Photo of the year - and my inspiration

For my photo of the year of 2009 it was not a tough choice for a change, so its back to July and the start of the 1st Group C race of the Silverstone Classic. I had this shot well planned out, had my space reserved for an hour beforehand and shot 45 frames as the cars approached, but its the 1 below that came out best


And the image I had in my head that I wanted to recreate, somewhere I have this on VHS, bit grainy now but still magic. It was filmed from the first corner at Fuji Speedway in Japan, but the cars appearing from the heat haze is amazing



And onto a new decade, and more events!

2009.... What I enjoyed the most...

TITAN MOVIE NURBURGRING from Clashproduction on Vimeo.

Heres to a great Christmas and 2010. NEC Autosport show is first on the list

Red Mist.........

Keep watching until the end, for once the American commentary is welcomed and necessary!

Oh dear

What happens when you can afford a R34 GTT but not quite stretch to a R35 GTR.........

Time Attack 2009 Round 5 - Snetterton - The Final

The final of the 2009 Time Attack Series took place at Snetterton

Pro/Club Pro/Prototype/Openwheel Class

First in Pro was Phil Glew in the Zen Performane Impreza, setting a time of 1.11.03 which was rain affected but had earlier set the fastest time of the day with 1.09.7

The sole prototype entry, Andy Gallachers AG Motorsport Ford Focus - 4wd, Cosworth engined and almost 700bhp with a partially spaceframed chassis to boot. He set a faster time than Glew in the Superbattle final with 1.10.3 but the car is inegible for points in 2009. Hopefully a few more prototype cars will enter in 2010 to give Andy some competition and the rest of the grid a scare

Second in Pro with 1.11.8 and sealing second in the Pro championship for 2009 was Steve Gugliemi in his Gugliemi Motorsport Elise

Third overall and first in ClubPro was James Nicholls in the Car Planet Racing Evo 6 with a time of 1.11.8, sealing him the ClubPro championship for 2009

Fourth overall was Gareth Lloyd in the second CPR Evo with a time of 1.12.5

Fifth overall was Adrian Smith in the Fensport Celica - 1.14.9

Club Class

First in club class was Russ Paton in the Wallace Performance Evo 6, 1.14.3

Duncan Graham sealed the Club championship with 2nd place, 1.14.9 in his Race Dynamix Impreza. Club Pro promotion for next year hopefully

Third in class, Marcus Webster in his Nissan Skyline R32 GTR

And a few randoms...

Middlehurst R35 GTR - UK built and authorised NISMO Club Sport Package

Richard Jones -Evo 8- Club 4WD - 1.18.2 - 13th overall

David Ward, BMW Mini -Club FF, 1.22.4, 21st overall


Not much info on this Porsche 933 GT3 on the timing sheets :(

Simon Deaton - Evo 8,Club 4WD 1.15.7 - 4th overall

Never mind 'precision driving and stunts' a 5 ton racing truck going around the track is the ultimate half time show

Steve Linton - Supra, Club RWD 1.20.01,16th overall, 3rd in class

Jamie Reynolds,Lotus Elise - Club RWD,1.16.1, 5th overall, 1st in class

So once again its Roger Clark Motorsport that take the overall title in 2009, but not as smoothly as in 2008. Will the opposition finally outclass them in 2010? Who knows.....

Its coming......

The 2009 Time Attack Final at Snetterton

Motorsport can be dangerous

A big crash from the FIA GT3 Championship held at Circuit Paul Ricard in France - its a testament to the safety standards that nobody was seriously hurt.

The accident was caused by a bit of rain on small 1 part of the circuit which meant little grip, as the cars were running on dry slick tyres and not intermediates or wet tyres:


And the aftermath with a replay from a different angle which shows how violent the crash was.Look at the damaged armco barrier at the start of this video, after both the Corvette and Audi R8 had hit it very hard, takes a lot of force to cause this amount of damage, to both the cars and the barrier.



