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.