Sights and Sounds of Road America
How many of you have been to a motorsports event? If you haven't, I highly recommend it. There are many different types of motorsports and one of my favorites is called Road Racing. Contrary to the name there aren't many tracks anymore that actually race on a public road (a few exceptions). Most are on dedicated tracks all with their own unique set of challenges. One of the most famous tracks (and a driver favorite in the U.S.) is only a couple hours north in Elkhart Lake,Wisconsin. It's called Road America and it is amazing.
I went up for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship race on August 5th. I got up early and left at 5am to arrive at the track just after 7am. I found myself a nice centralised parking spot just inside of turn 6. I've included a track map for a visual to follow along as well as to show this is not a simple circle 'nascar' style track. First stop is breakfast, and for that we go to the Gear Box concession just past the North Paddock and grab a delicious Bacon Egger sandwich. Next stop is to walk through the competition paddock where you can walk right up to the teams and see them prepping the cars for the races.
FYI: Most of the images seen on this blog are available for purchase, if there is one that isn't in my prints section let me know and I will make it available!
BMW M8 GTE cruising through the Competition Paddock after morning warmups.
The first race of the day was the Porsche GT3 Cup,so I headed down the turn 5 set up my gear ( Sony A7RIII with the Sony 70-200 F4 G Lens) and waited for the race to start. Here are a couple images from the GT3 Cup race.
Shortly after the GT3 Cup race was the much anticipated Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series. I absolutely LOVE Lamborghini so this is one of my favourite races. A roaring V10 pumping out 620 horsepower that shoots flames out of the exhaust of downshifts? Sign me up! These are manufacturer made cars specifically for this race series and if you shell out $300,000 you can have one too haha Here's a few of my favorites from the Super Trofeo race. Taken at corners 6 and 12.
Pretty awesome right?? The day gets even better. After a lunch break and a cheeseburger at the St. Johns The Baptist concession area in the middle of the competition paddock, I headed over to the Pit Entry wall to take some pictures of the cars lined up in the pits. IMSA does this awesome thing where the fans can walk out on the pits and get up close with the cars that will be racing to see the intricate details of the cars. I use it as an opportunity to break out my newly acquired wide angle lens, the Sony 16-35 F2.8 G Master. Here's a couple from the pit walk!
After the pit walk it was time for the main race to start. The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship consists of three classes. The Prototype, The GTLM (GT LeMans) PRO ,and the GTD (GT Daytona) PRO-AM. This makes for exciting racing with a lot of overtaking. Many different manufacturers and teams create a diverse environment of design and sounds. The race a timed race being 2 hours and 40 minutes long. I headed over to turn 13 for a few images in the early stages of the race and then over to turn 6 and then 9 for a few more. It was a ton of walking (next year I'm renting a golf cart) but its worth it every year that I've gone. Here are a few of my favorites from the race! Leave a comment with which one is your favourite!
Thanks for taking the time to check out my latest blog and I hope you all enjoy reading these! Be sure to share this blog to your friends, especially if they like cars and racing! Hopefully you all get the chance someday to experience a race like this.