ALMS @ Mosport

[Shaun Martin]

I'm guessing I'll be seeing all of the regulars up in my neck of the woods next week.

First year I'm going to find myself on the 'wrong' side of the fences, I had to bow out in 03 when you pro's wth digital took over, prior to that my film workflow could keep up. Made the transition to digital last summer and have been working on it ever since, maybe I'll be back next year on someones ticket.

So who all is coming out?

(And feel free to post up samples from previous years!)

Cheers,
Shaun.

aka Tall guy with the black lenses.

[Cyril Ma]

I'll be there.

Fourth year in a row going to this race; first year actually seeing the cars from a photographer point of view and not huddling over a laptop dissecting a bunch of squiggly lines.

[John Thawley]

I will be attending Mosport. And, if anyone is interested, I have started blogging on my website. My goal is to post from the track each day... experiences, anecdotes and general photography based dialogue. I'm also adding tips about photography in between races, that, hopefully, might informative to amateur and photography enthusiasts.

http://www.johnthawley.com

JT

[Neil Cameron]

Unfortunately, I won't make it to the ALMS race. We're suddenly moving house. PLUS, I've got three software releases coming up - one language, one module, one upgrade and they all seem to be scheduled for release in September. With the other clinical test engineer away, it means I'm going to have to work at least one day each weekend.

I AM P***ED! :(

Hope you guys have a great time!

Neil

[Shawn McClelland]

I'll be there again this year with gear in tow from Friday to Sunday so I'm sure many of us will bump into each other and pass a nod in the others direction over the course of the weekend :)

Shawn

[Vince To]

I'll also be there... first time attending an ALMS event...

I'll also be on the "wrong" side of the fence :P...

[John Thawley]

I'll also be there... first time attending an ALMS event...

I'll also be on the "wrong" side of the fence :P...

Mosport is fairly accessible from either side of the fence. In fact, I shoot quite a bit from the spectator areas or with my back right up to the spectator fence.

JT

[Shawn McClelland]

Mosport is fairly accessible from either side of the fence. In fact, I shoot quite a bit from the spectator areas or with my back right up to the spectator fence.

JT

Now everyone's gonna be watching for you and trying to shoot over your shoulder :p

I'm hoping for a clean weekend this weekend, Mosport's had a bad run of luck the past month with track conditions and accidents resulting in most events being under a constant yellow or intermitted red flags.

[Shaun Martin]

Now everyone's gonna be watching for you and trying to shoot over your shoulder :p

I'm hoping for a clean weekend this weekend, Mosport's had a bad run of luck the past month with track conditions and accidents resulting in most events being under a constant yellow or intermitted red flags.

Shawn (looks like everyone has an evil twin on here) were you at the track the weekend of the Varac crash? It's been a tragic summer, but every ALMS race I've been to there has been injury free.

[Shawn McClelland]

I was there that day, it was a horrible tragic loss. If you've ever driven the back straight of Mosport it's a very interesting line because you're shrouded in trees which can be good or bad depending on wind direction.

The Koni Challenge race was a bit of a mess in Turn 1, 8 and 6 as well as new drivers not being accustomed to the blind apex of Turn 5. Two times during that race I ducked for cover, once when a black Cobalt slammed into the safety tires infront of me and the other when a yellow Cobalt came into Turn 5 too fast and drove straight into the concrete barrier. Porsche Club of America was shrouded in yellow flags all weekend with the usual Turn 5 blind apex and a few oil spills.

Not sure if you saw the Trois-Rivieres Grand Prix coverage but wow, talk about a destruction derby in the Canadian Touring Car class... 4 drivers disqualified for improper driving and points revoked in the series as well as one facing suspension from the series.

ALMS has generally been pretty clean, worst last year I saw was one of the vette's run off in Turn 5 and spray the fans with rocks :) Here's hoping for another clean ALMS race this year.

[Shaun Martin]

John (I searched and didn't see you post this before) what's in your toolbox for your typical ALMS race?

40D & 500mm I know from your exif's on your sight, but do you mind sharing what else you use?

I'm renting some lenses this weekend to get experience with them prior to buying and I'm curious what everyone else finds useful.

[John Thawley]

3 40D bodies with vertical grips
1 Leica Digilux 3 w/ Leica 14mm-50mm f/2.8 lens (24mm-100mm equiv.)
Canon 500mm f/4. IS
Canon 300mm f/4. IS
Canon 70mm-200mm f/2.8 Non-IS
Canon 24mm-105mm f/4 IS
Canon 16mm-35mm f/2.8
Sigman 12mm-24mm f/4.5-5.6
2 Canon flash heads
1 Minolta hand held meter
1 Monopod
1 Turbo battery pack

All tucked into ThinkTank Airport Security roller. Actually, it's all in my blog from Road America here: http://www.johnthawley.com/journal/2008/8/8/road-america-travel-day.html

[Shaun Martin]

John, that's quite the list, I was wondering how you transported it all.... but from the pic in your link (I'm reading your journal now) that packs down really well. I'm guessing it's taken years to find the right balance of gear. Do you have all four bodies slung with lenses? How do you carry the rest of it?... if you have a pic of yourself in full battle gear I wouldn't mind seeing it.

