Photo Challenge: BestOf2004 | Night Race This was taken in October, at Laguna Seca, during the American Le Mans race. This is the first time they have ever had an evening race, in this series or at this track. This particular shot was taken at 7:42, when it was full dark, and the only light was a very few lights around the track and the lights of the cars. This shot was extremely difficult, for several reasons. There was almost no light, so I had to use ISO 1600 and f/1,4 to even have a chance. This meant the depth of field was very thin, and the cars were moving extremely fast, as this is at the end of the front straight, into turn 1. I had to manually focus on at about the right spot on the track, then pan with the cars and shoot, hoping some would turn out. This one and a couple others did. This shot shows several things: The single red light on the side of the car indicates it is in first place in its class. The illuminated car number, and glowing Audi logo behind the driver’s head were done special for this night race. Normally they are just painted on. The red glow coming from the front wheel is the brake rotor glowing red hot as it decelerates from about ~180mph to ~60mph for this turn. This is normal, you just can’t usually see it in broad daylight.

Night Race

This was taken in October, at Laguna Seca, during the American Le Mans race. This is the first time they have ever had an evening race, in this series or at this track. This particular shot was taken at 7:42, when it was full dark, and the only light was a very few lights around the track and the lights of the cars. This shot was extremely difficult, for several reasons. There was almost no light, so I had to use ISO 1600 and f/1,4 to even have a chance. This meant the depth of field was very thin, and the cars were moving extremely fast, as this is at the end of the front straight, into turn 1. I had to manually focus on at about the right spot on the track, then pan with the cars and shoot, hoping some would turn out. This one and a couple others did.

This shot shows several things:

The single red light on the side of the car indicates it is in first place in its class.

The illuminated car number, and glowing Audi logo behind the driver’s head were done special for this night race. Normally they are just painted on.

The red glow coming from the front wheel is the brake rotor glowing red hot as it decelerates from about ~180mph to ~60mph for this turn. This is normal, you just can’t usually see it in broad daylight.