Free tickets, a friend cookin' brats, great weather and racing.
Doesn't get much better than this.
Rented a 1DMkIV for the action, jury still out as it's been a long time since I've shot racing.
Tried the lower S/S for the wheel motion, but too many soft shots so went with freezing the action. The 400 was great, but too long for many shots, the 70-200 w/TC about the best,
Miss the "old days" when you could get closer to the track.
Laguna is such a great track for both spectators and drivers alike. Grew up there and have been going there since the sixties. Looks like you had a blast and had just about every corner covered.
Peter,
Yep, like you grew up in San Jose and after HS. went down for the Oly Sprints, the "real" Can Am & Trans Am races every year. Missed the days of the 917K monster when I was in Nam'.
But now only go every few years.
Back in the late seventies or early eighties, our bicycle club in Monterey got permission to do a Thursday night ride on the track, so my first time around that track was on a twenty pound road bike. Then, a year ago, my brother signed me up for a real track day in my 911. What a thrill. I now have way more respect for that than ever before. An hour on the track and there was no more concentration.
While I've had my trips around the course at club events, my best memory was in the late 60's. We had tickets for both days, but for some reason my friend wanted to see if we could stay overnite on the grounds. Remember, this was back in the days when the Army still ran the place. We found a tree to park his Austin Healy Sprite under and stayed the night.
Next morning we motored out on the track, climbing up through the "old" Turn 4 and on to the corkscew at 6/6A. About that time MPs in a jeep shouted at us with a bullhorn to get off the course safely, which we did. Other than a warning, we complied and return later that morning for Sunday's races. BTW, entering the corkscrew is trip. You basically have to aim the car at a tree to pick the right line through the corner as the road "falls" away from view.
"You basically have to aim the car at a tree to pick the right line through the corner as the road "falls" away from view."
My instructor told me to aim for "that short little tree" and then when everything fell away to aim for "that oil spot" as you turned right. After twenty or thirty laps it started to become more automatic. But, yes, there's nothing like negotiating that series of turns.
