Dunno about anybody else but

[PaulSands]

I thoroughly enjoyed the FIA Sportscars at Donington Saturday evening..perfect setting perfect weather...a really twilight finish would've been nice but hey that's just being picky

[Danster]

Have to agree. Really enjoyed the race, especially as it was my first Sportscar race "on the inside". I was Ascari's gopher (for want of a better term), supplying the Pitlads with copius amounts of water etc!! We were running pretty well, anticipated the Yellows and pitted before anyone else. Moved up to 3rd and then with half an hour to go, Werner radioed in saying he lost drive- Gutted!

[Tim Northcutt]

Can any of you share with us your account of the race, plus full results???

Especially what happened to many of the SR1 cars...

Also, any memorable dicing, good action, cars that were disappointing, cars that surprised you, etc...

Haven't heard in any thread what happened to Taurus, Ascari, DBA, the Pescas, the 2nd RfH, Durango, Berridge, etc...

I've searched the usual sites and haven't seen results or event an accounting of the race yet...

I don't subscribe to dailysportscar...

Your insights would be most appreciated!!!
Thanks!

[PaulSands]

I had my first media pass unfortunately my brand spanking digital SLR didnt materialise so I had to use my regular Pentax 35mm SLR plus a HP Photosmart digital to keep me going
you on here?
http://paulsands.org/sitebuildercont...fiascc/asc.jpg

[PaulSands]

1 1 SR1 Racing For Holland Jan Lammers
John Bosch Dome S101 Judd 97 laps 2:30:35.154 96.61 mph
2 12 SR1 Gianfranco Trombetti Alex Caffi
Gianfranco Trombetti
Enrico Muscioni Promec PJ119 Peugeot 94 laps
3 52 SR2 Lucchini Engineering Piergiuseppe Peroni
Mirko Savoldi Lucchini AER Nissan 93 laps
4 55 SR2 GP Racing Gianni Collini
Fabio Mancini
Massimo Saccomanno Lucchini Alfa Romeo 92 laps
5 62 SR2 Team Sovereign Mike Millard
Ian Flux Rapier 6 Nissan 90 laps
6 63 SR2 Palmyr Christophe Ricard
Philippe Favre Lucchini Alfa Romeo 90 laps
7 99 SR2 PiR Pierre Bruneau
Marc Rostan Pilbeam MP84 Nissan 71 laps
8 61 SR2 Team Jota Sam Hignett
John Stack Pilbeam MP84 Nissan 60 laps
9 28 SR1 Speedsport Amanda Stretton
Bob Berridge Lola B2K / 10 Judd 88 laps DNF
10 5 SR1 RN Motorsports Andy Wallace
Hayanari Shimoda DBA4-03S Zytek 86 laps DNF
11 21 SR1 Team Ascari Klaas Zwart
Werner Lupberger Ascari Judd 83 laps DNF
12 11 SR1 Fred Goddard Earl Goddard
Steven Arnold Reynard Nicholson-McLaren 63 laps DNF
13 6 SR1 Taurus Sports Justin Keen
Phil Andrews Lola B2K / 10B Judd 56 laps DNF
14 2 SR1 Racing For Holland Beppe Gabbiani
Felipe Ortiz
Dome S101 Judd 50 laps DNF
15 16 SR1 Pescarolo Sport Franck Lagorce
Stephane Sarrazin Courage C60 Evo. Peugeot 16 laps DNF
16 8 SR1 Durango Leonardo Maddalena
Michele Rugolo
Fulvio Cavicchi Durango Judd DSQ

[PaulSands]

I have all the sheets in my camera bag if theres any info from practice and fastest laps you'd like

[PaulSands]

...though I'd recommend you subscribe to dailysportscar.com especially if you live in the USA as they are currently issuing free ALMS tickets and frameable prints as incentive.

[Danster]

Yes, That's me in the middle (without any Ascari kit on)Do you have any more pics of the car etc from Saturday?

[Tim Northcutt]

Durango was DQ'ed????


What was the story on that????

Any insight would be appreciated!!!!


BTW....thanks for the complete rundown...

Hope the action was fast and fun to watch on the track....

Three Questions...

1. How far out of the running was the Promec behind the others in its class before the SR1 contenders began to drop out????

2. Which cars were in the thick of the battle up front before they began to drop out????

3. Did anyone in particular (SR1) impress you on Saturday before they dropped out with mechanical failures????

Thanks!

[esorniloc]

What make of tyres did the winning SR1 and SR2 class cars use?

[PaulSands]

Andy Wallace was the man...definitely the most impressive
Lost a lap in the pits due to engine not firing up and proceeded to hunt down the Domes of Lammers & Bosch...he played the threee stop pit stop rule to perfection and was reeling them in at about 2 seconds a lap until the gear box failed

[Tim Northcutt]

Thanks, PaulSands....

Andy has always been fast...and that DBA has really come into its own in a very short time...the car debuted at Petit last fall and has really shown its speed from the get-go...

The gearbox seems to be its only major gremlin...same problem at Sebring this year, and if I remember correctly, also plagued them at PLM last oct.

Were Taurus, the Goddard Reynard, Berridge, Ascari, and/or the Pescas very competitive????

Also...did you get any word on Durango's DQ???