[Shaun Martin]

I have driven the track a few times, walked it, biked it, even backwards... you name it. I'm not surprised by the off's in corner 5A, that's a damn hard corner to judge. Not only that, your line etc change so much over even a few laps (I'm in a street car, so no high downforce). I find it takes a lot to plummet through 4 and not lift too early, to hold it until your braking zone and to carry enough speed out... 5b is fairly forgiving (in the not crashing into the wall way) but obviously is critical for setting up the dragrace that is the back straight. My street car isn't exactly a power house (173hp/166ft/lb + awd) so keeping momentum is critical. I love these corners and when I spectate it's usually from here I have a lot of respect for the drivers that not only take it quickly but pass while doing so.

I spent the summer of 05 pretty much living at this track (and shannonville) crewing for a CTC team, interesting experience. Nice to see Pete make the podium; I ran a nav rally with him ages ago when he had a breathed upon WRX. Scott N seems to be having an off year.

I need to make it out to more races, no excuse as I live IN Bowmanville, in fact you likely pass my house on the way to the track. Good oprutunity to improve my shooting though as there's a bunch of free access regionals just about every weekend.

Man I'm looking forward to this!

[John Thawley]

John, that's quite the list, I was wondering how you transported it all.... but from the pic in your link (I'm reading your journal now) that packs down really well. I'm guessing it's taken years to find the right balance of gear. Do you have all four bodies slung with lenses? How do you carry the rest of it?... if you have a pic of yourself in full battle gear I wouldn't mind seeing it.

No, no... at most, I might go out with three bodies mounted. But rarely. It's typically the 500mm and 70-200mm out on the track. Maybe the 300mm if I know in advance that the 200mm will be short or the 500mm will be too much.

Pit lane I'll take the 70-200mm and 16-35mm.

Paddock, I'll walk around with the Leica. Or I'll mount up the 70-200mm or 24mm-105 during the autograph sessions.

I only carry cameras with lens mounted ready to shoot. I don't like changing lenses trackside.

JT

[Shaun Martin]

I'm not going to have the option of a place to store my gear (not wanting to leave it in the car), plus I'm pretty limitied as to higher end digital gear now...

I'm thinking:

D300
D70 backup.

70-200 2.8 with 1.4tc on the D300 on a monopod for trackside,
D70 with 18-200

Then throw the (rented) 12-24/4 on the d300 for the grid walkthrough. Actually, I'm reconsidering the 12-24... I might cancel it and go with a 300mm/2.8 and slap the 1.4 on there or pick up the 24-70.

I'm sure you've gotten over this long ago, but I'm always fighting the urge to be everywhere at once. I like the field diving through 4 into 5a when they're packed up at the start, but I really want to do the grid walkthrough for some up close driver/car shots, which I haven't had a chance to do before.

[Shawn McClelland]

If you're shooting Nikon, do you have the ability to rent a 200-400 f4 VR? From the spectator area there are some places you may want some tight crops or to get closer to cut some clutter out of the scene, I've found I am using my 100-400 a lot more recently now at Mosport.

My suggestion if you want to be everywhere, get up early and drive to the middle of the track on the inside of Turn 3. Being here puts you within walking distance to pretty much anything you need and you have access to the bridge in Turn 4 for getting back to the outside of the track.

[Shaun Martin]

I do have the ability to rent an AF80-400/4.5-5.6 VR ED Lens. But it's not as fast as I'd like, and other than the prime 300/2.8 their selection is a bit limited. Plus I'm not sure of the quality of it. I think for max reach I'm better served by the 300mm and the teleconverter.

I'm renting from Vistek, and for obvious reasons they don't have a ton of $5,000+ lense to rent out.
http://www.vistek.ca/rentals/rentalequipment.aspx?categoryId=422

It's too bad I don't have an assignment I'm shooting for this weekend, at first it was just going to be me renting a lens and getting back up to speed. Now I've decided I need to pick up a couple more fast Compact Flash Cards (though I'll be able to download the photos each night in the comfort of my home).

We've got rain forecast for Race day: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CAON0076

So I'm thinking a fast lens might be critical with rainy/overcast skies.

[Shawn McClelland]

I'm not sure what the D300's AF is like or the D70 but I know that even at f5.6 @ 400mm on my 40D I've got no problems with AF sampling and I've shot in overcast, dark rainy days at Mosport. Your light is going to have to be pretty low to tax most AF systems when outdoors unless you're starting to shoot towards dusk and the light is really dimming fast.

Yeah the 80-400 is not a good lens for fast action sports I've heard as it's rather big, bulky and the AF motor apparently struggles with fast moving subjects. In looking at Vistek's rental pricing, might as well get the 300 2.8 given it's only $28 more for the weekend than the f4 version :)

I'll be around all weekend from Friday to Sunday, tomorrow my girlfriend will be tagging along to see some of the race but then it'll just be me Sat and Sun. If you see a young chap wandering around with two Canon bodies hung off his shoulders wearing a brown Burton cap and black sunglasses feel free to pop by and say hello!