North of Border.

The IMSA road show headed North of the Border to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park... or as most of the photographers still call it, Mosport. This was the second time I was heading to Canada and another great weekend was had. The staff at the track are awesome, from the ease of renting a golf cart to the staff that works/assists the media in the media center.

These weekends consist of a test day and then 3 full days of racing. The only downside? The gigantic catch fence that was partially completed for World Challenge earlier in the year was now 100% finished and really ruins the Andretti Straight which is very unfortunate. Most photographers were unhappy to see that happens but that is racing and the with the lawyers lining up to capitalize on any issue everyone saw it coming.

Nothing super special to report from CTMP outside of some delicious meals with Jake Galstad(www.jacobgalstad.com) and Brian Cleary(www.bcpix.com) - For now enjoy some photographic highlights from the event. Check back for a report from Lime Rock Park!

So you want to be a motorsports photographer... Wet Watkins

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One word to describe Watkins Glen, 2015 Edition, is wet. It rained, it poured and it soaked the track to the point of causing red flags. Watkins Glen this year creates another case study in the "So you want to be a motorsports photographer" file. Watkins Glen is an awesome track for photography and is in an exceptional location. However with heavy rains it soaks everything, the paths inside the track get muddy and shooting track side quickly soaks everything.

Fellow photographers Jake Galstad, Foster Peters and myself headed out to New York for another action packed weekend in the glamorous world of motorsports photography! Weekend started out with Lamborghini, GT3 Cup and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge taking to the track. Cloudy but good temps with random sunshine sneaking into the Finger Lakes region of New York. Had a good Thursday at the track with some great images captured. Things were looking up to escape from what has been rain the last couple of events. I ended the day, with the help of Jake(Thanks, Jake!), a group photoshoot with Mitchum Motorsports and their beautiful Lamborghinis. www.mitchum.ms

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Friday things started to change with light rain starting. We did get our first races into the book and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series did not disappoint. Qualifying for CTSC went off without a hitch as well. Overall a solid day with not too much excitement. Best shot of the day had to be the race start with a little bit of sun trying to burn through the clouds. Not much else to say about Friday.

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Saturday the fun begins. A LARGE storm is slated to arrive minutes before the start of the Continental Tire race. I am glad that I decided to pull the trigger on a new Aquatech rain jacket. It's awesome by the way. Definitely check them out for professional level gear - https://aquatech.net/

Great start shot from the ST field(See lead photo) and continued to what was an excellent race. Weather is the great equalizer of course but shooting in what became a downpour was not fun at all. The conditions were only worse as we climbed to the roof of the front straight grand stands to shoot pit stops. Yes it is much more windy up there which leads to further problems. Temps are colder and water is blown onto the front of your lenses. However the view of pit stops is excellent and the group of photographers continue to work. Right about now the inside of the media center was sounding pretty good!

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Mazda went on to win and we moved onto the Six Hours of The Glen. The big showed was gridded by points as qualifying on Saturday was "Rained Out". Wish they would have qualifying knowing it was going to be a wet race but it was chosen to start on points. It just started to drizzle as the formation laps were happening so everyone deployed their rain gear and waiting for the action!

This race was WET. I went through 3 pairs of socks total. I did pack extras judging by the weather report so I was prepared. It simply is one of those less than glamorous days working. Lots of action up and down the field as conditions were constantly changing from rain to drizzle to pouring and everything in between. Two different red flags happened and the race finished under caution which was unfortunate. In the end it was another fun weekend with colleagues and friends and I move onto ChampTruck at Charlotte Motor Speedway and then Jake and I head north for a visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Now about that #photoglife - Watkins Glen does have ice cream and sprinkles so despite the weather we can call it a success!

Enjoy a small selection of images from throughout the weekend. Full galleries available at www.racemsm.com

Detroit Blues

Green Flag flies over the field for IMSA's 100 minute race. GM Building watches from afar.

IRL, IMSA and World Challenge, and the media circus that comes with it, rolled into Detroit for the Detroit Grand Prix this weekend. I was in town for the World Challenge double header weekend and IMSA's 100 minute endurance race. Unloaded Thursday and got to work. Going into any weekend I am ready to rock and excited to get to work. I love racing, I enjoy those that I work with and enjoy catching up with people I only see on weekends.

As the weekend progressed and now waiting to board a plane home all I can think of is the Detroit Blues. The day ended earlier than normal on Saturday and I had some time to explore the decay of Detroit and it immediately becomes a comparison to the current state of North American sportscar racing. IMSA had multiple withdrawals leading up to the event and at first one would fault the teams and immediately begin to blame funding issues. Post event I believe that the "PR Spin" wasn't spin. It was the truth. DeltaWing probably would not have done well on the streets and further testing betters their chances at the next race, Watkins Glen 6 Hour. Bar1 pulled their PC car late. Can one blame either for not coming to this race? A few prototypes and PC cars made up the 'headliners' of IMSA for the weekend which is a disappointment for fans and those following the sport. See the lead photo for the green flag photo and can see it is less than dramatic. World Challenge leading up to the event with less than normal entries posted a 'bonus' cash award for winning the races this weekend. Don't get me wrong both put on good racing and the show was great but the fields and choice of venues may need to be thought about for next season.

RealTimeRacing's pair of Acuras hit the track early Friday Morning.

IMSA is pushing for GT3 cars to their ranks and I believe this will help a lot. IMSA also needs to make a 2017 announcement for their prototype decision to start helping teams plan budgets, seek sponsorship and look for funded drivers for those programs looking to do that. Waiting is only hampering their standing and not allowing advance planning. World Challenge, and IMSA, needs to rethink what venues and events they are putting on their schedule. Detroit is a market that seems to 'make sense' but the reality is most of the fans are coming to see Indy. IMSA or PWC didn't have a single "Corvette" on track and PWC has no Chevy branded products. They both are the premier North American series and at Detroit they are either the 2nd or 3rd support series. Time to create headline events at tracks where the cars are the show and not the tight confines of a street course. Let them breath!

Beyond that the World Challenge race on Sunday was canceled citing safety concerns and visibility. Unfortunately for the series it was the correct choice. With early season issues both on and off track having a negative weekend due to conditions would not be good. IMSA had to deal with this with a track worker injured after the checkered flag flew. It was similar to the tow trucks being released while the race was green earlier this month during World Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Safety is of utmost important and these types of issues much be investigated and problems fixed.

Next up is Watkins Glen for IMSA and Road America for World Challenge. Will be covering both with MotorSportMedia so stay tuned for a report and images on both! Until next time!

IMSA meets World Challenge in the form of three BMW Z4s of Turner Motorsports. Photo for Turner Motorsports.