#202 '72 BMW CSL: Byron DeFoor

Somehow I can still look forward to the Sunday peace and quiet of a day’s worth of vintage racing at Road Atlanta.  The Mitty simply cannot be missed even if only the final day.

This year, Formula 5000 was being honored and many were on hand for their sunday race.  I was especially keen to visit the grid before they let the public down onto it.  I think only 4 or 5 cars made it down before the officials let in the crowds for the grid walk.

#8 '70 Lola T290: Skip Haga

Don’t misunderstand me, I am all for fans being as close to the cars as possible, but its hard to do my job with 25 people in the way of every car.  To be honest, the most difficult people at some of these smaller events are the other photographers, many of whom have no sense of sharing space and taking turns.  Levels of professionalism I have become used to in the ALMS I guess.

Earlier, I was driving through the pits looking for a place to park to shoot some color.  Suddenly a woman started shouting and waving at me.  I thought she was some overly officious official who could not see my vehicle pass.  Turns out the crazy woman was my friend Deneen with whom I sometimes work the ALMS pits.  I did not recognize her without a headset and fire suit, weird how you assign clothing to people.  She is driving Bob Leitzinger’s RV and historics cars around the country this summer; very cool.  I pulled into their spot and talked to her and Bob for a while.  He was running a Lola and his Datsun that weekend and it was great fun to look through his photo albums and see the evolution of his racing career.

#99 '65 Lotus Elan: Bob Leitzinger

Like last year, and I would imagine all years, the Mitty was intermittently rainy, cloudy and then sunny.  At all times, it was quite warm.  The only real rain on Sunday happened just at the end of the 1st feature race around 9:30 am during the Vic Elford Trophy.  The next race was the GP bikes which didn’t run due to the water.  From that point on, it was dry.

#44C '09 Porsche Cayman: Jim McCormick

I am not convinced about the Cayman Interseries being involved with historic racing.  One one hand its cool to see the old liveries on the track, but how a new Porsche Cayman is Historic or Vintage is beyond my pay grade.  I digress.  Go to the track.  Watch Historic racing.  Meet the drivers.  Meet the People.  You will have a great time, I promise.

My entire The Mitty Challenge image gallery can be seen at DPerceptions Motorsports Photography.  Thanks for reading and looking!

2002 BMW M3 E1: Drew Ewing

He recently made a video where he used some of my photography from the weekend. Not all of the stills are mine, but most of them are.   The video is interspersed with in car video, mostly from Road Atlanta.  Its interesting to see what was happening in the car and on the track while I was outside shooting the car.  Additionally, audio is provided by James Tiberis Kirk and Joan Jett, what could go wrong?

Eric Kuhns' 1988 Porsche 944 E2 at dawn just before the start of the Santa's Toy Run 9 hour enduro

Friday starts off bright and early with an 8:30 AM start for a 9 hour enduro.  This year, there seemed not to be as many cars entered in the enduro as in past years, but the quality of the cars and drivers made up for the lack of numbers.  Santa was on hand for the drivers meeting and to wave the green flag at the start of the race.  Road Atlanta is a fairly long track, so when there are not a huge amount of cars running, a photographer tends to get bored and unmotivated.  Normally, in this situation you are shooting a short sprint race that lasts twenty minutes or so.  This time, I was faced with nine hours of 22 cars on the track.  I needed to stay focused, creative and awake.  Also, it was COLD. The sun stayed in view for a few hours and then disappeared behind a solid mass of gray clouds.  It was still in the sky though and wreaking havoc by suddenly appearing just as I started shooting.  Sudden four stop jumps in light are always fun.

The start of the 9 hour enduro for the NASA Santa's Toy Run Weekend

I started out shooting outside turn one so I could capture the start of the race and then went up a ways to shoot back down into the turn.  I don’t really like shooting back that way since the background is often so cluttered.  Did I mention it was cold?  I went up to shoot under the Suzuki bridge, but the light wasn’t right so I decided to try inside turn 7 so that I could work with the direction of the light.  I always think of Road Atlanta being surrounded by pine trees, but the obvious lack of leaves made for some interesting blur effects in 6-7.

