Views from Petit
Apologies guys – it turns out the 400 or so photos I’ve been churning on will take a little longer. In the meantime, enjoy a few highlights from the race after the jump.
Archive for the ‘Automotive’ Category:
A Very Wet Petit Le Mans
Just wanted to throw up a little teaser before I get some sleep after a long day in the rain at Road Atlanta. I won’t give away anything for those who still haven’t emptied their DVRs, but needless to say it was quite a race this year. Check back on Monday for a full recap.
Indy Hall of Fame Museum
The day before the big race, I had a little bit of time to kill after picking up my pass. I decided to head next door to check out the Indy Hall of Fame Museum. When I first thought of “hall of fame” something like the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY came to mind, with its seemingly endless statistics and trophies. As I walked towards the building a part of me wondered if I would just get bored trying to read hundreds of plaques next to grainy head shots. While there were plenty of plaques, the word “museum” was probably equally as important in this equation. The building was as much a house of art as was is one of praise. The cars were granted the center of attention, even more than the names that adorned the side of their cockpits. Baseballs and bats haven’t really changed in past 100 years, but the cars that raced at the famous brickyard certainly did. Read on to get a glimpse of just how much.
Best of the Rest from Indy
So you’ve seen the crash, and you’ve seen my view from the grandstands. But what about the other 198 laps of the race? Follow the jump to see some of my other favorite shots for this past year’s Indy 500.
Tony Kanaan’s Crash At Indy
Sometimes you’re just in the right place, at the right moment, and you see an event unfolding right before your eyes. It’s very surreal, and there’s this sense of awe that first wants to bubble up from inside you. If you let it come to the surface, it will already be too late, and that moment will be gone. The only thing to do is not think, shove the camera against your face and pull the trigger as fast as possible. After it is over, the sensation of “did that just happen” will return, and even more so if you’ve captured it on film.
Hit the jump to see the crash frame by frame as I did. I know there are lots of people out there who like seeing this sort of thing and think that it is cool, but I don’t want to downplay a serious situation. This was no small mishap, and Tony admitted in interviews afterwords that while he was able to get out of the car and walk away, he was pretty beat up. The fuel does catch fire in the last shot, but don’t worry, it only lasted a few seconds and did not enter the cockpit. Meira had it much worse later on…
From the Seats
I had a blast at this year’s Indianapolis 500, so much so that I’m at a loss for what to post first. I didn’t stay in my seat for very long since I was eager to explore the infield and see what other vantages I could capture the cars on track from, but I did get this panoramic view of the grid before the race.
Detroit Auto Show ’09 Roundup (Part 2)
Without further ado, let’s wrap up the rest of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. For those unable to attend this year’s convention, read on to find out what you missed.
No celebrities were on hand to get interviewed by VW’s latest spokesperson… or spokes-car as it were, but I’ve got to hand it to VW for creating a pretty entertaining display. Not only was the original Beetle “Max” there to add a few sound bytes, but so were all of his commercials. Rather than putting random words (see Prius display from Part 1) or scenery of Germany on their large monitor overlooking the acre or so allocated to the company, they rotated in Brooke Shields, astronaut Richard Searfoss, and others to praise das auto. Once you’ve spent all that money making the commercials, it seems like a good idea to replay them whenever possible.
My eyes were focused on something else however…