[PaulSands]

Berridge was 2 minutes away from 3rd place when driveshaft broke on their Lola, Goddard Reynard ran well and competetively despite an early off and losing a gear later.
Lagorce ran really strongly in the Pescalaro but retired really early...it's a gorgeous looking car too

I'm not sure about the accuracy of that DSQ against the Durango..I cant remember hearing anything

[PaulSands]

I have more pictures here http://www.paulsands.org/fiascc.htm but I'm well dissapointed with them

[kdr]

as the sites resident motorsport picture editor i feel i should jump in with some advice.

paul. one word - backgrounds!

whats your longest lens? you need to get tighter, or when you're posting them - crop in. you've got marshalls, boards, even some guys with their tops off in the backgrounds!

your best picture is the yellow car shot going away from camera in the top seven. i can see where you're coming from with the pitstop...nice light....but sportscar crews are generally friendly and you could have got a whole lot lower and closer to silhouette them against that sky.

if you can't afford a longer lens, then make a feature of the looseness(like yellow car pic)...give an impression of where you are and look for nice clean backgrounds. heres a pic from the recent motogp at donington as an example.

hope this doesn't come across hard. but my guess is you'd like input to take some better shots.

[Tim Northcutt]

To Paul Sands:

Are all of these pictures from the race????

If YES, the Durango is in one of your photos at the bottom of the final grouping before the pit stop shots....

One other question:

Is the white car with the light blue trim on the bottom of it the Goddard reynard or is it the Ascari??? the body lines look like the Ascari, but I couldn't be sure with just one pic....

Thanks!

[chris24]

Originally posted by kdr
as the sites resident motorsport picture editor i feel i should jump in with some advice.

paul. one word - backgrounds!


if you can't afford a longer lens, then make a feature of the looseness(like yellow car pic)...give an impression of where you are and look for nice clean backgrounds. heres a pic from the recent motogp at donington as an example.

Hi,
Please can you tell me from where this picture with the bikes and the airliner was taken. I have seen a shot like this before but have never been able to work out where to go on the circuit in order to catch such a shot. Also what lens did you use to get the shot.
Thanks

Regards
Chris

[Tim Northcutt]

The motorsport vortex site has some decent pics from Donnington....

But htye did not publish a race account like they usually do....at least not yet....

I particularly like the looks of the Promec chassis....

[Dauntless]

Far be it from me to question your word, kdr, but personally, I like the one showing flames coming out of the Pescarolo's tailpipe.

[PaulSands]

I welcome advice, I absolutely relish it to be honest.
I was using a wide angle in the pits/startline and a combination of a 100-300mm and 170-500mm. I was however letting the camera make all the decisions, thats where my big knowledge hole is fstops and the like. As for the pitstop that was just prior to me being asked to leave the lane by an FIA official as I didnt have the requesite firesuit on (like the Avon guy checking the tyres didnt but hey-ho).
This year is my learning year and next year they'll all be spot on

Tim, all the shots are from the race. If the white car you are talking of is number 55 that was the Lucchini Alfa Romeo SR2 car,,the Ascari is Silver/Purple http://paulsands.org/sitebuildercon.../fiascc/asc.jpg

[kdr]

british circuits are quite hot(forgive pun)on nomex suits in the pitlane. whereas le mans...well vive la france!

the 500 end of your zoom should be good for getting quite tight. you're always going to get bits and bobs in the background...so just crop in before posting them on your site.

your exposures look ok. i've always shot entirely manually(nikon f3 and f4)...and used a cheap lightmeter. in sunlight i normally expose cars(and most other sports!)at 500th at F5.6 and a half, 100 asa. that tends to work on film, so with digital it should be fine.

chris...bottom of the melbourne loop on a 500mm.

dauntless. i didn't spot that flame, they don't tend to work as well during the day as they do at dusk/night. to abuse the famous words of crocodile dundee - "thats not flames coming out a pescarolo...this is flames coming out a pescarolo"!

[PaulSands]

I always go for the flame...spent about a roll and a half trying to catch the DTM Mercs flaming out on the braking for the old hairpin but failed miserably
Britcars though now they're another matter altogether

[kdr]

are you sure thats a britcar? looks like a le mans gt sportscar to me...what do you think ayse?

[Tim Northcutt]

FYI

The Motorsport vortex site has a shot of a prototype with a jet flying overhead just like the shot KDR posted above...KDR's is better, but it is till a good shot...

[vandijk]

Nice pictures PaulSands!

Keep sharing them!

Originally posted by kdr
your exposures look ok. i've always shot entirely manually(nikon f3 and f4)...and used a cheap lightmeter. in sunlight i normally expose cars(and most other sports!)at 500th at F5.6 and a half, 100 asa. that tends to work on film, so with digital it should be fine.

I agree with the 500th as long as you take the picture at the front or rear (or a small angle) to your moving subject (the car). If you take pictures from the side of the car try lower shutter speeds like 180th (still pretty save) to give your photo some speed. When moving the camere with the subject at that shutter speed you will find the background blured and the alloys as well. If you go for the higher speeds (250th +) you might end with a 'parked' car on the circuit. Just an example here.

You probably tried it over here but unfortunatelly your forgot to move the camera with the car.

/s.