Gert Adolphsen takes his 1965 FFR Mkii ES through turn seven

As I have mentioned previously, having the track nearly to yourself often leads to new discoveries. This time was no exception; just past the inside of turn seven, I found a perfectly worthless photo hole. Its too high for a driver climb through, you cannot get a clear view of the exit of seven and you cannot get a decent angle on 8-9. The hole is precisely, perfectly not in the correct spot. I suppose you could pan cars on acceleration from seven, but you can do that all over the place.

After shooting in many of my usual spots, I decided to head to the pits so I could hang with the crews and see what a NASA pit stop looked like. Seems like I picked the perfect time as most of the runners were coming in for tire and front bake pad changes. After working the ALMS pits for a year, these stops were amusingly sedate. Not that the crews weren’t hustling and working hard, just that the pace was, well, different.  The #58 Mustang driven by Dean Martin from Rehagen Racing won the enduro.  I completely enjoyed the toy run and will be back next year.  I will also definitely put NASA-SE on my shooting calendar.

Rehagen Racing pits for tires towards the end of the enduro

My entire image gallery for the NASA Santa’s Toy Run 9 Hour Enduro is available online for viewing and instant download. Thanks for looking.

Doug Campbell in his 1964 Ginetta G4 at the SVRA Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix

I grew up in Illinois in the 70s and 80s and my 1st car was a 1968 Mustang notchback. It sported a whopping 201ci straight 6 and had 4 bolt drum brakes all around. The steering was loose, the bondo was heavy but it was red and fun to drive. Illinois is flat and all of my friends drove Camaros and 442s. What was I supposed to do other than drop a 351 Windsor into it and go drag racing? I digress. Somewhere in there I ended up with a Fiat X19. What is the point of this and why am I telling you about shitty cars I owned in 1982?  So you can know that I have a background in American muscle cars and an affinity for tiny engined Eurocars.

Friday was cold and clear and I took my time walking around the pits to see what had arrived.  I had the entry list, but nothing beats looking at the cars, seeing how they were prepped and thinking about what they would do on the track.  Its a test day with an hour enduro at the end of the day so every car hits the track during their class times.  Vintage racing has its moments.  So do the drivers and their cars.  Some can move very quickly and others are more content to be on the track but slow and out of the way.  Others seem to be moving chicanes, but I gather that the important part is to participate, be safe, have fun and make great noises.

Brian Farmer tries a new exit line from T5 in his Austin Healey Sprite Mk III

Did I mention the cars are fantastic? Each class runs its timed practice and then at the end of the day is a one hour enduro. This is great fun. Most all of the cars on the track at the same time and seeing a 1948 Morgan chase down a 1972 Ford Escort is uniquely odd.

Saturday it rained. All day. Pretty much continually. Something that has been happening in Georgia quite a bit lately. Not many people ran in these heats.  I can understand that many of these cars are parts difficult and that sliding into a wall simply because the track is wet is a situation to avoid.  Thanks to the cars that did brave the rain and put on a show for the other idiots like myself that were standing around in the gloom.

The 1975 Porsche 911RSR of Markku Biedermann heads into the Esses at The 2009 Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix

When I first arrived at the track, I went to shoot the inside of turn one, it was freezing!  The wind was coming down the straight and making the rain extra annoying.  I would not have been surprised to see sleet mixed in with the rain.  Thankfully it started to warm up and the wind died down a bit.  It might also of helped that I left and went up to T3.  I found several photo holes on the inside of T2 through T4 that I did not know existed.  Some of them are pretty useless because of parked car cluttered backgrounds, but a couple are perfect for dark tree backgrounds with cars just cresting a rise.  That is one of my favorite ways to frame a car on the track.  Saturday was pretty much a crap shoot; some heats had ten cars, some five, a few only two.  It was hard to stay focused with long gaps in between the few cars that were running.  The upside was that the laps were slow, so it was possible to move to other places on the track during the heats.  One of my goals for the weekend was shoot from at least three new places each day.  This is not as easy as it sounds, but I was able to find several new places and angles that will be added to my shoot list during other events.

