BMW 3.5 CSL at Laguna Seca

Lumix G5, Lumix 100-300mm

And now for a change of pace... :)

Any BMW fans out there?

I shot this on Sat. 8/16 at the annual Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca Raceway. I practice my motorsports photography once a year at this event :). The BMW had just exited Turn 3 and was accelerating down the short straight to Turn 4.

This is a 1975 BMW 3.5 CSL that raced in the IMSA GTO Series of that era. It was one of four made for the IMSA GTO racing series. The engine is a naturally aspirated 6 cylinder, producing 440bhp at 8600rpm. (wow!) I really like the wild paint and outrageous spoilers, flares and generally bold appearance.

I have many more photos from Race Week that I may decide to post in the days to come.

--Warren

1962 Chevy Impala SS

 D200, Nikkor 24mm f2.8

I was at the 2012 Palo Alto Concours last weekend, and this car was my favorite of the show. It made me think fondly of my dad's first car which was a 1964 Impala. The '62 is very similar to the '64 model, except ours was a light blue, 4-door hardtop (non-SS). The '62 lines were more angular, the '64 more rounded.

--Warren

Ferrari F40 at Concorso Italiano

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 14-45mm

Here's a different view of the exotic Ferrari F40 at the Concorso Italiano (car show) at Laguna Seca Golf Course, taken last August. You can see the twin-turbo V8 engine in the rear window.

Beautiful Curves

Panasonic DMC-G1, Leitz 50mm f2.8 Elmar, Lumix 20mm f1.8

This is a gorgeous, well-preserved, mid-60's Toyota 2000GT. It is the first highly collectible Japanese car. When I was a kid, I would draw sports cars freehand, and somehow my drawings always end up looking like this car :). The compound curves of the bodywork and window glass made this car very expensive to produce, thus making it very expensive to buy. It cost $6800 in the mid-60's making it more expensive than contemporary Porsche and Jaguars. Just over 300 were produced and only 60 cars were imported into North America.

These pictures were taken at the Stanford Concours this year. I wanted to try my Leitz 50mm Elmar, but after taking 3 pictures, I decided that I did not have enough room at the Concours to work with the 50mm focal length. I switched to the Lumix 20mm for the rest of the pictures. One of the first 3 pictures was of this car. I went back later and snapped a couple more with the 20mm.

Taken with the Leitz 50mm:

Taken with the Lumix 20mm:

--Warren

Sports Cars

Panasonic DMC-G1, Leitz 50mm f2.8 Elmar

This is post #8 for the June Project (reflections). This is a picture of the back of a classic, vintage, 1969 Fairlady 2000 (Datsun), with the reflection of a modern, late-90's Ferrari 550 Maranello exotic sports car.

I attended the annual Palo Alto Concours (car show) last Sunday. It was HOT there, as usual. I had the Leitz Elmar mounted on the G1 when I first got there, but after two shots (this is one of them), I decided that there was not enough room to work that focal length at the event, so I swapped it out for the Lumix 20mm f1.8 for the rest of the day.

--Warren

Ross In His Classic '57 Chevy

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

Another bit of classic Americana, here's our friend Ross in his classic '57 Chevy. We visited our friends Ross and Patti in Lake Forest (Southern CA).

--Warren

Hog Riding Grannies

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

Seen at Laguna Beach (Southern CA), here's perhaps an image of something uniquely American. It was great to see them out there doing their thing :)

--Warren

Panic Button

D100, Tamron 24-135mm

Eric's shadow pattern image (the previous post) reminded of this one that I shot at the Monterey Historic Races. This is a close-up of an emergency fire extinguisher switch located near the windshield of a race car. I thought the shadows, button, and loop retainer made an interesting pattern.  

Would anyone care to guess which race car this is?

--Warren

Car Legs

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

I get a "deja-vu" experience when I look at this because I think I got a very similar shot at this same event from years ago.

--Warren

Automotive Art

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

Maybe a couple of fuel lines?

Camaro Racer

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

I made my annual trek to the Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca Raceway last weekend. Aside from enjoying the racing, I always like to wander the pit area to view the historic race cars up close. Here is a particularly handsome example of a Trans Am era, early-70's Camaro.

I decided to keep it simple this year so I only brought my D100 and one lens.

--Warren