FIA World Touring Car Championship, Pau, France

[David Lister]

Monaco is not the only long established street race in the south of France.. The town of Pau, in the French Pyrenees, has also been hosting a race around it's streets for many years..

First run in 1901 (it therefore predates the Monaco Grand Prix by about 28 years) and then regularly since the 1930's, the "Grand Prix de Pau" became, for the first time, part of a world championship when the World Touring Car Championship came to town last weekend..

Past winners include Tazio Nuvolari (1935), Hermann Lang ('39), Juan Manuel Fangio ('49 and '50), Alberto Ascari ('52 and '53), Jean Behra ('54, '55 and '57), Maurice Trintignant ('62, '59 and '58), Jack Brabham ('60 and '66), Jim Clark ('61, '63, '64 and '65), Jochen Rindt ('67, '69 and '70), Jackie Stewart ('68)..

More recent names on the coupe include such greats and famous names as Wisell, Gethin, Cevert, Depailler, Laffite, Arnoux, Giacomelli, Cheever, Lees, Cecotto, Gartner, Thackwell, Danner, Dalmas, Moreno, Alesi, Van de Poele, Gounon, Naspetti, Lamy, De Ferran, Jorg Muller, JP Montoya...

Together withm, of course, a certain Lewis Hamilton, present F1 hot property, who did the race 1, race 2 double in 2005..

Added to that list are now Alain Menu and Agusto Farfus Jr who were winners of Race 1 and Race 2 for Chevrolet and BMW, respectively..

My first time in Pau, I was there with the WTCC circus, and what a place.. so much opportunity that this small selection will only scratch the surface.. An expanded selection will turn up on sportcarpros, as usual..

Best regards to all..
David

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_01_146.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_03_049.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_09_033.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_10_109.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_10_256.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_11_014.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_13_026.jpg

http://www.gtphotographic.demon.co.uk/forum/WTCC_07_PAU_13_384.jpg

[Dennis Murray]

That is really beautiful work froma really beautiful place.

What time of day was the race? It looks from the shadows to be later in the day.

[David Lister]

There were 2 races, 10 am (shots 4, 5 and 6) and 3.30pm (7 and 8).. The first 3 shots were in practice and qualifying.. The first race was so early to accommodate TV schedules (it was live on French Terrestrial TV)..

[Bob Chapman]

Not hard to figure out which one I like most... #2 is top drawer.

#4 is a beautiful scene setter.

#8 is very dramatic, but begs for a red car in the frame.

Lovely stuff.

[Chris Clark]

What a beautiful place to shoot.

I really like the last one, but #2, wow, lets just say I shouldn't repeat the words that came out of my mouth when I saw it. Two words, and one of them was "Holy"....

Stunning.

-chris

[David Lister]

#8 is very dramatic, but begs for a red car in the frame.

Lovely stuff.

Cheers..

I think the red car you're referring to was some 600k's to the north.. Brooksie should have that one for you.. :)

See you next week..?

[Jim Sykes]

Really like the second and the last ones Dave. See you next week.

[John Thawley]

Oh my.

Very nice, Dave. They're all top notch... but the last is amazing. Great stuff

JT

[Todd Corzett]

#2 is just jaw dropping... I also really like the last shot. Killer stuff!

-Todd...

[Jeff Boerio]

I think I would cause severe bodily harm trying to get #2 :) Nice job!!

#8 is equally fantastic.

Jeff

[Mike Hoyer]

Fantastic stuff as ever!

What lens were you using for the fisheye stuff?

[Erik Anderson]

#2 scores as the most unique. Great shot! #8 is a close second favorite, and the lot of them are very nice!

[David Lister]

Mike.. The very wide ones (#'s 2 and 4) are on the 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye-Nikkor..

Do you use Firefox browser..? If you do you can use an exif viewer plug in and then you'll be able to right click on the images and see the exif data..

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3905

[Jeff Kapic]

Great series. I'll mirror everyone elses comments about the favorites.

Jeff

[Tim Hulme]

Number 2 is just amazing, normally wouldn't repeat what everyone else has said, but damn that needs mentioning!!

[Mike Hoyer]

Mike.. The very wide ones (#'s 2 and 4) are on the 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye-Nikkor..

Do you use Firefox browser..? If you do you can use an exif viewer plug in and then you'll be able to right click on the images and see the exif data..

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3905

Ah, I didn't know that. I don't usually use Firefox, but I'll definitely give that a look.

Do you get any vignetting with that lens? I've got an 8mm one, but on a 1 series body you get a lot, but not quite a complete circle. My brother tried it on his 10D, which I think is a bit better. Even the pro Nikons have the 1.6x crop though don't they?

[David Lister]

D2 Nikon bodies have an apparant 1.5 magnification on normal 35 mm lenses as the sensor is smaller than the 35mm film frame, and, therefore, captures a smaller area of the projected image.. Hence the common usage of "1.5 times"..

But the DX lenses are built for the DX sensor size, they're smaller and so there is no "spare" image projection and, hence, you can't use DX images on 35mm film bodies..

The 10.5mm is a "true" 10.5, built for the sensor size and shows little vignetting.. see the race 1 start shot (#4, I think)..

[Mike Hoyer]

Ah I see. Just realised my housemate has a 15mm canon fisheye that's a bit more sensible. Might borrow that for Le Mans. I think the 1D Mark II is 1.3x.

[Jim Williams]

Beautiful work. Very inspiring!
Jim Williams

[David Lister]

Thanks for all the kind comments..

There's an expanded selection here, if anybody is interested..

SPORTCAR PROS GALLERY (http://www.sportscarpros.com/across-the-border-features-from-guests/features/tango-in-the-park/tango-in-the-park-gallery-01/default.htm)

Dave

[Mike Hoyer]

Not bad, not bad...

[Cedric Marcadier]

Awesome job David !