ELMS 4 Hours of Estoril 19th October 2014 – Blog | Richard Washbrooke Photography Blog

ELMS 4 Hours of Estoril 19th October 2014 – Blog

By richardwashbrooke on October 19, 2014

Today is going to be very busy. Adrenal Media are covering a lot of events during the day and we need to be on our toes. Sometimes during the race day you don’t have time to think and finding time to photograph and then process is difficult. You need to keep a cool head and plan your next move. When you are in the pit lane live you need to have your race suit and helmet on. Travelling round the service road on the scooter you need your tabard. Suddenly you are called to cover a job, you need to ensure you have the right equipment to cover the next event.

First thing I do is to get some panoramic shots of this famous circuit. The sun is out good opportunity to do this now.

I love this shot of the service tunnel running underneath the track

Now to cover the LMGTE and GTC Qualifying 30 minutes. We stay in the pits to get the action of the crews and drivers and the car that achieves pole.

LMP2 Qualifying 30 minutes

Press Conference is handled by Paola as we process our images from the qualifying session.

Autograph Session I need to get every team facing the camera and its a sprint while running in between the crowds. Lucky for me my official race suit gets the attention of the drivers and I capture the images I need.

Followed by the grid walk I spend a few minutes capturing the grid and of course the grid girls

I watch the time I need to rush off to set up at the end of the straight to capture the cars starting from the grid.

I have a problem my 400mm lens collar locks which means I can not use my mono pod. This means I have to hand held my heavy 400mm lens during the race which weighs about 4 kg. Not looking forward to that at all. This has happened to me before, easy to fix if you a small screwdriver on you. Not to be done in the field as the screws are very small.

Then car 60 the Ferrari gets hit and spins in front of me. The gravel trap does its job but you do need to keep one eye on the track. Its a dangerous place and you need to keep alert at all time.

Park Ferme end of the race.

Podium and Champagne Celebration for Sébastien Loeb Racing who won the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) 4 Hours of Estoril today in the #24 ORECA 03R, as well as completing the team’s 100 per cent finishing success in 2014