Doc Bundy climbs the hill below the Esses in his 1990 Lotus Esprit X180R at The 2009 Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix

Sunday was, to steal something James Weaver once said to me, “A beautiful day for a motor race, what could go wrong?”  The sky was blue with just the right amount of clouds; exactly like the opening of The Simpsons.  There were a lot more fans there and quite a few people lining the fences.  The hill had a respectable amount of canopies dotting the grass.  I imagine the rain on Saturday killed the event as far as the gate went, but still there were a fair amount of people to watch the final heats.  It was a change to see so many cars on the track at once.  Many of the drivers seemed to be flogging their rides a bit harder than normal, probably from the frustration of the sodden Saturday.

The 1965 Wolseley Hornet of Richard Thomas crests the hill out of Turn one at Road Atlanta

I spent most of Sunday shooting from outside the track, just to force myself to see from new angles. This is a good exercise that I encourage everyone to try once in a while. It really makes you look at where you are shooting since most of the time you are shooting back into flagstands, parked cars, light poles, buildings, you get the idea. This method will certainly drop your keeper rate, but the benefit of pre-visualization will make those keepers stronger.

I look forward to shooting more Historic and Vintage races. I think I’m hooked……now who did I sell that Fiat to again?

My entire 2009 SVRA Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix Gallery is available online and ready for your digital and print media needs. Thanks for reading and Looking!

A Class 2 chase through Turn 6 at Road Atlanta during the 2009 Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix

EDIT: Sports Car Digest has used some of my work from this event to illustrate an article about The 2009 SVRA Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix. Thanks to Jamie Doyle.

6:15AM – Soaked to the bone an decidedly awake, I made coffee and culled files before the meeting.  I threw on my raincoat, grabbed my travel mug of coffee and headed out into the deluge to find our golf car.  Several times during the drive to the tower I drove through 6 inch deep rivers of clay.  Nearing turn 10, I was amazed to see that many of the tents pitched on the downhill had been overrun by the waters.  One particularly large tent had been set smack in the middle of a small river and had over a foot tall berm of mud piled against it’s side.  The river flowed across the road, down the hill, against the tent and around it into a storm drain further down the hill.  Yikes!  I was at that point very appreciative of my dry sleeping area.

Peugeot 908 #07 leads the Audi R15 #2 though T12 during morning warmups for the 2009 Petit Le Mans

7:15AM –  As I reached the tower the rains came down even harder.  I ran into the meeting forgetting my coffee in the car.  So far this morning had been pretty annoying.  The photography meeting went as usual except there were so many photographers it was nearly impossible to hear and most of the people speaking did not remember to use the PA system they had set up.   Those meetings are somewhat odd.  Essentially the same rules exist at every track, the only differences are certain areas being red zones (no go) during the race as opposed to during practice or qualification.  Sometimes there are a few clarifications or they give us the new combinations for the gate locks.  There are always a few people who need to complain about a course worker denying them entry to an area or some other gripe.  Essentially, the meetings are held to help inform the people from area media and people who are new to shooting racing.  These are also the people who don’t seem to show up for these meetings.  You can usually tell who they are when they try to get into the pits while not wearing a fire suit.

10AM – After breakfast and more coffee, I had a pre-race meeting to attend and I shot the tail end of the warmup in the last of the morning rains.  We then headed to the front straight to join in the grid walk.  Even in the rain (it had by this time slowed to a drizzle) the grid was packed to hilt with fans.  In fact it was so packed, I gave up and headed down to turn one to get my spot for the start of the race.  The skies continued to rain off and on pretty much up until the ~11:15 reconnaissance laps.  When the cars went by us in turn one behind the safety car for the first time the track was still wet to the point where you could see the rear tires throwing up a large splash of water.  The rain had stopped, so I prepared to shoot the first lap of the race.  Turn one at the start of the Petit Le Mans can be a daunting place to stand.  Even behind yards of gravel, a tire barrier and finally a concrete barrier, I was ready for cars to come sliding my way.  I prepared one camera to shoot wide and fast in case someone decided to come through the gravel at the start of the race and the other to catch the cars as they came down the last of the pit straight.  A huge fog appeared out of turn 12 and the leaders headed our way.

