Erik Jonasson’s Datsun S30
When life deals you lemons, you make lemonade. Or so they say. One of the toughest aspects of being a photographer is often having to shoot in less than ideal circumstances. I arrived in Sweden back in June to find that my 5D MKII had died in transit. Of course I was well armed with back-up bodies, but I had developed a bond with my 5D2. It sounds strange and a little sad, but losing it really put me out. Never the less, it’s one of those occasions that you just have to get on with it. Location wise we were limited to either a busy paddock or we could shoot on-track for a limited amount of time (I think it was around 20 minutes) but we couldn’t move the car or get any tracking shots in. Luckily, we didn’t need much more than the car itself as it done all of the work for me. You can check out the full story on Speedhunters – here.
Gatebil Mantorp Park
Following some recent health issues, I’ve been out of action for the last few weeks. On the plus side, I’ve a couple of interesting shoots and stories to share with you. After the Bavaria City Racing Dublin event, I took to the skies once more. Destination? Sweden for the annual Gatebil show at Mantorp Park, a couple of hours south of Stockholm. Unfortunately on arrival, I found my 5D MKII was unresponsive having presumably taken a knock somewhere in transit. My 5D2 has been a reliable work horse for the last three years so I was pretty bummed out by its loss. Thankfully, I had two other great cameras in reserve but it did put a bit of a downer on the event. The mayhem at Mantorp was even better than expected. Having experienced the Rudskogen event the year previous, I thought I would be prepared for the Swedish take on the popular event. I wasn’t. Check out the full coverage on Speedhunters below … Read the full Speedhunters coverage here.
Koenigsegg Launch New Website
Swedish Hypercar manufacturer Koenigsegg yesterday launched their new website. Usually a manufacturer launching a new website wouldn’t be of particular interest to me, but this is a little bit different. Log on to Koenigsegg.com and you’ll see why ..
Koenigsegg Agera
Whilst shooting at Gatebil earlier this year, I had the pleasure of photographing the freshly unveiled Swedish built hypercar, the Koenigsegg Agera. I managed to capture a couple of decent-ish snaps of the car as it lapped the Rudskogen course, one of which is my favourite shot of 2011. I never for a moment thought that a couple of months later that Koenigsegg Automotive would be in touch to acquire the images for their own promotional use. To say I’m ecstatic would be the understatement of the year. I’ve included the images submitted to Koenigsegg below, I can’t wait to see where they show up!
Gatebil Rudskogen Part Two
Part two of my Gatebil story concentrates on the track action. With drifting to extreme time attack, Gatebil was a no holds barred automotive extravaganza. Caution : This Story Contains Copious Amounts of Tyre Smoke.
Gatebil Rudskogen Part One
The last couple of months have been truly memorable. Not only as a photographer but also as a petrolhead. I’ve had the privilege of shooting some of the best events on the planet, events that only a year or two earlier were only but a dream. I know that things as good as this never last long, but I’m ensuring that I’m enjoying every last moment and having no regrets along the way. It’s not everyday you wake up in your dream job and I can’t thank the Speedhunters and Need for Speed teams enough for allowing me the privilege of working with them. This is the first of two parts from the Gatebil Rudskogen, an event which was held about two hours north of Oslo at the end of July. The word insanity doesn’t even come close to describing Gatebil. More images, as usual, after the jump …
Ferrari F40
Ever since I was a kid, there was only one true exotic car that held my attention. Although I respected the Lamborghinis of the same era and I admired the successors that came after the F40, the F40 still remains the only exotic car I’ve held such a deep down desire for. It took me twenty five years to see my first F40 in the carbon and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it exceeded every single preconception or idea I’ve ever held about the world’s greatest supercar. You’ll find some giddy and excited detail shots after the jump.
Ride-Along with Julian Smith at Gatebil
[vimeo width=”800″ height=”600″]http://vimeo.com/26436495[/vimeo] It’s slightly more difficult than you’d imagine trying to hold a video camera steady as you’re being flung mostly sideways around the Norwegian countryside in a 500+BHP ER34 Skyline. Soundtrack by Garage D / Nissan RB
Koenigsegg Agera
It’s not very often I post exotics on here but the instant the Agera crested the rise at the Rudskogen track in Norway last weekend, I knew there was something beautiful in front of my eyes. Be sure to keep reading Speedhunters for the most recent stories from Gatebil and I’ll hopefully be able to catch up with things shortly on here from both this trip and the previous adventure to the Nürburgring.