Colin Edwards

The weather's been fairly awful this summer so we weren't hopeful that it'd stay dry and it even seemed possible that it might need to be cancelled. I was keen to see if I could get some reasonable photos but having never been there before wasn't sure if that would be possible. I took my 5D and Canon 100-400mm IS lens I also had a Canon 1.4x Teleconverter and a Kenko Pro 300 2x with me. I didn't really use the teleconverters though as the light was rarely good enough. On the Saturday the weather stayed reasonable in fact at times it was very pleasant.

We wandered about a few locations but the best place I found for photography was just after the Foggy Esses this very twisty part of the circuit just before the grandstand ensures that the bikes have slowed down a bit and gives you some good opportunities to get them cornering. The main problem is a chainlink fence between you and the circuit so you need to get as close to it as possible and use a wide aperture. Most of the images here were taken from there during the qualifying sessions. I didn't find anywhere that you could get close enough to the circuit with obstructions such as fences so these shots have all been severely cropped from the originals.

On Sunday morning it poured throughout the practice sessions I tried to get some shots near the VIP building at the end of the main straight and had some success. I also got soaked luckily I'd taken a rain cover for the camera but my own waterproof didn't cover my legs. It was still wet at the start of the 250 race but they put on an excellent show. We went to our grandstand seats then and there was very little opportunity for photography so I put the camera away and enjoyed the races. When the MotoGP class race started the noise was unbelievable it started wet but dried through the race as no more rain fell. Casey Stoner beat the form book by coming in well ahead of the Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards on the Yamahas and extended his Championship Lead. The 125cc race completed our day then just the drive home. It took about 2hrs to get from the circuit car park to the motorway I think if we went again we'd stay to watch the other support races before leaving.