Three wide at the start of the 2009 Petit Le Mans. Allan McNish goes wide on the outside to take the lead

I continued to shoot turn one for several laps as the rooster tails died down and a dry line started to form. The rain was gone and the race was on.

I was going to cover the pits for the first part of the race, so I left turn one and headed up to the tower to put on a fire suit. Here is one of the few good points of the rain and cool weather; it makes wearing a fire suit in Georgia in September almost bearable. I hit the pits a little after Noon and a few cars had already switched over to dry tires. I watched the Matmut Oreca team refuel and throw on slicks. There was still enough water in their pitbox to cause the car to slide on its way out. I heard over the radio almost immediately that Lapierre had had an off and on, so the track, while drying, was still quite wet in places. Over the next 20 minutes or so, all of the cars came in for slicks, so the pits were a very busy place to be.

The Matmut Oreca AIM pits for fresh tires during the 2009 Petit Le Mans

I had been paying particular attention to the new Drayson Lola all week as the car was completely new to both me and the team. My pit notes showed that Lord Paul Drayson was supposed to be the third driver into the car, but somewhere around one in the afternoon, Paul put on his helmet and jumped into the car after Jonny Cocker finished the first stint. I must admit that I did not pay much attention to his times, but he seemed to be holding his own. About an hour later he got out and gave the car over to Rob Bell. You could tell how elated Paul was as he jumped out of the car and started running around hugging everyone. He was smiling from ear to ear.  This was great to see, the sport needs more people who are as openly enthusiastic as him.

Lord Paul Drayson in the Drayson Racing pitbox - 2009 Petit Le Mans

The rains came and went; usually nothing more than a few drops. Several cars were having problems, mostly with crashes and offs. About 2:30 Kim came down to the pits to pick me up for some lunch. We went back tot he RV and ate while watching the race unfold on television. Then it started to rain again.

Red Flag

As we sat watching the rain come down outside we listened to the Radio Le Mans guys valiantly scramble to fill airtime.  They did an exceptional job of informing and entertaining during the lull in racing.  However, I couldn’t keep the same feeling I had during the 2005 US Grand Prix from creeping into my head. I remember standing with Kim in the front straight at Indy, mouth agape as all of the Michelin shod cars pulled into the garages. I was hugely frustrated, but had been warned the day before by the Williams Team. Much like Indy, I knew the rain was coming, but hoped it would pass.

BMW Rahal Letterman M3 #90 in the rain at the 2009 Petit Le Mans

What most people still don’t seem to understand was that we (Georgia in this case) had over 20 inches of rain the week before the race, there was nowhere for this new rain to go.  The ground was full, there was nothing the track could do other than wait.  I think IMSA, ALMS and Road Atlanta got it right, the red flag and the final checker waved 5 hours later.  At no point in between was it the track in any condition to hold a walk, let alone a motor race.  As a fan I was bummed, but understood.

Once the officials threw the checkers, we jumped into the golf car to head down for the podium ceremonies.  The trophy session (or hat dance as it is called) was obviously subdued, but the Peugeot guys did seem to makes sure McNish was completely soaked with champagne.  I am sure he was appreciative.

The P1 Podium Ceremony at the 2009 Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda6

One of the most amazing bits of the week were the fans.  We have been going to Petit for years and even through the rain, we have never seen so many people at the track.  I can only assume this means good things for the future of sports car racing.

