It had to happen sooner or later………….I had to go along to a drift event in person and see what Rod and Antonio were talking about.
So I had a free weekend and the European Drift Championship was out at Silverstone.
So here on full throttle is Phil Morrison in his Nissan S15, which powered by a Toyota engine………..a more detailed look at this car later.
Like Antonio's D1SL event in Ebisu the weather was not kind at all……………for the first two sessions on Sunday it was wet/damp so no smoke but a lot of worried drivers as drifting in those conditions that really tests the skill and nerve of everyone………..here is James Russell in the R32 GTS.
And this is Declan Hicks in the Toyota Soarer………..sliding around in front of the BRDC Suite.
The conditions meant that drivers used all the track……..and more……….here Stephen Evans rallycrosses his Toyota Starlet
But despite the rain there was drifting to be done………..smoke or no smoke. Brett Castle in his Nissan 200SX S14A
The slippery conditions caught out Shane Lynch whose R33 GTS whacked the armco hard and bounced back into the path of Daniel Eyles in a similar car. Of course this happened while I was having an attack of the arts……..so the 1/25 shutter speed was not ideal to catch the action but here Lynch attacks the drivers door of the other car. I am happy to say that both drivers were basically OK, a bit shaken as you might expect.
Both cars were retired on the spot and the action was postponed while repairs to the barriers were made.
Kieran Cameron in his Nissan S13.
The closest battle of the day featured Phil Morrison and Dutch champion Remmo Niezen in the E30 BMW.
This was resolved in favour of the BMW after a rerun or two to decide the winner.
The final was between Niezen and Tim Marshall's R33 GTS
And the winner was……………..Tim Marshall……………..
For a first time at a drift meeting I could appreciate the skills involved in driving and preparing the cars………..despite the conditions there was a real flavour of petrol head around…………I want to come back and nail the event photographically………….it is unfinished business.
-John Brooks
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Nice coverage John....:-)
Here are the pics of the S15 buildup process.
http://www.driftworks.com/forum/drift-car-projects-builds/29908-driftworks-s15-2jzgte.html
I thought tim marshall won?
Tim Marshall won in the R33
interesting Vmount on the soarer. is that even considered a vmount? haha
That E30 has had a lot more work done on it than you would suspect at first.
Check out this build thread:
http://www.driftforum.nl/forum/index.php?showtopic=4128
"Attack of the arts"
Like it!
Humble apologies folks and especially to Tim Marshall..........I seem to have got completely the wrong end of the stick..............I was sure that the Dutch guy was the winner................I was on my own on the outside of Luffield so my imagination must be playing tricks, the PA was barely audible........and let's not talk about the non existent press information either at the circuit or on the official site yesterday..................difficult to write a report when you have no information to hand.
Still like Arnie, "I'll be back"
There are some cool panning shots going on in this report.
Is that the same Shane Lynch of the 90s boy band Boyzone involved in the accident?
final round's in Poland
@ zanthrax:
Thanks for posting up the link of the E30. That car went under the knife....lol....amazing work.
second picture from top....high res please.......great work
Dry sump V8 E30? Sign me up!
Who's gonna post HD vids of the event?
John, I enjoyed your coverage but I'd like to hear a little bit more about what you, as a seasoned motorsport photographer, thought about the event and the differences between photographing drifting and endurance racing.
I'm glad to hear that you feel the need to do it again. I think it's that drive, more than even your artistic eye or raw talent, that makes you the world-class photographer you are and an inspiration to an amateur like myself. If I might make a suggestion, I briefly compared the settings you and Antonio are using and your shutter is open fully 10x longer in many photos of similar action. I consider Antonio a bit more of a lifestyle photographer than action, so I'm not saying you should sell your soul and copy everything Antonio does, but he's one of the best and you might consider spending some time looking at his work. As much as I love stretched out shutters, maybe something a little faster is a good idea until you get a telepathic sense of what the car is going to do as you seem to have with sportscars. By the way, how far were you away from the cars? Your focal lengths seem longer than normal.
I disagree with patrick...Slow shutter drift pics are the bomb... shows of the true speed these guys are doing....id have to say its the only way it should be done..and shows the true panning skills of the photographer... luv your wokr john
I agree with Matthew... some o the best drifting photography I've seen in a long time.
Wow
much to consider.........off early to another job...........snapping a shopping centre, yep I'll shoot anything for money...............so I will come back to you guys with my thoughts on your posts later............comments and criticism are encouraged..............we can all learn from others.
jb
Patrick
what did I think????........well I did not enjoy things as much as I might of done, Silverstone in soggy conditions is a grim, dispiriting place..........the weather meant that one of the signal features of drifting, tyre smoke, was absent for two out the three sessions..........I think you may have a point about looking at others' work, especially Antonio, but for the finals I went over to Luffield whereas the rest of the photo mob was where they had been for the other sessions, in the middle.....so to create a different pictures you sometimes have to gamble, whether or not it came off you can judge.....the others had a different brief to me and I had a 500mm lens and can out reach their 200s...plus I can go real slow with the lens on a pole......I did shoot straight stuff as well but to me the spirit of drifting is control of the car while on a knife edge.........shooting at slow speeds is my idea of the photographic equivalent..........so why post shots that others will also have?..........does this answer your points?
Matthew/Stray/Gaby/Salvation/Alex.............many thanks..............my verdict on the shoot........OK for a first go but can do better............
jb
salvation - yeah
John, any chance of a wallpaper of the BMW/Driftworks S15 twinning please?
salvation - yeah
John, any chance of a wallpaper of the BMW/Driftworks S15 twinning please?
here is a video of the crash, looks very serious, luckily both drivers got out okay
http://www.dailymotion.com/darkandier/video/x6pfer_big-drift-crash_auto
haha, you always can get better shot, photographers are there own worst critic lol... but being different is where its at and yes im jealouse of your 500mm lens
i have to get myself one of them
fantastic set john! i totally agree with your comments on using low shutter speed with photographing drifting. nice to meet you on sunday.