretti exits the Keyhole at Mid Ohio ©2009 Darren Pierson/DPerceptions

My opinion on the series aside, I enjoyed shooting the cars. My entire 2009 Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio gallery is available for your perusal and use.

Thanks for reading and looking!

The drive is about 10 hours from Athens to Lexington.  Eleven if you go through Virginia to avoid 5pm traffic in on 285 in Atlanta.  We were again camping, but this time the RV was in use, so we had to pull out our tent and sleeping bags.  Tent camping with camera gear and other electronics, fun.  Actually, it was.  Largely due to our cool neighbors and the fairly agreeable weather.  It was thoroughly unwarm Thursday night and it rained on Saturday morning off and on, but we did not die of heat exhaustion; a certainty in Georgia this time of year.  On to the cars!

There were quite a few of them zipping around.  The Speed World Challenge, Atlantic Championship, ALMS, Indy Lights and IndyCars were all there.  Very few moments of daylight occurred without cars of some kind on the track.  We arrived after all on track activity stopped on Thursday, so Friday morning was my first chance to shoot at Mid Ohio.  I have watched races on this track so many times that I figured I knew it well.  I was wrong.  Once there I was completely turned around and had to rely on my map just to understand where I was.  We were camped just off of the backside of the Keyhole, so I started shooting there as soon as ALMS practice started on Friday morning.  The Keyhole is a fairly boring place from which to shoot.  Two straights with decent elevation change and what is basically a hairpin.

Flying Lizard #44 exits the keyhole at Mid Ohio @2009 Darren Pierson/DPerceptions

Have I mentioned shooting through photo holes is irritating?  The mid morning sun was pretty harsh as well, but I think I pulled a few out from the 1st session.  Towards the end of the first practice on Friday, I was up the back straight pretty far.  Nearly to the Flag Tower.  I shot there for a while, working on some slow shutter pans.  The there was a red flag.  One of the guys in the stand looked over to me and I shouted up “what car is off?”.  ”We don’t know, we think its the 9″, came back.  A few seconds later, the same guy yelled down, “Do you want to come up here and shoot for a while?”  Um…yes.  That would be cool.  A vantage point completely unrelated to photo holes in the fence.  Excellent.  I had two things against me.  (1) There was only five minutes left in the session and (2) I quickly realized that it would be very easy to make my images accidentally look like I was shooting over the fence on a tall ladder.  I tried shooting wide, really wide with a 20mm and extra tight with a 300mm.  In the end, the best images came from a moderate zoom of ~105mm.  I was a bit bummed that I had so little time up there, but I do think I got a few good grabs.

Snow and Flying Lizards down the back straight at Mid Ohio ©2009 Darren Pierson/DPerceptions

Session over, we headed back to camp for lunch.  I thought that the afternoon session would be best handled in Madness.  So we walked over the bridge by the paddock and settled in for some twisty bits.  Soon after arriving, one of the Challenge Cars decided to overshoot the braking point and ended quite deep in the kitty litter.  For once, I was actually shooting at a proper focal length and shutter speed to pick up the trek through the pea gravel.

#02 Gruppe Orange finds the gravel trap at Mid Ohio ©2009 Darren Pierson/DPerceptions

Its quite fun to be shooting in and out of elevation changes. I love being able to throw the track into the immediate foreground or drift the track into the background. Elevation is the key.

The Saturday morning session started off with rain and IndyCars.  I have limited experience shooting open cockpit cars. Let me change that:  Aside from Star Mazda, Formula BMW, IMSA Lites and P1/P2 cars, I have little experience shooting IndyCars.  I will say that the IndyCar mirrors are ALWAYS blocking the diver’s faces.  Not sure about this phenomenon, but I will cover the IndyCar part of the weekend in another post.

We love watching races in the rain.  On TV.  Meaning the cars are somewhere else in the rain and we are ensconced on the couch in the dry.  We awoke to the sound of rain on our tent.  Not a real big deal since my gear is water resistant, but not much fun either.  I have been looking at Think Tank raincoats for my gear, not buying, mind you.  My raincoat doubled as a tent for about 20 minutes of wet shooting and then the rain pretty much went away for the day.  The race itself was great fun.  The Cytomax car kept surprising pace and ended up second in P2 and Fourth overall.  Not too shabby for the 1st time out.  Also not too shabby was Corvette racing’s GT2 debut with a 2nd and fourth in class.

Corvette Racing GT2 #3 pulls into the pits for a late race fuel stop ©2009 Darren Pierson/DPerceptions

They nearly had a second and third, but the #92 BMW pipped the #4 in the last few laps of the race.  Both Dysons had problems, one on their end, one thanks to another.  Gil de Ferran, after announcing his retirement and subsequently taking pole, won the race outright.  Lowes-Fernandez racing took P2 honors.

Mid Ohio Sports Car Course is a great venue to see a motor race.  My complete gallery of the 2009 ALMS Acura Sports Car Challenge is available for your use.

Thanks for reading and looking!