The race was abandoned due to the damaged barriers which were replaced for the following days racing

The final of the FIA GT and GT3 championship is on October 25/26 at Zolder in Belgium and whats more you can watch all the qualifying and racing LIVE on the series websites - FIA GT / FIA GT3

Le Mans Series 1000km of Silverstone - Part 2

Part 2 and its onto the 1000km race. A big thanks to Sportscarpros for sorting media access to this 1 for me. The race would last for just over 5 hours and 30mins, plenty of time to visit almost every part of the track and for experimenting with my photos. Here are some observations from the day, far too much to cover, could easily put 4/5 parts to this event

The Kolles Audi R10 TDi at the start, leads the petrol powered chase. The TDi is a clue that this car is diesel powered, yet was still very competitive - Diesel power having several wins at Le Mans now

The race marked the swansong of the GT1 class in the Le Mans Series, but only 3 cars competed,the Larbre Saleen S7-R

The Luc Alphand Corvette C6R -easily the loudest car on track with its rumbling V8

and the Gigawave Aston Martin DBR9, the Aston won this round but the Corvette took the series

Henri Pescarolo looks a bit apprehensive before the start, he should be - his car will be starting at the back, but overtake everyone to lead, then slide down the order with a gearbox problem...

Tomas Enge looks a bit happier, he is on the front row and will end up 3rd

Probably the best known driver in the race today , none other than 1992 F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell, but he is pictured here waiting to go back out on track during the race, as his Ginetta Zytek LMP1 car was in its garage, having a wishbone replaced

The second loudest car after the Corvette, the Drayson Racing GT2 Aston Martin V8 Vantage

The Lola-Aston Martin B09/60, the 007 car is leading the championship and is favourite to win

The Saleen makes a pitstop

and the #007 Aston, typically 5-8 pitstops are needed during the course of the race, more if the car is giving problems. This car finished 3rd overall, but enough to seal the LMP1 championship

The Speedy Racing Sebah Lola Aston Martin LMP1, 2nd overall
008 Aston, 12rd overall

The Team WFR Embassy-Zytek LMP2 car, eventually finishing 14th
The laps tick down, but its not over til its over


The Ibanez - Courage C75 LMP2 car, which placed 17th

The Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997, 7th in GT2 but enuogh to win the GT2 championship

And the winner overall was the LMP1 Team Oreca Matmut - AIM - completing 195laps - or 1000km in just over 5 hours 30mins.

Ive really enjoyed the 3 sportscar events Ive attended in 2009 and Ill be going to a few more in 2010, bigger and arguably better than the events Ive covered mostly until now!

Le Mans Series 1000km of Silverstone - Part 1

Back to Silverstone and more sportscar racing in the form of the 6th and final round of the Le Mans Series , covering the event for Sportscarpros

Once again its a big event compared to the events that I normally attend

With a busy press centre hosting well attended press conferences

Not to mention a 'tyre war' of sorts

But all expensive and proper equipment, no knockoffs in evidence here

Another attraction was the main support race - the Classic Endurance Racing championship, with a scene from the 1970's as the former Mario Andretti Ferrari 712, driven by Paul Knapfield has a small lead at the end of the Hangar Straight, leading into Stowe corner

Unlike the March 75S which expired on the next lap......

and passed by this stunning Porsche 936

Porsche 911 RSR - still the definition of what a racing Porsche is for many people

BMW M1

Porsche 935

Gulf-Mirage GR7

Lola T294-BMW

Matra 670C, this car and its previous versions won Le Mans overall in 1972, 1973, and 1974,and won the World Sportscar Champion in 1973/4. Sounded immense.....

a bit like this infact


But it retired after leading, after the 712 had led also

The gas turbine powered Howmet TX certainly the most distinctive car on the grid. Click on the wikipedia link, and watch the video below



But there had to be a winner and it was Bobby Rahal in his own Lola T290, a car he drove earlier in his career and now personally owns

More soon