Thanks for reading and looking! My entire 2009 Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda 6 gallery is available for viewing and your use at DPerceptions.com

Adrian Fernandez during the Drivers autograph session at the 2009 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta

Its also a great time for team interaction as the PR people and principals are out and about. Unless the car was shunted durning morning practice or the quali setup has not been found, the mechanics are a bit more relaxed and you can often find interesting bits to photograph in the garage that you might not have contemplative access to during other times of the week.

The Audi driving suits being aired out prior to qualification for the 2009 Petit Le Mans

With the session over, we jumped into the cart and headed back to the RV for lunch and file download/culling . Many people think that since there is no film involved, photography is now a breeze. While some things have certainly become more simple, such as instant preview (I sold my 2 1/4 Polaroid back years ago), the reality is that I have never had to do more work to obtain the final product. I suppose the real problem with public perception of photography is that most never had to learn the discipline of exposure and focus. Most never processed film, printed contacts or spent untold hours in the darkroom dodging and burning a print. Today, the GWC or MWC merely looks at the viewfinder on the back of the camera, pushes (hopefully) the right button, instantly sees the results and later uploads the original jpeg to Facebook and calls it a job well done. Enough of my rant, back to the racing.

GT2 qualification was first and as it progressed, I became more and more confused. Roberston Racing’s GT40 was constantly at the top of the charts.  Don’t misunderstand me here, I am fully in support of the Robinsons and admire their tenacity and determination.  I have talked to David Robinson in the pits numerous times and he is incredibly open and down to earth.  But what was their car doing at the sharp end of the grid?  Granted, Road Atlanta is a power track and David Murry (the quali driver) was an instructor here, but the fact remained that they were outrunning the Flying Lizards, Risi, the P&M Vettes and even the similarly shod RLR BMW M3s.  An additional surprise was the Riley-Corvette of LGR running in second place.  Unless I am mistaken, that corvette had not been on track since the fire at Long Beach months ago.  The GT2 part of the race was going to look very different at the start.

The Robertson Racing GT40 with David Murry at the wheel takes the GT2 pole for the 2009 Petit Le Mans

For Prototype qualification, we went back up to turn 10, but this time I was shooting from outside 10a in the triangle by the tunnel. This isn’t the greatest spot to shoot from since you are at track level and there tends to be quite a bit of distracting bits in the background. This means you are either shooting pretty tight or really slowly; usually both. The Peugeots seemed to have the legs on the Audis for most of the session and it ended that way with P1 pole going to the 07 of Minassian/Lamy with the 08, 2 & 1 following up. The Dyson Lola Mazdas continued their positive streak with the 20 of Leitzinger/Franchitti/Devlin taking P2 pole.  The #16 Dyson was running an alternative fuel and was not eligible for points.  The Cytosport RS Spyder of Pickett/Graf/Maassen continued their impressive short season with a 2nd place on the grid.

The Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder crests the hill past T10 and heads under the Suzuki Bridge at Road Atlanta

With Quali over, we headed back to camp to detox, retox, eat and retox some more.  Tired of shooting, we watched the Jetta TDI cup qualification from the Hill and then went back to culling files.  I will finish this post in Partie Trois – Tres Petit Petit.  Thanks for looking and reading! My entire 2009 Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda 6 gallery is available for viewing and your use at DPerceptions.com

When we arrived at the track, we had the usual document dance to attend: credentials, golf car, get the RV into the track, pick up photo vest, you know; the entry drill.  We always land the RV in the same spot and this is conveniently very far away from most everything.  After parking and a quick setup of camp, we had just enough time for lunch before practice.  Since our space on the back straight is somewhat near turn six and seven, I decided to start out shooting on the outside of seven.

Allan McNish in the #2 Audi R15 at Road Atlanta

For those of you who do not know, seven is reached via a hike through the wild kudzu fields of Northeast Georgia.  Its worth the effort, since the inside of 6-7 can be shot by pretty much anybody with a small bit of length.  Doesn’t mean they will shoot it well, but the track is exceedingly close in that area.  Road Atlanta is somewhat like Miller Motor Sports park in that you cannot show up with too much glass.  The long stretches are begging for 400mm, 500mm glass; expensive things.  My reaction times were off, I was rusty.  I had not shot speeding cars since Mid Ohio in early August.  Slow moving pedestrian type photography obligations had kept us from Road America and Mosport.  My slow pans were horrible with a keeper rate of ~1 out of 6.  Still, I came out of Wednesday with several images which I count in my most strong from the week.  Plus, the sun was out.

