Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, 1000km of Spa

Only a week after the second MaX5 Cup races of the season I found myself back behind my camera shooting hard fought battles again. This time at Spa Franchorchamps for the Inter Continental Le Mans Cup. With less than a month to go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this event was the last possibility for the teams and drivers to check their materials, cars and routines in race trim before the main event in La Sarthe.

It is always a pleasure to stand at the top of the famous Eau Rouge corner, the speeds these cars carry up this hill is just incredible. Also the view from here just breathes motorsport history at it’s best. There are so many good memories of races I have witnessed here in the past. This image was taken with the Go Pro camera which I use to film the action during the MaX5 events.

The all new Audi R18 made is race debut at Spa after the test days in Le Mans where it appeared in April. With the cars placing in the top three spots after qualifying, Audi looked as strong as ever. The futuristic look of these cars strongly reminded me of the Cylon’s from Battle Star Galactica. You either love them or you hate them but I think they look great.

I ran into this broken Porsche of the IMSA Performance team near the Stavelot section of the track. Hopefully it will have more luck at Le Mans.

My 100-400mm lens gives me some great new opportunities. Standing on top of the Kemmel straight I shot this image of the start/finish line. The tilt/shift effect was added later.

Due to the lay out of the circuit and the high speed of these cars, Spa is a great place to make some great panning shots. M Power all the way!!!

The all new Ferrari 458 Italia of the AF Corse team makes it’s way through the late afternoon sun at the Malmedy corner. One of the R18 Audi’s is just disappearing over the crest.

It is great to see Henry Pescarolo and his team back at Le Mans this year. Here the car is leading two Ferrari’s out of the Bus Stop Chicane.

In the end it was Team Total Peugeot who took the top honors leaving Audi with a third place finish. I have a feeling that this years Le Mans race is going to be epic!!!

Here is the trailer from Peugeot in the run up to the event.

MaX5 Raceday 2, Images

On Saturday the 30th of April, while the rest of Holland was celebrating Queensday, the second round of the Total Mazda MaX5 Cup was held. A sunny Zandvoort racetrack welcomed the drivers and their entourage. With a laid back atmosphere and great racing spirit it turned out to be one of the best race days in the cups history. For a full race report and championship standings visit the MaX5 Racing website

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The Season Kicks Off!!!

The season kicks off!!!

The Total Mazda MaX5 Cup 2011has finally started. With new teams, cars and a great vibe, the whole circus got in full swing on Sunday the 10th of April.
With a lot of new camera equipment to get my head around and many new cars and people to shoot I had my work cut out for me. Fortunately it was beautiful weather and I was very happy to be back behind the guardrails to shoot the action.
Besides photography I will be also shooting film during the season. A great new challenge and it gives a whole new look on the drivers perspective. One problem, it really makes me want to be in their seats!!! I definitely should hurry up with my track project!!! Until my car is track worthy again I will just focus on the shooting side of racing. Enjoy the photo’s and the first racing film of the season.

http://www.vimeo.com/22420347

MaX5 Racing Spotters Guide 2011

The new season of the Total Mazda MaX5 Cup is on it’s way!!! With plenty of new cars and teams I thought it would be a good idea to post a Spotters Guide. The images down below show all the entries of the 2011 season. Three of them are old shots as these cars were not participating in the session in which I took the images. Enjoy the Guide and if you are in the neighbourhood of one of the events, don’t hesitate to drop by for coffee and a lot of racing fun. All the dates can be found here!

See you in 2011!!!

Total Mazda MaX5 Cup 2011 Teaser

Here is a little teaser I made for the 2011 Total Mazda MaX5 Cup, enjoy.

http://www.vimeo.com/20110163

This teaser was made without any planning and is made of a few random frames which I shot during last season. At the beginning of this year I bought a camera slider from Indi System. The shots of the guys working on their racers were the first frames working with this slider. Great piece of kit for an awesome price. The race tracks featured in the teaser are Zandvoort in Holland, Spa Franchorchamps in Belgium and Oschersleben in Germany.
My thanks go out to the I.L. Motorsport team for supplying the onboard images.

Maximum5 X MaX5 Racing

On February 1st a new German online magazine called Maximum 5 was launched. This magazine features the lifestyle and fun around the worlds most popular convertible the Mazda MX-5. Focused on the MX-5 life in and around Europe, the first edition features: stories about travel, technique, and all the fun you can have when you bring out these little roadsters to a racetrack or a slalom cup. As this first issue looks back into the last season of our MaX5 Racing series, I was asked to provide the editors with several images out of my archives.

Currently the magazine is only in German but when it turns out to be a succes other languages will follow. Click on the link below to read the first edition of the magazine or go to the Maximum5 website. Don’t forget that it is an interactive magazine so clicking on links can get you anywhere from new products to cool race videos!

Read the Magazine

Here is a sneak preview of the film which is attached to the MaX5 Racing article:

MaX5 Racing x N24 TV

During the last race of the Total Mazda MaX5 Cup of 2010 a German TV crew dropped by to shoot the series for the N24 TV channel.
With a whole day of filming in the pocket this is what the crew came up with to broadcast.

I am already looking forward to the 2011 season as we are expecting a record of 26 cars getting ready to hit the grids.
Only a few years ago we started the cup with just 3 participating teams. It is great to see what passion, some hard work and a lot of fun can bring in only a few years.

Here are some more pics that I took during another fun day of racing.

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I.L. Motorsport X MaX5 Racing

As the photographer for the Dutch Total Mazda MaX5 Cup I get a lot of opportunities to shoot the race action up close. A very exciting hobby and very rewarding when I get the shots I am after. Even though I am still in pursuit of a better lens and more photography skills, my current photo’s are appreciated by both the drivers and several magazines.
I.L. Motorsport one of the series sponsors and one of the bigger teams in the field gave me the opportunity to feature several of my photo’s on their new calender. As these calenders are sold world wide I am very proud that they asked me to collaborate on this project.

For more information on these calenders or to order them check out the website of I.L. Motorsport

here.

Enjoy Racing x Los Magazine

Leo van der Meer is the team manager of Enjoy Racing who runs the Mazda Motor Netherlands outfit in the Total Mazda MaX5 Cup.  To promote the team in his hometown Leiden, a reporter of local magazine LOS, would come and test drive his car at the Zandvoort racetrack. As the reporter would only write the article, Leo was in search of a photographer who wanted to provide LOS with a variety of pictures of the event. As I needed his racer for another event the day after a deal was made. I got to borrow the car and he would get my pics. The rest is history. Down below you will find the article written by Drees Koren and some extra photo’s from the day.