PHOTOGRAPHING V8 SUPERCARS
Sydney Motorsport Park - Turn 2 (February 2025)
The first round of the V8 Supercars Championship, 2025 Thrifty Sydney 500, occurred at the Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend 21 - 23 February 2025. I decided to make the trip to see the Saturday races, which included Race 2 of the Repco Supercars Championship. This day also included racing from V8 SuperUte Series, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, Touring Car Masters and Dunlop Super2 Series.
The gates opened around Midday, with Race 2 of the Repco Supercars Championship not starting until 730 in the evening. I wasn’t only there to photograph the Supercars, I also wanted to take to opportunity to practice with the other race categories. I had some success last visit with panning shots, so I was keen to see if I could replicate it. I was also curious to see how the OM Systems OM-1 M2 handled the low light conditions during the evening race. I knew that it would be limited, with the 4/3 sensor, not the greatest fan of low light.
The V8 Supercars was not as restrictive as previous race events, which meant I was able to spend the day wandering through the Pit Paddock and searching for good spots around the race track itself. When I first showed up, I came through the back gate (with all the other general ticket holders) and headed towards Turn 6, where you are able to get some good shots of the cars taking the 90 degree turn and heading up the hill. I then wandered back towards Turn 5 (Brock’s Corner), which provides another opportunity to practice panning…and find some food and a toilet.
I went back into the Pit Paddock and looked to get a few pit portraits. I then wandered over to the inside of Turn 1, where I could get a few shots as the cars came out of the pits. It is a challenging spot as they take the turn very quickly. There is another good location on the outside of Turn 4. Its fun trying to capture to cars as they pop up over the hill, and then take Turn 4.
During the V8 Supercar Practice and Race, I found myself at Turn 2/3 and Turn 11, at the other end of the track. Both locations are great for panning as the cars slow to take the respective corners.
Wikipedia
From a photographic perspective, the track lights definitely made the photos pop but the camera was working hard to capture the photos. I took off the teleconverter and only used 40-150 lens, so I could take advantage of its lower aperture. I lost some reach but it was still sufficient for the locations I found. As it got darker, I used high ISOs, but I could see the camera struggling to capture clear images. In the end, I was wary of the long drive back to Newcastle, so bailed early to beat the carpark exodus/traffic and get home at an appropriate time. I left with over 1300 photos from the day, I had enough to keep me busy for a while.
Sydney Motorsport Park - Turn 11 (February 2025)
I cheated a little and worked on the V8 Supercar photos first. As expected, the later photos were noisy but the Lightroom noise reduction capability took care of that. In the end, I came out with quite a few exportable photos from that part of the day.
I was really pleased with the panning shots (see below). Its a good feeling to have the target car clear, and the movement in the background providing the sense of movement.
With this Blog released, I can get back onto cleaning up the remaining photos.
Sydney Motorsport Park - Turn 2 (February 2025)
