Meeting Your Heroes – Robert Droogmans’ Ford RS200
What are your earliest memories? I’m not talking about your literal first memories here, but rather something that stayed with you throughout your life. Can you think of one? I can. I don’t know what age I was, but I remember sitting in front of the TV, watching a VHS of ’80s rallying whilst playing with my small Matchbox cars. There was one car in particular that I treasured over all the others though: a 1986 Ford RS200. Over twenty years later, that very same car sits on my desk. A reminder, if ever one was needed, why I love doing what I do. This ‘dinky’ though formed a special bond between a younger and more impressionable version of myself and Ford’s Group B supercar. It’s a bond that has lasted my whole life, and created a special sub-conscious relationship with the car. I’ve been fortunate enough to come across some of the most pristine examples of the RS200 on my travels. From immaculate production cars to more modernised versions. Aren’t they all the same? Of course not. Whilst the RS200 is extraordinarily rare, they all have their own stories to tell. Whilst I can appreciate a retromod example, its more modern touches leave me a little cold. It’s an absolutely fantastic car, and I would do anything to have it in my garage, but it’s not the car I fell in love with as a young boy. C200 MNO on the other hand, is the car I fell in love with… Original Feature on Speedhunters
Fire Up the Quattros
The recent Ultimate Dubs show, held at the Telford International Centre, was your typical UK VAG show. That is, a gathering of the cream of the UK VW & Audi scene under one roof. Although there were plenty of cars present which caught my attention, it was these three Audis that stole my heart. An S2, A2 and a Group B inspired tube chassised S1 all presented in white, but each showcasing three different approaches with a similar end goal in mind. We’ve already taken a closer look at three cars on Speedhunters, and we’re hoping to feature the three cars in-depth over the coming months. What I wanted to – briefly – write about here is shooting cars on a show floor. Most shows I attend are usually well attended, so getting the right shot can be difficult. Ultimate Dubs however was absolutely chock full of paying spectators, often two and three people deep at the more interesting cars. I needed to constantly re-visit certain cars during the day to capture extra details, but even so I was still missing images. As a work around I started shooting some long exposures from a tripod. An ND8 filter was too dark for the indoor venue, but a circular polarizer and a mid-range f/number was just about right giving exposures of around ten seconds. The advantage to shooting a show with long exposures is quite obvious – in that the spectators will often blur and vanish through the frame. The other, and maybe not so obvious, advantage is that by shooting with a tripod, people become more aware of your presence and make an effort to stay out of shot regardless. Working with the awesome Ben Chandler at Ultimate Dubs, we wanted to show off the Audis in a story that was […]