2008 Malton Forest Rally

[Simon Harrison]

Well, the last time I had a day as wet as this was on the Border Counties Rally 3 or 4 years ago. The weather was just awful, with heavy persistant rain pretty much all day. It was definately 'grim ooop north' today! Still the company was good, and thanks to Geoff (GSH) for acting as driver today. Nice also to finally meet Jay back at the showground.

My pictures are all from the same location, as we called it a day in the forest after the stage we went to see finished - the thought of standing out in torrential rain for another 2.5 hours before the cars came back was too much. We must be getting soft.

#1 Nicely sideways
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR1.jpg

#2 Mk I Escort doing what they do best - go sideways!
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR2.jpg

#3 Not nearly sideways enough and anchoring up to miss the tree - ooops
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR5.jpg

#4 Splish, splash, splosh
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR4.jpg

#5 One for Geoff, as he seemed determined to get really up close and personnel with a couple of these cars.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR6.jpg

#6 Steve Petch back out in the forests again in his Hyundai WRC
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR8.jpg

#7 Another sideways Escort, but this time a mk III
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR7.jpg

#8 The Evos were also going sideways too
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/rx/MFR3.jpg

I actually managed to get the ISO down to 800 at one point, but for most of the time I was shooting at ISO1000 or ISO1250 and barely getting f4.5 - not the brightest of days then.

All of the shots were taken with a 1D mk II and a Sigma 120-300 f2.8.

As usual, any comments or feedback on the images is most welcome.

Cheers,

Simon.

[BALDY]

Great set simon, god did it rain just got back to dry off.

BALDY

[chrispons]

Terrific shots in awful weather Simon,love the first one ,and the mk1 is great.
You done great ,mate.
Pons

[John Hudson]

A superb Set Simon.

I like the MkII escort in particuar.

John

[cryton]

If it hadn't been raining you wouldn't have got those lovely mud shots.Nice shots.

[GSH]

Bloody Fiestas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cracking stuff Simon with the 2 Escorts being my pick.

T'was indeed a thoroughly enjoyable day apart from yours truly getting up to the eyeballs (literally..had to get the Optrex out when i got home) in North Yorks Forest clarts courtesy of 2 errant Fiesta ASBO drivers. They can stay well & truly stuck next time.

Nice to meet Jay too although i don't fancy his drive home tonight :D

[Simon Harrison]

Great set simon, god did it rain just got back to dry off.

BALDY

I met someone else who had been on the Cambrian yesterday and the Malton Forest today. You must be keen you regular rally 'togs.

The weather today was thoroughly miserable to say the least. Mind you, me and Geoff were just about crying with laughter in the middle of Cropton forest ankle deep in mud and with pouring rain when the lassie in pink boots, jeans and a white designer bomber jacket came strolling down the road :lol:. I hope the picture that Geoff took comes out ;).

Simon.

[Simon Harrison]

If it hadn't been raining you wouldn't have got those lovely mud shots.Nice shots.

Glad you like 'em.

Actually because it had been raining so hard over night, it could've stopped raining as soon as we parked up and the shots would still have looked the same :lol:.

Simon.

[Simon Harrison]

Bloody Fiestas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cracking stuff Simon with the 2 Escorts being my pick.

T'was indeed a thoroughly enjoyable day apart from yours truly getting up to the eyeballs (literally..had to get the Optrex out when i got home) in North Yorks Forest clarts courtesy of 2 errant Fiesta ASBO drivers. They can stay well & truly stuck next time.

Nice to meet Jay too although i don't fancy his drive home tonight :D

I have a couple of pictures of you looking like the creature from the black lagoon after your Fiesta extracting exploits :lol:.

Now repeat after me....'DO NOT rev the ***s off it as it will only dig in!' :lol:.

I also don't fancy Jay's drive home - 20 minutes of powerboat racing on the A19 was enough!

Simon.

[elvisrally]

Looks REALLY wet there. The pictures are great though

My fav is no.1

Elvis

[Jamie Holladay]

Nice Set

[jon.s]

Great shots as always Simon!

Like #3 ooops!

Lovely and sharp (do you sharpen them at all in photoshop? just curious as i'm now using cs3 raw workflow and have been playing around with the sharpening but am getting mixed results. what amount of radius do you find works best?)

Regards,
Jon.S

[Simon Harrison]

Great shots as always Simon!

Like #3 ooops!

Lovely and sharp (do you sharpen them at all in photoshop? just curious as i'm now using cs3 raw workflow and have been playing around with the sharpening but am getting mixed results. what amount of radius do you find works best?)

Regards,
Jon.S

Thanks Jon.

I don't use PS CS3 much at all, and pretty much never for preparing shots for the internet. All of these were shot as raw files and prepared for the web using Capture One.

I will use PS if I'm prepping a picture for print. However, I use an FM sharpening plugin specifically for my camera to applying the level of sharpening required.

Hope this helps.

Simon.

[Big Ant]

Great stuff Simon, great action all pin sharp

[jbanbury]

Superb set Simon. Really sharp and great action, much better than what I got!

Nice to finally meet you too ... it's funny how you can chat on a forum, then be stood right next to each other without knowing it.

[Tessa]

Very nice shots - I really love the contrast of the yellow Scooby splashing in the mud :D

[BALDY]

I met someone else who had been on the Cambrian yesterday and the Malton Forest today. You must be keen you regular rally 'togs.

Simon.

Don't know whether keen is the right word at times (Cambrian very cold with snow on ground :~( Malton non stop rain for 8 hours :mad:) stupid comes to mind some times.:lol:

BALDY (coming down with a cold)

[Simon Harrison]

Superb set Simon. Really sharp and great action, much better than what I got!

Nice to finally meet you too ... it's funny how you can chat on a forum, then be stood right next to each other without knowing it.

Thanks Jay!

Just as well you had your POTN strap on the camera and that I spotted it, or the introductions wouldn't have happened :lol:.

Cheers,

Simon.

[darren h]

Very nice shots indeed Simon, looks like you found more water than i did. Hard to pick a fav but i think #1 just edges it. High ISO's, the joys of British rallying hey, lol.

[Simon Harrison]

Very nice shots indeed Simon, looks like you found more water than i did. Hard to pick a fav but i think #1 just edges it. High ISO's, the joys of British rallying hey, lol.

Thanks Darren.

The bend we found ourselves at was at the bottom of a long, gentle incline. As the cars splashed through the corner, the puddles were nicely re-filled in time for the next car arriving!

Cheers,

Simon

[KevB]

Great shots Simon.

[GSH]

Very nice shots indeed Simon, looks like you found more water than i did. .

How could you fail to find water Darren? It was like a monsoon for most of the day :D