American LeMans Series

American LeMans Series presented by Tequila Patron
Mazda Raceway Laguna-Seca

So this is probably one of the last motorsports events I'll be covering in 2009. It's damn near wintertime already! Back to my favorite spot to shoot, Mazda Raceway at Laguna-Seca. These guys take care of you. I was unable to receive a photo vest (again) and was a bit disappointed. Nevertheless, work with what you've got. Arrived at the track around 630am, having not slept the night before and ran around the paddock grabbing early morning team shots. There's a thing I love being at a racetrack early while it's still quiet, a light mist is still hanging in the air and all the race cars are slowly coming to life. That and the smell of race fuel.
Where to start. It's the last in the 2009 series for the American LeMans Series. I was hoping that Audi and Peugot would be in attendance to battle it out, but as the economy is going bizerk, Audi pulled out of the 2009 season. There would be a few races ran this weekend. Met a cool guy, Andrie Hartanto racing in the Speed World Challenge in the touring class. Insaneo tuned TSX going up against factory backed Real Time Acura TSX's. Grassroots racing at its finest. There would also be the Star Mazda race, kind of open wheel racing. And then the American LeMans Series which had 4 classes, the GT1 and GT2 and the LMP1 and LMP2.
All weekend I saw nothing but talent. If you haven't seen the Corkscrew at Laguna-Seca, its a sharp corner and a straight drop. Requires balls. Big Ones. And these drivers had them. I'll continue a write up later on. Here are the pictures for now.

Shot with :
Nikon D200
Nikon D80
Sigma 100-300 f/4
Tokina 12-24 f/4
SB600
Starbucks venti iced white mocha
Footjoy extra thick socks

Gil deFerran takes a moment to himself. This would be the last race of his career, a fitting end to one of the most celebrated and winningest drivers in motorsport. Big congrats to him as he took the win this weekend.


Team deFerran unveils their special paint scheme on the Acura. The historic cars that took deFerran to victory in years past were also on display. Gil deFerran will continue managing his racing team.


Media and fans surround the deFerran unveiling ceremony.


Parade lap for deFerran and the historic racecars.


Mazda Raceway Laguna-Seca is awesome for fans as the paddock is just wide open. You can walk in and out of staging areas and get up close and personal with the cars as well as the mechanics and teams.

Yokohama sponsored Panoz


Porsche GT3 Cup


Lowe's sponsored Acura gets a push after being safety checked by IMSA officials.


Corkscrew claims another one.


Exits the corner too hot and pushes out wide into the gravel.


Real Time Racing's TSX, 5 in total, battle it out at the top of the Corkscrew.


Gil deFerran takes the Corkscrew


Classic battle between an F430 and GT3


Raw American muscle.


The BMW factory backed M3 LeMans Racers


Turbo'd NSX running in the Speed World Challenge GT Class

Round Six Formula Drift at Infineon Raceway

So here we are again. Formula Drift round 6 of 7 happening at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway. The event was initially planned to be in September but pushed forward to coincide with the Indy Racing League event happening the same weekend. No complaints. I get antsy when I don't have things to shoot. Nevertheless, starting shooting practice on Thursday, then top 32 competition on Friday. To be honest, this entire week is pretty much a blur and I don't remember much of what happened. All I know is that I slept in Sunday and it was damn good.

So Thursday competition was open after the IRL finished their practice runs and the Formula Drift drivers could go at it, utilizing turns 4a (starting point) and 7 as the main sections of the track, however there would be no on-track shooting that day. Friday competition was pretty intense. Stuck myself on the shooting island and had 90mph+ runs going by. Hooray for a good breeze or we'd be sitting in a cloud of smoke just like Las Vegas.

Afterwards, hung out with photographer gangsters Steve Demmitt and Allen Chu. They booked a hotel. In the ghettos of Santa Rosa. With a club connected to it. Needless to say they crashed at my place the next night. Right on for Allen not being a bitch and coming out to party. Steve doing stupidness and getting a girl's number but not cocaine. Formula Drift's Ceso for just being sav and staying up for hours on end. Ms. Formula Drift Miki Taka DJ'ing at Horizon and music swap. I loves me some house and trance.

Main competition was Saturday. Unfortunately I was DJ'ing a wedding and did not attend the show. Heard it was a good one. Calvin Wan and Chris Forsberg went at it again. And bashed each other again. The non-qualifying Formula Drift drivers got to do 3 laps of Infineon. Which is pretty damn awesome as every sports network and thousands of fans get to see the madness that is drifting. Ryuji Miki (Apex-i RX7) took third place. Ken the Gush took second which is high five awesome. Extremely damn proud for Stephan Verdier for taking home top honors. This guy has been competing for three years in his STi, balls out every run and takes home his first victory. I would like to pat him on the shoulder. On with the pictures!