Rock & Roll Union Jack on the back of the Drayson Lola

Thursday was again a beautiful example of a fine fall day. Blue skies with big puffy clouds. Neat to look at and groovy to float in your pictures but a nightmare for metering.  Previously, at the WERA Cycle Jam, I had found what I thought to be a good spot and angle from which to shoot in the turn 10 complex.  After coffee & a bagel, we loaded up the golf car and headed up that way just before the start of the morning session.  A word to the wise, bring your ear plugs.  Especially bring your ear plugs if you are going to be standing next to the Suzuki bridge. The sound of a screaming race engine at full song is rather loud.  Put that noise in a sounding chamber like a tunnel and you reach a new level of loud.  I shot from my newly acquired perch for quite a while, working on selective focus and slow pans.  It is a good spot and I will keep going back as I don’t think I have gotten it quite right as of yet.  There is an angle or a viewpoint that I can almost see in my mind that I have not locked into the camera.

Cytosport RS Spyder goes under the Matmut Oreca

While there, I did see a new spot to try next time.  I am always looking for a new vantage point all the while trying to perfect the known locations.  This can easily become a problem as I have heard more than one photographer complain about being unable to come up with something new while at a very familiar location.  After shooting from the bridge berm for a while, I decided to try shooting from the area next to the flag house at the beginning of T10.  I am not to sure about that spot as there are so many signs and cars on the tunnel road.  I pulled out a few from there, but nothing terribly exciting.  Maybe it would be a better place at night, but the area is so small that it would crowd quickly.

After lunch, my plan was to shoot practice from the pit lane as I was in need of a perspective change.  Its easy to forget that there are drivers in these cars and that there are hoards of mechanics, engineers and other people waiting for their return.

The Dyson Mazda #16 waits in the pitbox during Thursday practice for the 2009 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

I shot the crews for what seemed like a very little time when suddenly everyone was rushing to the monitors.  I was in the Patron pit at the time and could not see their monitors very well so I moved next door to the Flying Lizard team just in time to see a replay of Scott Sharp’s barrel roll.  It was really creepy to see his car destroy itself like that.  More amazing was to watch him immediately climb from the wreckage and look around at the damage.  Needless to say, with 500 feet of fencing to replace and bits of Acura everywhere, the rest of the practice session was scrubbed.  As far as I know, no one was hurt which is a testimony to both the construction of the car and the safety measures at the track.  We had quite a while before night practice so back to the RV for food and liquids.  For a lark, we decided to actually watch the Patron GT3 race from the Hill but I ended up shooting it as well.

I had decided to shoot night practice from T6 and T7.  Normally, there is a long period of twilight during Night Practice where the very low sun and glowing skies make for fantastic opportunities.  Due to the Patron crash and subsequent repairs, the schedule was quite off.   So this year, night practice was completely in the dark.  There are not too many places you can shoot at Road Atlanta in the dark.  Night practice is great fun, I cannot imagine what it is from a driver’s perspective, tearing through the Georgia night in and out of brightly lit areas, flashes going off……Have I mentioned how many flashes were going off?  OK, I’ll admit I have used a flash shooting racing at night.  I didn’t like the way it looked and have since then sworn it off in favor of honing my low light skills.  The crowds for Night Practice were amazing, literally hundreds of people lined the fences in the skid pad area.  In T6 they were 4 and 5 deep.  Luckily, I was on the other side of the fence and had an unobstructed view of the cars.

