SCCA Racing - Portland International Raceway: 3/17/13

[Steve5D]

The folks at the SCCA were kind enough to bestow upon me a credential for shooting yesterday (I've been doing some shooting for track management), so I thought I'd share some of what I came away with:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. (probably my favorite shot from the day)

The weatherman predicted rain, but it was sunny pretty much all day...

 

[CoBilly]

Good shots. I'm partial to the Porsches, especially the 993

 

[KmH]

Nice phototgraphs.

The SRF - Spec Racer Ford - class is kind of interesting. Note the driver sits on the car's centerline (#'s 1, 4, 6) Spec Racer Ford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An assembled SRF car kit, set of dry pavement tires, set of wet tires, and an extra set of wheels will run you about $35,000. If you can assemble the car yourself, you can save $5000.
SCCA Enterprises
Secrets

I've always preferred driving open cockpit race cars.

 

[Steve5D]

Thanks for the info!

If I'm gonna' be shooting these things, I should probably know what "these things" are!

 

[gregtallica]

These are cool! I'm not way partial to #4, just doesn't have as much action to me as the others, but nice to have something a little different in the series than the other shots.

Makes me want to go practice my panning, these are all awesome

 

[12sndsgood]

Nice set Steve, I can't wait to get back out on the track in a few weeks.

 

[manicmike]

I like the last shot in turn 9 the best. That's my favorite spot to shoot from. I have to laugh because I know every spot on the track you shot. really need to get back out to PIR.

 

[Steve5D]

Makes me want to go practice my panning, these are all awesome

Thanks!

Trust me, I still need to practice my panning, too. My keeper rate was a bit lower than I would've liked.

I was shooting at 1/90 of a second; found that to be a "sweet spot" for capturing motion blur in the wheels while still being fast enough to freeze the car and blur the background...

 

[KmH]

#4 shows the essence of racing - the competition.

#73 has a nice lead over the #7 car.
The driver of the #7 is hopefully in attack mode trying to gain ground on the #73. However, at the same time he has to also be mindful of defending his position from the gray car behind him.
If #7 pushes to hard getting into position for mounting an attack on #73, he could lose the defense of his current position and get passed by the gray car.

#6 is a good shot.

It looks like the #27 car is under steering quite a bit (we can see a lot of his front tire tread because it's likely his front tires are sliding), which is not good since he has not yet reached the corner's apex. We can see his hand on top of the steering wheel, and even his body language (tilted head) indicates his car is not turning as much as he wants it to turn.
Sliding the front tires overheats them. When they get to hot they lose grip, which makes them slide even more.
Many drivers are more comfortable driving a car that under steers (tight, pushes), but a car that is neutral, or better yet over steers slightly (loose, free), can go through a corner faster.

Actually, the ideal situation is for all 4 of the tires to be just barely sliding - using only 70% of all the traction they can develop.
I learned and reinforced my racecraft fundamentals by attending the Jim Russel (Sears Point, CA), Bob Bondurant (Chandler, AZ), and Derek Daly (Las Vegas, NV) racing schools on a fairly regular basis. Derek sold his school shortly after my last visit there for a lapping day. Unfortunately, the new owners went out of business and the school no longer exists.

Generally, the more you know about a sport, the more relevant and appealing the images you make of the sport.
Here is the first of a great series of race driving instruction books - Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques
Some others:
Race to Win: The 7 Essential Skills of the Complete Champion
Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving

 

[Steve5D]

Thanks, KmH!

My uncle owned his own race team for decades. He was racing BMW's, mostly back east (Road Atlanta, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen). He used to race against guys like James Brolin, Paul Newman and Gene Hackman back in the early 70's. He was also the National Champion in Thailand while he was stationed there while in the Air Force. I've tried picking his brain (he's a pretty accomplished photographer, as well), but he doesn't spend a Helluva' lot of time doing e-mails!