BTCC at Thruxton - Sunday races

[melita]

I know I'm a bit late with this but since there still don't seem to be any other posts from the race-day (Sunday) of the final round of the BTCC, I thought I'd share a few of mine. I think all the POTN photographers must have been at the British Superbikes!

The light was a little varied with some sunshine but a lot of cloud. Racing went right up to the 6:30pm curfew with the Ginetta's barely visible in the evening light! Shooting at 3200ISO on my 20D produced some interesting results but nothing I'd post here! Time for an upgrade to a 40D methinks! :D

#1. The first BTCC race was all about tyres, with several cars suffering punctures or blow-outs like this one.
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhq3x&outx=800&quality=100

#2. I camped out at the chicane all day to watch the kerb-hopping action. The Seats showed us how it should be done...
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhqfa&outx=800&quality=100

#3. ...the Formula Renaults showed us how it shouldn't be done!
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhqfp&outx=800&quality=100


#4. A few other people didn't seem to have it quite right either. This isn't the bit of kerb they should be hopping over but it proved to be very popular throughout the day with a number of cars using it as a shortcut!
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhq25&outx=800&quality=100

#5. Does this count as a "traffic-light" shot?!
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhq2r&outx=800&quality=100

#6. With Plato's BTCC Championship lead over Giovanardi whittled down to just one point (from nine before this meeting), the last race was gripping stuff. There was plenty of action throughout the field, although you wouldn't have known it from the TV coverage which concentrated on the Championship battle. The race leaders had a tense fight which resulted in this spin by Turkington, allowing Jackson to go on to win the race.
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhq30&outx=800&quality=100

#7. The rest of the pack scattered around the recovering Turkington and, with a premature end to the race brought by the red flag after Jordan stuffed his car into the wall, Giovanardi was crowned the Champion after he was able to stay ahead of Plato all day.
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yqhqfy&outx=800&quality=100

Thanks for looking.

Kevin.

[AzzA]

Good action Kev! Chicane is always good fun ;) Gave the Sunday a miss, mate went said it was VERY busy. I watched the action unfold on Sultana, nice :)

How were the Clio's on Sunday, was carnage on the Saturday! Think the new car definitely looks more stable through the chicane, old shape seemed to get right up on 2 wheels quite a lot ;)

About the noise, I wouldn't say there was much difference between 20D, 30D and 40D noise performance at high ISO

[kipper]

Good shots - definately plenty of action :-)

[melita]

Good action Kev! Chicane is always good fun ;) Gave the Sunday a miss, mate went said it was VERY busy. I watched the action unfold on Sultana, nice :)

How were the Clio's on Sunday, was carnage on the Saturday! Think the new car definitely looks more stable through the chicane, old shape seemed to get right up on 2 wheels quite a lot ;)

About the noise, I wouldn't say there was much difference between 20D, 30D and 40D noise performance at high ISO

Apparently Thruxton sold more tickets for that weekend than any event ever! That's mainly why I stayed at the chicane all day - got a decent spot and didn't want to lose it. As always, there were tons of press photographers to get in the way too but at least they moved around and actually had decent cameras - I hate it when they stand there watching the race and don't bother getting their p&s out or think about the crowd that can't see anything behind them.

The Clios were much better behaved on the Sunday. I heard about the incident on the Saturday. It's not the first time the Clios have had a mass pileup at Thruxton!

I was led to believe that the 40D performed better at high ISO's due to the DIGIC III processor. Certainly the DIGIC II was a massive leap up from the original. There are other things that I'd like a 40D for - the focussing points are supposed to be more sensitive, for one thing. I sometimes use an off-centre point but usually go back to the centre when it has trouble tracking the action. Anyway, I've pretty much persuaded myself to get one, so don't go putting doubts in my mind!! ;)