This summer dad and I made our semiannual trip to the races. This year it was to Watkins Glen for the Sahlen 6 Hour race on a sweltering hot July weekend. We had a great time, 3 days of racing and camping. Thanks go to Cal and Bonnie for letting us use their camper. It was much more fun than tent camping. There are loads of photos in my flickr gallery, but here are a few here to capture your interest.
Angelleli / Taylor SunTrust Car
Porsche Accident
Turner Motorsports BMW
Mazda Racing backfire
As with most photos, you can view more for the racing weekend in my flickr gallery.
After being bumped 4 weeks due to unseasonably warm temperatures, the Finger Lakes Snocross event finally happened on February 24th. I was planning on going both days, but Saturday I had plans to go see the RIT hockey game, so I could only go to the snocross Friday. What a day it was! I left work at 4pm in a total downpour. By the time I arrived at the track, the sun was out. Then another downpour, followed by more sun, a rainbow, and finally, rain sleet, snow, and 40-50mph sustained winds topped off the night. It made photographing the event even trickier than last year. It was interesting this year, because the track was made entirely of man made snow, surrounded by grass and dirt. By Saturday though, a blizzard swept through bringing freezing temperatures and significant accumulation. Here’s some photos from the event, and as always, those that couldn’t get enough, there is more in my snocross flickr gallery.
In the midst of my week in the Adirondacks, I ducked down to Saratoga for a great day of racing on Jim Dandy Day. I saw a lot of great horses, had a great time with Mark and Melody, and even got to see Stay Thirsty win the Jim Dandy on his way to the Travers Stakes 4 weeks later. Here’s a few photos on the day, more photos are available on my flickr gallery page.
Giant Surprise
Sebago Bay
Moonshine Mullin
Stay Thirsty
I already can’t wait to get back to Saratoga. My full 2011 Saratoga gallery is available on my flickr page.
After rekindling our interest in racing, this year Dad and I decided to head out to Limerock Park in Connecticut to take in the American Le Mans Series Racing. It didn’t take us too long to figure out the way the camping worked. We even got some rain, even though I didn’t bring any rain gear. The racing was great, and its a really neat track. We got to see a lot of different types of cars racing, and the access to the track and pit area can’t be beat! Its practically wide open. We camped at the track for 3 days, and had a great time. Here’s a few photos from the weekend (close to 1,000 photos taken). View the rest of them in my flickr gallery.
Dyson LMP1
LMPC Car
RLL BMW
Corvette
Flying Wizard
Vilander Ferrari
Tequilla Ferrari
Jaguar
The full gallery with many more photos is available in my flickr gallery.
I made it down to Aqueduct for the Wood Memorial this year to hopefully see Uncle Mo triumph over the competition on his way to the Kentucky Derby. It was not meant to be, as Uncle Mo ended up finishing 3rd and it was later discovered he was too sick to compete in the derby. Despite the disappointment, it was still a fun day with mark and his brothers. We saw some good races, and some beverages were consumed. Here’s some pictures from the day, all of my Aqueduct photos are in one flickr gallery.
This past Saturday we attended the AMSOIL Snocross Eastern Nationals at the Finger Lakes Racetrack in Farmington, NY. Its snow mobile racing and jumping at its finest. A lot of guys from the X-Games from ESPN were there too. I had gone last year, and it was pretty fun, so I decided to go again this year with Craig and Tracy. Last year it was around 15 degrees with 25 mph winds and quite cold. This year, forecast was for 32 degrees and cloudy, but a storm came in the afternoon and dumped at least 2-4 inches on us. It was really neat, but made picture taking quite challenging. I still got some great shots. You can view a few here, and the rest in my flickr galleries: Finger Lakes Snocross 2011, and the Freestyle Show gallery.
After the Air Show in Geneseo I decided to spend the next Saturday morning at the Stuart Horse Trials in Victor. The 4 day event featured the dressage, cross country, and stadium jumping events. I know next to nothing about horse trials, but I knew I wanted to see the cross country portion of it. It was pretty fun. I arrived during a break, so I got to walk the course a little and decide where to shoot from. Learned a little about the event from some course volunteers too. I stayed from the morning into the early afternoon and got a lot of neat shots. The course was wide open, and you can walk anywhere you want, just stay out of the way of the horses. There are a lot of photos I took in my flickr gallery, and a few here too.
Douglas Payne Water Hazard
Blair King Water Hazard
Eliza Farren Water Hazard
Kelly Sult cornering
Many more images of many more horses and riders are available in my flickr gallery.
Its been a busy few weeks, with activities every weekend. I haven’t really had time to update this page, but I’ve been able to try and keep up to date on my flickr page. Now I’ll post a few here too. My friend Mark and I went to the Indy Car race at Watkins Glen over July 4th weekend. There were various races and practice sessions Friday through Sunday, and lots of opportunities for photos. It was neat to see the Indy cars up close, but the race itself wasn’t all that exciting. And it was HOT. Really hot, in the 90’s. We were able to catch some shade under the trees at the track, and did a good job beating the heat. Here’s a few photos, and the rest of them are posted in my flickr gallery. There are also photos from the indy lights race too.
Saturday I took a trip to the Finger lakes Racetrack to practice taking photos with our camera for upcoming summer trips to Saratoga. It was really hot, but I had a good time and got some great shots. There is definitely a trick to getting good photos. I am still working at it. Its tricky to learn why some photos have better focus, color, and sharpness, while similar photos are a bit lacking. Here’s a few of the better shots. A gallery of all my photos from the Finger Lakes Race Track is available on my flickr page.
I just got done freezing my fingers off at the Finger Lakes Snocross ISOC event in Farmington. It was pretty neat, and really packed. I hope to get out there again next year and dress a little warmer. I wore some pretty weak gloves, and my finger sure did suffer. Pretty tough shooting conditions with a temp of 19 degrees, and winds of 10-15mph. They did eventually die down a little, and the flurries slowed too. Pretty neat racing.