Shot with :
Nikon D80 / Nikon D2H (with insaneo sensor dust) (yay corby for cleaning it out)
Sigma 100-300 f4, Tokina 12-24 f4, Nikon 18-70
Camel pack of water which I left in the trunk
Yogurt Soju and korean fried chicken
Demmitt's backpack/laptop contraption

My shooting island for Friday. Again it was 90+ degrees and I forgot my water. I keep doing that. Bunch of Indy Racing photogs were out there mixing it up with us guys.


Kenji Yamanaka
5.6L Titan engine stuffed in an S15
You bet it sounded nutty


Robbie Nishida


Jodin LeJeune
Supercharged 5.6L V8


Ken Gushi


Infineon Raceway of Sonoma California
The 1320 right behind the holding area


Kyle Mohan


Samuel Huuuuuuuubinette


Holding Area
Ross Petty, Calvin Wan, Ryuji Miki, Ryan Tuerck, Rhys Millen and Darren McNamerra


Mike Essa, who needs a bumper?


Rhys Millen


Tony Brakiohapa
Driving instructor at Infineon Raceway


Stephan Verdier


Taka Aono kicks up some dirt


Calvin Wan


Tanner Foust finishing up his run


N1 Concepts J's Racing S2000


Taka Aono and Matt Powers


Battle Scars


JTP


Kyle Mohan


Tanner Foxy Foust


Daijiro My Hair is Cool Yoshihara


Robbie Nishida


DMac


That'll wrap it up for this weekend. Now getting ready for a busy fall season. Oh and DJ'ing at Temple this Thursday (8.27.09) shameless plug I know. Peace.Out.Side.

Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races

Another wonderful weekend at the beautiful Laguna-Seca raceway in Monterey California. This time it's the Rolex and Porsche sponsored Historic Automobile Races of Monterey, basically every petrol-head's sacred event. The thing about the Historic Races out here is that it draws every automotive enthusiast from 9 years old to 90 years old, and every historic car along the way. Laguna-Seca turns into a holy land for 3 days.
Where to start..?
Most car nuts remember a time when their age was only a single digit, and a good number of cars were hammered into our heads with being the fastest, most outrageous, most beautiful, etc. We never actually see these cars in real life, however, and grow into our adult years driven soul-less, passionless crap boxes from point A to point B.
Then one day you find yourself, at Laguna-Seca standing in front of your childhood dream cars. Sure there's a Ferrari Enzo down the ways, and there's a sea of Porsche 911 GT3 RS's, roll cage, Recaro seats and all. But in front of you sits a Mercedes 300 Gullwing. I once met a man who owned a Gullwing, and ended up going bankrupt due to his love of cars. And he told me there were only 3 Mercedes Gullwings in all of California. We truly are standing in rarified air.
On over to the Cannepa racing booth. Race bred Porsche, track tuned Porsche, etc. And at the end of the line up, a simple Porsche 959. I never thought'd I would ever see this car in person. You could walk right by this car and not give it a second look. It looks like a bog standard Porsche turbo, but in the 1980s-1990s, this was one of the fastest production cars out there. With a top speed of over 200mph. My Sentra maxed at 115mph once...
On with the show. I'm not going to mess about, the cars at the Historic Races are older than I am. I recognize the manufacturers but not the cars themselves. And that's what makes these cars special. The breeding, the passion and soul with Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Bugatti, and Porsche; all these high end manufacturers, started out building race cars. These are the names that began motorsport. They are the reason I love cars. If you've never seen a carbeurated Ferrari V12, its something else. It's crafted, not built. They're not designed to get you from point A to point B. They're not designed to really get you anywhere. These were cars built for the sheer enjoyment of driving. We don't get much of that these days.

As far as the coverage from this weekend? I applied for my media credentials a bit too late, and wasn't given an on-track photo pass. At first I was a bit disappointed and just walked around the paddock to see what I could work with. The overcast skies gave way to deep blue skies and car covers being tossed aside to reveal genuinely priceless works of automotive art.
Being that Porsche sponsored the event, there was a tent that featured some of the greatest history makers in motorsport, including the Gulf Racing Ford GT40. Damn near every Porsche owner from the West Coast was in attendance; a sea of rear-engined bliss.

The cars were from an era before my time. I couldn't afford these cars even if I sold my kidney, liver, left leg, an eye or my dog. No I didn't have my usual on-track photo credentials. And that Ferrari Enzo wasn't even the nicest car there. That's Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

Shot with :
Nikon D80 / Nikon D2H
Tokina 12-24 f/4, Sigma 100-300 f/4
Funky post processing for that 'retro' look