Historic Sports Cars at Road Atlanta

[Travis Rhoads]

This weekend is the HSR races at Road Atlanta...armed with a bunch of new gear, and a lot more experience than I had the last time I shot these cars...I can't wait...and I have been sharing pictures on FB this week from the 2012 event. Jim asked me to share them here.
#1: A classic 993 911 , I love the livery and I love that car.

#2: 3 Different Era and Model of Porsche Race cars entering Turn 1...to have them all be yellow was too much!

#3: 1991 Intrepid RM-1, the same kind of car that broke both legs on Tommy Kendall at Watkins Glen. These old cars are pure race car, huge power, massive amounts of downforce, they were all about going as fast as possible.

#4: An old 911 cresting the hill at Turn 5.

#5: At the time, shooting at 1/50 tracking a race car was about as slow of a pan as I could shoot. This type of shot, 3/4 going away, is one of the hardest IMO. Usually the tail of the car is what is sharp...I wanted to get the front in focus, and that made it so much harder...I spent 2 sessions there in that spot, trying to get this one shot...I don't know how many images I shot to get just this one. To this day, one of my favorite shots.

All that to say I can't wait for this weekend...memory cards full of images...

 

[R.C. Golding]

#4, love it!! The composition leads your eye right to the middle of the frame, then gets you wondering what's over the hill.
Great shot!!

 

[AlanLichty]

Neat - trying to pan along with cars at the track is far from a simple task. Nice set here.

I have done this with the historic races at Portland International Raceway (PIR) and it's quite amazing how many shots it takes to get a keeper. That first shot is the hardest one to get sharp since you have to be panning to match the obviously not slow subject specimen. I admit to being partial to the car that isn't in focus in #3 - the Audi R10 TDI. I watched them dominate the ALMS series years ago when they still included PIR in their circuit.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Travis,

Thanks for posting these here, I have been enjoying them in your FB feed, but it's really nice to have them here in a thread too.

Now.... as to these photos, please don't ask me to pick a favorite. I am not sure it's possible. Each of these is a favorite, and each of them have something cool about them. Whether it's the coolness of being a historic car or the shallow DOF that isolates just a part of a car, these are truly awesome!

Jim

 

[Steve Banks]

Great photos. That must have been fun. The third one I like most.

 

[Ryan10]

Great action shots. I've never owned a Porsche, but they have a special place in my heart from the days I used to play Need For Speed, Porsche Unleashed on my PC back in the late '90s.

 

[Trevor G]

Very good photos you shot.

 

[Ann S]

Love this set. Pretty cool.