Drifting: It's Not Just Dangerous For The Drivers

by Jack Baruth

Published: July 11th, 2012

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!

Jack Baruth

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7 of 19 comments

Slance66 on Jul 11, 2012

Wow. That was pretty brutal. He got hit pretty hard. Let's hope others learn the lesson.

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- Detroit-X on Jul 11, 2012
  
  I'm regularly surprised by some adult's lack of awareness of danger. But hey, survival of the fittest.
  
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Ronnie Schreiber on Jul 11, 2012

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

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- El scotto on Jul 11, 2012
  
  Has Indycar reduced the number of photographers? In my care free youth, you could get in the Indy 500 for free if you were a film runner for one of the photographers. Yeah, "film" and "waiting list" for the Indy 500 shows my age.
  
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Lumbergh21 on Jul 11, 2012

"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.

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Lorenzo on Jul 11, 2012

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?

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- Lorenzo on Jul 11, 2012
  
  BTW, I slightly modified the Patton quote after I noticed the dreaded "awaiting moderation" message. I understand the vigilance, but it's a shame that such a colorful man, with such a colorful vocabulary, as General George S. Patton can never be quoted verbatim in TTAC.
  
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