Yes it’s almost been a year since we went to Circuit of the America’s for V8 Supercars. Yes we procrastinated to the point where we need a new word for what we’ve done. Nevertheless, a video using a less-than-ideal video camera has emerged and here is the fruit of our labor!
The photographic evidence is a bit more appealing, but the sound is lacking in still images. So feel free to read up on our past articles here and imagine the noises as you look over the pretty pictures.
*Article, photos and video are copyright of CAMautoMag.com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified or copied without expressed written consent from CAMautoMag.com
When we went to Austin, TX for V8 Supercars, Mike had the brilliant idea of getting 4 disposable cameras for us to each use and capture the weekend. Well, more than a few of my pictures just sucked. But I found a few keepers, and these are them.
The rest of the crew will start to post their pictures as they get them developed and scanned. Click the pictures for full-size on Flickr.
Hope you enjoyed this look to show that you can “Instagram” your pictures in the camera with an old-school disposable film camera.
-Photos by Trent Bray
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.
No time for shenanigans, time to get to the… Hey! Thats an Aston Martin Rapide… So pretty. The parking lot held some intense vehicles, but more on those later.
We were here for the racing! Not the parking lot finds, and we managed to get quite a bit in on our last day. We caught some of the SCCA Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTS race. You know, the one with the GT3 cars in it now. We saw a lap or two from ground level, but then decided to get a better vantage point.
We (Cherp, James and myself) climbed the Tower. Well, we rode the elevator up because it was a lot of stairs. We got some great shots up there of the GT/GTS guys and the Porsche Cup races. We also got some touristy ones.
These guys were running hard, but in the end Madison Snow took the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy race, while James Sofronas won the GT class in his GMG R8 and Andy Lee put his Best IT Camaro on top of the podium in the GTS class.
But then it was time for the main events! The first race almost saw Mark Winterbottom put his Pepsi Max Crew/FPR Falcon atop the podium, but a bad pit stop relegated him to a disappointing 7th. Holden locked out the top six spots, with Coulthard, Lowndes and Whincup on the podium in the order. Rick Kelly in his Jack Daniel’s Racing Nissan placed 9th and Tim Slade put the Heavy Haulage Australia Racing Mercedes in 20th. Then we had an hour to kill between the races, so we wandered…
And wound up at the Start/Finish line. We consumed energy drinks and water, purchased souvenirs, and then heard 28 cars bounce off the rev limiters before launching up the hill.
And what a hill it is. It’s 150 feet of rise from the bottom of the hill to the top. That makes it the most elevation change of any F1 circuit on the schedule. See? You learned something! We then moved down the front straight, to turn 20. The final turn of the circuit.
We saw plenty of action.
And also some inaction…
And then the checkered flew. The big news? A MERCEDES FINISHED BETTER THAN 20TH!!! Tim Slade and the HHA Racing Mercedes came in 17th! Meanwhile Rick Kelly was yet again the highest placing Nissan (8th), and Mark “Frosty” Winterbottom put his Flacon in 6th. Holden took places 1-5, with the podium consisting of Jamie Whincup, Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Ginsbergen.
And that was it for the races, but the parking lots at CotA held a few gems themselves. There was the McLaren on Saturday, then there was this SRT Viper that was being loaded in to a hauler.
And these!
Holdens! We ran across two fellows who import Utes, then convert them to left hand drive by sticking Pontiac GTO or G8 dashes in them. The best part is they then can be legally registered!
After ogling the cars, we packed up and made our way in to Austin for dinner, then shenanigans. The next morning we returned our faithful chariot to the rental agency, hopped on the plane and made our way home. It was an epic trip for the lot of us. Nobody races like the V8 Supercar guys.
Words by Michael Chandler. Photos by Michael Chandler, Nicholas Cherpeski and James Dahl.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.
It’s the inaugural Austin 400 V8 Supercars race, and as a group Trent, Cherp, James and myself decided to chip in and come down. We’re going to be down here until Monday, and at the track today and tomorrow. We flew in yesterday and went straight to the track. Here’s a brief run down of events preceding and during our trip to Circuit of the Americas here in Austin.
Cherp flew in to Salt Lake from Seattle. He did some prodigious foursquare-ing, and proceeded to creep on us at the terminal in Salt Lake until we found him. Him, Jamie and myself grabbed some coffee before boarding. Unfortunately we were separated during the flight, and they got a window on their aisle. Cherp and I were left to entertain ourselves…
Naturally, when we deplaned, we were greeted by a bar.
It was then time to procure the rental mobile. We were getting a Focus, or something “similar”.
The idea of the Focus gave Jamie a stroke… Or something…
…while Cherp seemed just delighted by the prospect of the Focus.
Similar? YOU BET! Similar price? the BMW was $50 more PER DAY. So we opted for the Focus, which we have claimed as our own. And then we were off!
She’s a sight to behold.
You know who was excited to get in? JAMIE!
We were greeted with raucous backfire from the Aussies and Kiwis during the practice session we watched. We were then treated to a practice session from one of the support series: IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup, where we noticed some familiar cars from Miller Motorsports Park.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.
We’re a bit excited that Formula One is returning to the United States. We’ll be going to Austin in 2012 to check out this race, but here’s of preview video of the track layout after the jump. (more…)
