8000 Wild Kicking, Screaming, Horses All Trying To Get Out At The Same Time.

Now I’m not a rev head by any stretch of the imagination. Ok I don’t mind cars to a degree but don’t really get off on them.

I went to the drags on Saturday night,  the Top Fuelers show is in town, nothing new there , I’ve been a couple of times before over the years and seen them  from the stands but this was different ,  I was shooting them this time,  RIGHT  AT TRACKSIDE .

When these missiles take off it is quite frightening , the sound and shock waves go right thru your body like an electric charge and if one of these engines let go it would be rather scary , I’m not sure that you would have the reflex’s to duck or dive out of the way behind the concrete fence before you copped a piston in the head.. The vibrations were setting off car alarms in the car park … AWESOME .. is a word that springs to mind.

Trying to get a shot is not easy. You have to try and pick the time that they are going to  hit the gas when the cars are sitting there thumping and the horses are just ready to break out . With your camera up to your eye you can’t see the  tree ( the  starting light’s, a technical term  you learn  when your part of the in crowd ) so you are waiting waiting waiting .

Then you start to shake in anticipation as the milli seconds go by and you wonder when you are going to be shaken shit out of.  OK NOW,  hit the shutter button and hope for the best, the shots rattle off and then the light goes green, you don’t see it, they hit the throttle. Fuel and air is pumped into the engine at some incredible  rate and it responds like you wouldn’t believe , you shake , your chest is under pressure , you shit yourself , the camera goes in all directions, and you hope that at least one of the 35 shots you’ve fired off is a keeper, 4.6 seconds later the cars are  long gone , 400 metres away up at the finish line , it’s all over .

You get your breath back and think ” I’m still in one piece , man that was awesome stuff  , BRING THEM ON AGAIN ”

Some  shots are rather easy to get ………. it helps to relax you !!!!