Drifting: It's Not Just Dangerous For The Drivers
by Jack Baruth
July 11th, 2012 10:31 AM
Share
Canadian auto-photo-guru Gary Grant reminds his colleagues that
Every now and then, mainstream media types who aren’t used to being around race cars show up to get video of the action as part of the daily local news. If organizers aren’t careful, these folks sometimes put themselves in dangerous places because they just don’t know what dangers exist for them.
Clearly, nobody told this guy that you can’t stand on the edge of the pavement during a drift event. TTAC’s upcoming Genesis R-Spec v. FR-S v. Mazda MX-5 video will, however, have plenty of footage shot by guys who were brave enough to lie down at the apex of Toronto Motorsports Park’s fast corners and let me buzz ’em. The difference? They were facing the action!
Comments
Join the conversation
Wow. That was pretty brutal. He got hit pretty hard. Let's hope others learn the lesson.
At the recent Detroit Grand Prix I attended a photographers' meeting in the hope of getting a trackside photog's vest. Apparently TTAC wasn't important enough to IndyCar but I did learn a few things. The most important one is to always look uptrack for coming traffic. FWIW, this rally photographer has got to have incredible cool. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7o5v3_rally-photographer-close-call_auto
"The difference? They were facing the action!" So they can see death coming if something unexpected happens? Doesn't seem like much of a benefit to me.
After D-Day, when allied troops were firmly established but hadn't yet broken out of their beachhead, a plume of smoke panicked the troops who thought the Germans were using chemical warfare, and put on their gas masks. General Patton was standing right outside the tent housing reporters, and when an aide asked "what about the press?" Andy Rooney specifically heard Patton say, "Fu*k 'em. Let 'em die." What would Patton say about racing photographers?