The Falken Tires Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in Turn 7 at Road Atlanta during night practice for the 2009 Petit Le Mans

This post is becoming a bit long in the tooth, so I will finish this part and post Friday and Saturday soon. My entire 2009 Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda 6 gallery is available for viewing and your use at DPerceptions.com

The best year by far however was 2007 when I had some rally style name signs made for the car.  Forgot to have our blood type put in with them though; wish I would have remembered that.

This year’s race is looking to be one of the best in recent years with the addition of several LMS P1 teams such as Audi, Peugeot & Drayson. Images from the track will be posted in my 2009 Petit Le Mans Photo Gallery.

Hope to see all of you there!

EDIT: Some how this post is now the #9 Google search result for golf car rental for Petit Le Mans.  Since I try to be a good internet citizen, here is Mid Florida Golf Car Rental Website.

I arrived before the start of the first heat and checked in to pick up my credentials.  After a brief rundown of the rules with race control I set off to the pits to head for turn one.  WERA is a sportsman series so there are people of varying skills and cycles on the track at the same time.  At first I was having trouble with my timing (that and salt in my eyes), but once the riders with similar lines and pace grouped up, I was able to concentrate on framing and composition rather than tracking.  Each heat was short, only 6 laps, but the PA guy was great about letting everyone know about what set was next and how soon it would be happening.  This made it easier to go around the track from place to place.

I spent most of the time on Saturday looking for new places from which to shoot and new angles on known areas.  I had never tried shooting from the very top of the wall next to the bridge after turn 10.  It was a great vantage point and I plan to revisit it during Petit Le Mans.

The Cycle Jam is a two day event, so I left around 4pm to head home.  I was cooked and in great need of a beer.

Sunday turned out to be a bit cooler, but only by a couple of degrees.  There were huge puff clouds in the sky which was great for cooling moments, but hell on exposure and color balance.  The second day of the jam seemed to involve more expert riders and several of the heats had quite a few cycles in them.  I decided to concentrate more on tighter shots today.  Cycles move through the frame much differently than autos.  Not sure why, probably because they brake so quickly and change their axis so radically. At any rate, shooting tight, in focus shots while leaving some room for them to ride into was a challenge.  When I first looked at my shots from Sunday I was a little bummed that I missed a few that I tried really hard to capture.  In reality, I had many more keepers on Sunday versus Saturday, so I am happy that I had skill retention.  I probably just made that up.

I plan to go back to the WERA Grand National Finals in October.  I assume it will be cooler and I will have a better idea of how I want to work the bikes.  I also plan to spend a bit more time in the pits watching the riders work on their bikes in between heats.  I missed that due to the heat and my moto learning curve.  There are two image galleries for The Cycle Jam: WERA Cycle Jam Saturday and WERA Cycle Jam Sunday Thanks for reading!

HSR was running The Mitty Challenge at Road Atlanta on the Weekend of May 1-3.  I had to shoot a graduation on the 2nd, so we could not go up until Sunday. This worked out well as Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day.  The sky was a great medium gray with just enough light filtering through to keep the scene from going flat.  It had rained the two days prior, so the viewing audience was light.  What they lacked in numbers though, they certainly made up for in enthusiam.

We went around the the track to some of my favorite places to shoot.  I don’t know how other photographers do it, but I need to warm up, need to get my timing down, remember to breathe and not to stab the shutter button.  To do this, I find that returning to a familiar place helps to get the muscle memory back.  So I seldom start shooting from a new place.  Even when I am at a new track, I tend to look for a familiar corner or vantage point.  As soon as my timing is down and I am feeling comfortable, its time to try a new technique or look for a new POV.  This weekend I had decided to work on some really low speed pans in the nieghborhood of 1/20th of a second.  While I did have some success that day, the majority of my slow stuff was 1/40th or higher. One of the highlights of the day to us was the running of The Championships of Makes race.  There were only six cars entered, but Bobby Rahal was there in his 72 Lola T-290.  Apparently he ran this car at Road Atlanta quite a while back at the SCCA Nationals. He put on a clinic, lapping the entire field within 5 Laps.  It was extraordinary to watch.  My complete 2009 Mitty Challenge Photo Gallery is available online.