Team Need for Speed BMW Z4 GT3
Every once in a while, an opportunity presents itself that cannot be turned down. Arriving at an unusually sun basked Silverstone circuit on a Thursday evening in June of this year, I was rather casually presented with the task of shooting arguably the best looking car on the GT3 grid, the Team Need for Speed and Schubert Motorsport prepared BMW Z4 GT3. However, there were quite a lot of restrictions surrounding the shoot. Time was the largest obstacle with a window of just 90 minutes to complete a thorough shoot of the car. Positioning the car was another challenge. As you may know, full race prepared cars do not like to be started and stopped and moved short distances so we needed to arrange a quad bike and two mechanics to accompany and manoeuvre the car. However all of these minor annoyances were quickly forgotten once I looked through the viewfinder. The backdrop of the newly unveiled Silverstone Wing complex and the privilege of being the first photographer to shoot on the new hallowed race surface – the weekend’s FIA GT event would be the first race meeting on the new layout utilising the new complex – more than made up for any of these slight grievances. It was a proud moment when I stood back from the camera and took a moment to take it all in. Here I was within my first 14 months as a professional photographer, standing on the Silverstone race circuit photographing one of my all-time favourite race cars in glorious weather. For all the positives and negatives of my job, I can always look back to this as to why I do what I do. More images after the break …
A Day With David Brabham
Earlier last month I was tasked with creating the accompanying images for a story of a day in the life of one David Brabham. The Brabham family name is synonymous in motorsport with success and David’s illustrious career has ensured that association won’t be changing any time soon. A racing career spanning nearly thirty years with multiple wins in a variety of classes at Le Mans and a host of other successes across a variety of championships including F1, JGTC and ALMS to name but a few. David would be one of those who you would forgive for having any airs or graces about him but the man behind the visor is as welcoming and as nice as anyone you could ever meet. A true gentleman of motorsport. More images after the jump …
FIA GT3 European Championship – Team Need for Speed at Silverstone
As part of my Speedhunters duties at Silverstone, I was required to cover the Team Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 in as much detail as I could. With our Creative Director, Rod Chong and GT veteran photographer Jonathan Moore present to cover the track, I was left to focus on the behind the scenes and pit lane activity. More after the jump !
FIA GT1 World Championship – Silverstone
Any of you that follow my activities on Speedhunters (or look below this post for that matter) may have seen my recent stories from the FIA GT event at Silverstone. It’s quite an experience shooting events of this scale, it’s an even bigger experience shooting the GT1 class. I’ve gathered together a couple of my favorite images from last weekend below. I hope you enjoy !
This Weekend, I’ve mostly …
… been spending time shooting the 2011 Team Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3s at the brand new Silverstone Wing complex. You can grab the desktop of the above image from Speedhunters. Whilst there, be sure to take a look at our coverage from the recent FIA GT1 & GT3 Championships from Silverstone.
Sumo Power GT-R GT1 at Paul Ricard
I’ve been looking back through photographs from the last twelve months taking a closer look at some of the events I was lucky enough to be present for. I’m heading to Silverstone next weekend to shoot the GT1 / GT3 race where I’ll be concentrating on the Team Need for Speed cars along with the mighty GT-R GT1s of Sumo Power.
PMCG on FIA GT1 Website
It was quite an honour to view the FIA GT1 World Championship after the weekend and find my photograph as the header image with the subheading of ‘Le Castellet battle hots up’. The image was shot on Saturday afternoon of an energy drinks promotional girl dancing in a swimming pool. I shot the image tight to her glasses which showed the reflection of the other girls also dancing. The FIA GT1 media team, SRO, also used a selection of my images on their official Facebook page.
FIA GT at Paul Ricard / Sunday Pits & Paddock
The final day of the Paul Ricard event started as the others did. Extraordinarily hot. Having agreed with our Creative Director to swap trackside for pits and paddock, I based myself primarily out of the Sumo Power team’s pit garage. This also doubled as the Team NFS garage during the GT3 race. Speedhunters support both teams so it really was ideal. It was also ideal in the way that everyone spoke English as my French is pretty basic. This is the final set from the event, I hope you enjoy … Just as a note, certain parts of this gallery maybe not safe for work !
FIA GT at Paul Ricard / Saturday Qualifying & Race
The Saturday of the FIA GT event at Paul Ricard saw me take to the trackside for most of the day. In sweltering 35+°C temperatures, it was a challenge lugging around a 400mm 2.8 prime attached with a 1.4X extender to the 1D. However, Paul Ricard is a vast circuit and even at 500+mm you can still struggle for focal length. The track is unique in that it does not have any gravel traps. Instead, it employs the use of the Blue Line Concept. The concept utilizes different surfaces with increasing levels of grip to slow down the cars. The areas marked with blue stripes have more grip than the race surface and gently slow the car whilst the red areas aim to stop the cars. The following shots are from the Saturday qualifying and race sessions.
FIA GT at Paul Ricard / Friday Practice
Last weekend I had the rather excellent opportunity of shooting the FIA GT races at the Paul Ricard HTTT near Marseille, France. It would be the very first time I had ever shot an FIA sanctioned event, let alone the pinnacle of tin-top racing at the most advanced racing circuit in the world. I was present to cover the event for Speedhunters.com and my aim was to concentrate on the #76 and #77 cars of Team Need for Speed in GT3 and the #22 and #23 cars of Sumo Power GT in the GT1 class. This set of photographs is from the Friday practice sessions. More after the jump …