On the rev limiter

What a big day! No wonder I'm ready for a nap. I only got to shoot the first 2 stages of Rally Queensland today because I have to get back to Port Macquarie to shoot a surf comp. First stage was about an hour north of the hotel so an early start to drive to Nimbil. We then had a 2.4km walk into the stage all geared up to reach a jump shot. Thank god for Lowepro's street and field belt system. You can see the results so it was worth the hike.

We shot the top ten and then started walking back trying to keep out of the way of the rest of the field as it came through. The hills didn't seem as steep going in. Anyway we emerged out of the stage with the traditional covering of dust so here is a big plug for my favourite rally shooters camera accessory, the Dyson. It's the only way you can get all the dust out of everything! Second stage was a sharp left turn at the end of a long straight. You could hear Simon Evans in the Toyota S2000 coming for miles. He was absolutely flat out and on the rev limiter. Just awesome!

There were 2 policemen watching on and decided to grab their speed camera and check some of the cars as they approached. All of the top cars seemed about the same with Eli Evans hitting 165kph which is not bad on a slippery dirt track approaching a 90 degree corner. I would love to know what Simon was doing. Here is one of my favourite pics from the rally of Neil & Coral doing a TV interview. Rallying is so glamorous just look at their seats. Now just a quick 9 hour drive home!

Cars with a bit of air!

Queensland, beautiful one day perfect the next. I've just popped up to the Sunshine Coast to shoot The Australian rally Championships Rally Queensland. Only a quick 750kms up the Pacific Highway from home but I did not take into account all the roadworks. I should have known it was going to be one of those trips when I sat in a traffic jam for 20 minutes just waiting to leave Port Macquarie and get on the highway! It took 2 hours longer than getting to Rally Canberra the same distance away and I had to drive through Sydney as well for that.

This morning was shakedown & media rides around an interesting track in the Nambour Showgrounds. It was good to see Darren Windus back in the S2000 Ford Fiesta. That means we have 4 Super 2000 cars roaring around the bush and they sound just awesome. Hopefully Swart in the S2000 VW Polo will be a bit more on the pace.

We have an night special stage with a couple of jumps tonight and our first stage tomorrow has a great jump on it. I do like seeing cars with a bit of air! Tomorrow is going to be tough day as I have to drive back to Port Macquarie after the days stages to shoot a surfing competition that starts at 7.00am on Sunday! Thank god for Red Bull.

rain + mud + mountains + goat track =

Yuck! Just typical, my local round of the New South Wales Rally Champion -ship the Rally Of The Hastings was run and won yesterday in the most appalling conditions. So much for the best climate in Australia! I should not have been surprised as it's a long weekend holiday here but it was just like shooting Safari Tasmania.

My first spot was not bad as one of the set up crew drove me into a nice left hander but sure enough it started to rain hard for the first 10 cars. It cleared up for the drive to my next spot way up in the hills behind Swans Crossing near Comboyne. The traction control on the mafia staff car kicked in a few times on the way up and I want to emphasise up! Wasn't long before the dirt road turned into a track only 4wds and mountain goats should go up but I arrived ok to find my spot in the clouds. Then it the started to rain really hard and visibility was down to nothing.

So I put the cameras away and decided to head home. But my car was too long to turn around so I had to wait until the road was open so I could turn round and head back down hill. Big alloys and very low profile tyres look cool but are a bit impractical when you are up in the clouds and driving down a steep track that now resembled a river and yes the inevitable happened when I slid off into a ditch sideways and got well and truly stuck. Fortunately a couple of hardy spectators with a big 4wd and one of the officials dug and then towed me out.

The wheels were so full of mud they looked like chocolate mudcakes but apart from looking very dirty the mafia staff car doesn't appear to have any damage which with all the screeching and banging as I was being dragged backwards along the bank is a minor miracle. I am truly thankful for the good samaritans who helped get me out as I would still be stuck up there now. Note to self, rain + mud + mountains + goat track = not somewhere to take mafia staff car!