The European FIA Drag Racing Finals 2011

This weekend has seen the 5th and final round of the FIA Drag Racing Championships held at Santa Pod.  Having been to the Easter Thunderball event (photos from which I still have to post process and blog!!), we decided it was worth the trawl to Bedfordshire for this event as some of our friends were competing. 

I've mentioned in passing earlier on in my blogging that I have a history in motorsport that includes Drag Racing.  Whereas I competed in full race Minis and a Marcos, my brother raced a BDX rear engined spaceframe Mini for a while.  Dad was president of MDRA (Malta Drag Racing Association) for a number of years and therefore the drag raceway at Halfar turned out to be our second home, for a number of years as we visited the racing strip for different reasons. 

Hence it was only logical, that when we heard there was going to be a strong Maltese contingent this time at Santa Pod, that we were tempted to go watch the event.

It wasn't the first outing at Santa Pod for Maltese dragracers as the Mr Whippy Team and the Elbros team fought things out for a championship place back in 2001.  There has been a continued presence over the years from the Maksar Racing Truck team and also from Simon Giordimaina in his modded Hayabusa.  We were therefore quite keen to go and support our old friends during this latest venture as well as have a catchup with how things were going back home.

Initial doubts on whether we would be recognised, quickly erased themselves as we were welcomed to a nice cup of coffee and lots of smiles from the Joe Carabott and his Mr Whippy team.  Good to see dad's expression glow as he rekindled memories of his good (and often difficult and worrisome) times managing the Halfar raceway with Joe Carabott, who unfortunately confirmed things had changed a lot over the years and the carefree years of racing me and my brother enjoyed when we were younger were now things of the past.

My son, Matt, could not immediately understand why he was being introduced to so many Maltese speaking people who were grinning at him.  He later confided he had no idea my dad was so involved and that everybody in that circuit knew us well (pity you forgot Matt!).  

I managed to take a few photos of my dad, brother and Matt with Joe and his car/team, however as space was restricted (and I still mainly use my beloved 50mm 1.4) I sought a better perspective using a ladder they had.

Below are some action shots from the day, limited by the fact I was in a packed grandstand for the day. 

Some of the general racing...

and some of the Mr Whippy run, whilst we were surrounded by flags and general enthusiasm! :)

Well done Manty for the 5.5s run!  See you guys next year, hopefully!

Happy Father's Day

I picked up and scanned an image from one of my old photo albums today, mindful of the fact that my mum's albums lie patiently below my desk awaiting I pick up the piles of images and scan them into meaningful albums. 

I wish I can find the time to do this, as these photos are obviously very important to myself, as well as my family, but at the moment I just can't find the time.

However on this bleak and quiet June's day in Great Yarmouth I picked up one of my favourite images from the period when Matt was tiny, and scanned it to reveal how age it starting to get to my old 35mm prints.  It's a portrait of Matt with my dad, an image I'm particularly fond of.

I must have used 1600 film for this as it has very strong grain, and although I didn't use to keep notes of my 35mm work I remember I went through a phase of using red filters and high ISO film.  I loved Ilford but this roll was probably FUJI neopan.  Even then I was constantly trying to break the rules and used the red filter for this portrait.  Red filters on B&W were'nt recommended for portrait use as the resultant images were very punchy and contrasty, but in this case I guess I pulled it off well.  

This reminds me I've been a Nikon user for nearly 20 years now, maybe I should publish a small collection of work across the years soon, mindful that my work has been developing over a period of time and that my initial work only had few elements of interest.  

But before any of that, I must get my act sorted and scan all my mum's old albums.  It would be so nice to give my dad an album of his old hillclimbing days, days when he was so heavily engaged in football management, and the images of us growing up... it's his 75th in a couple of months....

In the meantime, a Happy Father's day to all you great dads out dad and particularly to my own dad.  Thank you for being who you are... we learnt so much from the good and less good, and for raising us with the good values that we are now transmitting to others  :) x

The Classic Team Lotus Festival 2010

We trekked down to Snetterton today for the Classic Team Lotus Festival, a family day out with the opportunity to view all Lotus F1 cars made, and for the first time, all displayed together.

To be honest we were'nt really interested in the family day out... :)  we are keen Lotus enthusiasts, and we walked around the circuit looking out for the rarer models, the smells of melting rubber and racing fuel keeping an ear out for the occasional FVC or DFV being revved.

As a mass of Lotus fans descended on Snett, we walked through a sea of Elises, with some Elans, Plus Twos and Esprits thrown in.  I grinned at the sight of the number of media photographers on site, all slinging one or two bodies with big zooms.  I wondered, as some of them aimed and shot, what they were looking at, in their view finder, whether like me, they aspired to shoot images that captured the elegance, the lightness and handling of a Classic Lotus.

The unusual find of the day was this extremely rare Plus Two in estate version!

The day was very cold and we had to take frequent coffee/tea breaks to warm ourselves up!  I think this photo I shot of my son Matt really sums the weather :) Brrr...

For me, the most interesting part of the day was the point at which the Historic cars were fired up for a parade.  The most glorious cackle and roar filled the air and a grin returned to our faces :)

It was disappointing though, that the car we were closest to, gave the team a real hard time with firing up.  The main mechanic spent loads of time adjusting the injection system to no avail, progressing to squirting raw fuel into the inlets, whilst I patiently looked into the viewfinder, hoping the engine would fire and light up the fuel!  Unfortunately the only thing the engine did was backfire, spitting out fuel and smoke.  Clive Chapman came out to see what was wrong and the apologetic mechanic could unfortunately do nothing much else to get the car going....

It was a really good day out, a nice Fathers' day out, spent with my dad, something I had not done for a while.  Judging by the smile on his face as I said my goodbyes later, I think it was the best gift I could have given him today :)

Have a good week everybody!...