Waterworld comes to Kent - Masters Historic @ Brands 27th May

[Dave_G]

Headed to Brands Hatch yesterday in my newly acquired Skoda Diesel Estate Beast (not a replacement for the Pug, just a...companion) and he seemed to love it. The best thing about it is it's grey and an estate so you can hack around like a tosser in it all day long and no one bats an eyelid. Another thing about having a car you don't give a **** about is getting it dirty and doing handbrake turns in the mud.

Anyway, the weather was looking a bit shady all week and for once the forecasters got it right, when I arrived it had been raining heavily and it carried on raining all day after a brief respite while I endulged in what can only be described as a 'SausageFest'.

I don't mind shooting in the rain because it adds something to your shots that you don't get when it's dry. Genius, eh? What I don't enjoy too much is when it gets too heavy or starts coming in horizontal, luckily it only pissed down yesterday. Was very heavy for a part of the morning and just horrible for the rest of the day.

Nevermind, at least all my kit is clean now.

Here are some pics, kit is 20D, Sigma 70-200 EX and (at least my Sigma Of All Trades, the 120-300 EX. These have just been resized and some have had minor tweaks to colour and saturation. Some have had some sharpening and some have had none. There may be one or two that have had nothing done, but I couldn't tell you which. Because I don't know.

Here goes.

What better way to start a thread with the now de riguer pan - Lotus Cortina coming out of Druids slightly crossed up. Faster shutter would have been better but who cares? He's sideways.
http://images23.fotki.com/v857/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_9649-vi.jpg

Mustang leads Alfa leads Mini up Hailwoods into Druids
http://images24.fotki.com/v798/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_9974-vi.jpg

Stunning and unusual Alfa Giulia TZ1 on the way up to Druids
http://images23.fotki.com/v822/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_9569-vi.jpg

The Big Boys were out: The Group C race gave us this Jaguar XJR16 leading a Mazda 757 into Druids, and that's a Spice rolling down the hill
http://images23.fotki.com/v868/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_9824-vi.jpg

Lotus Type 76 at the bottom of Paddock
http://images24.fotki.com/v852/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_0114-vi.jpg

Another Group C racer - Porsche 962 C at Stirlings
http://images23.fotki.com/v868/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_0417-vi.jpg

That Alfa again, from another angle. It was pretty rapid as well!
http://images24.fotki.com/v853/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_7620-vi.jpg

What better way to end a thread with a pan, this is Rick Carlino in a Surtees TS9B
http://images24.fotki.com/v862/photos/1/105162/4981202/IMG_9511-vi.jpg

I'm off for a cup of herbal tea and a rub down with a used copy of Health & Efficiency - I'll do a thread with some of Today's photos later, and probably add a link for the galleries too.

Jagshamesh! I Like!

[Surelock]

Love the mustang shot, the rest are great as well.

[Ian_H]

Love the Lotus Cortina and the JPS Lotus, it does look a tad damp :)


Cheers
Ian

[GSH]

Thank god for rain covers & waterproofs eh Dave ? :D

Lovely set indeed and look...a pan!!. Never seen one of those for ages ;)

[Dave_G]

Plenty more where those came from. Hahaha

[Simon Harrison]

Great set Dave. The Lotus Cortina shot is a stonker!

Cheers,

Simon.

[Dave_G]

Ta. Got a couple of him at skew angles, that one was the most outrageous though!

[KevB]

Cracking stuff Dave. I've never really been out with my camera in rain like that. I think it really adds something extra to the pictures. :D

[Dave_G]

It's certainly an eye opener, and possibly a wallet opener if you're not careful. Having said that, the 20D does ok - I've done half a dozen days with water pissing off everything and it seems to be all A1!

[KenTT]

Enjoyed looking at these Dave, Esp the Lotus Cortina, thanks for posting & getting wet :wink:

[Lawrie B]

Great captures Dave

[Cooper911]

Love the shot of the JPS. Nice work.

[Paul C-J]

like the mazda one with the water gushing out of the arches! really show's how wet it was ..

[EOSAddict]

That Mustang is a poster shot :)

[Dave_G]

thanks for posting & getting wet :wink:

all in a day's work...er play

[Wazza]

Great cracking, but wet shots! :p

Nice to see my soon to be local track. ;)

Where were you shooting for these? Trackside? Or from stands somewhere.
I'm attending what's possibly my last motoracing in NZ this Saturday, was kindly invited along by the magazine, for my personal use (even though they have their own staff photogs)

[Dave_G]

I'm a pauper so have to make do with shooting from the public areas. There are only two 'grand'stands at Brands Hatch Warren, which aren't that big. A lot of it is quite photographer friendly though, there's only 2 fences that are a PITA, one at Druids (hairpin) and one at Clearways which is a sweeper onto the start finish straight, which is actually a curve. Lol.

Why are you moving here mate?

[Wazza]

Because it's better than this hole called NZ.

(joking... )

I'm just wanting to travel to UK and Europe for a few months. I have a return ticket on February.. Travelling via Thailand for 11 days - made a post about it in General Chat.
Maybe I'll see you at the track one day. :)
Share secrets with our 120-300s ;)

[Dave_G]

Haha

Chances are if you're at Brands Hatch I'll be there, I bought a season pass so am making the most of it!

[Wazza]

Woah.
What's the cost of that?

I've only shot drifting in the last year. 3 different championships, free entry each time.
This weekend is Round 1, of a new championship (www.dfactor.co.nz), run by NZ's largest car mag, NZ Performance Car
6 hour drive away, but I'll say bye to a few mates I've made over the time. And try and make a few more sales ;)

[Dave_G]

£200 for the year but gets you into every single meeting, including A1 GP, World Superbikes, British Superbikes, DTM, BTCC, British F3 & GT blah blah blah! Is good value when you consider that the DTM or BTCC you're looking at at least £40 for both days, more if you do a Friday!

[nevets2001uk]

Nice work with all of these Dave. Some nice angles you've shot from. I particularily enjoy the Group C shot from Druids. I was there on Sunday and the weather made things a bit more difficult.

Cheers,
Steve

[Dave_G]

Cheers Steve. I think the weather was worse Sunday early on was possibly the wettest I've shot in!

[despot]

Top shots Dave. Love the sideways Cortina.
Andy.

[Dave_G]

ta

xxx

[Owain Shaw]

I don't think there is a better way to start the thread Dave, that opening shot is a stunner! I don't think a faster shutter could make it better either, very dramatic with the motion. Top stuff in lovely weather ... for ducks. Quack!

[Dave_G]

Cheers Owain, looking at it now it makes it more dramatic like you say.

Gallery is now full with shots from both days here (http://davegalpin.fotki.com/events/motorsport/brands_hatch/2007/masters-historics/)