Isle of Man TT – Practice Day 2 – More Rain & The Castletown Classic

After a mild and dry Sunday, the rain moved in overnight and continued through the morning. I used the time to get caught up on some work which needed attention, but thought most of the day would be indoors and there was little chance of shooting tonight. Shortly after 11:00 Rob called and asked if I wanted to go watch the Castletown Classic Races.

This is a Pre-TT event, put on by the organization that produces the Southern 100 Road Race, which is described as Road Racings Biggest Secret. It was certainly a secret to me.

Even early in the day Rob didn’t think the TT practice would be a go, due to the wet roads and ultimately he was right.

Although the TT riders didn’t get a practice session in, I did! I wore my Photo vest and brought my credentials, but unfortunately my TT Credentials were not of any help in Castletown.

I wasn’t able to get an ideal position, but was able to work on framing and tracking the bikes that are substantially faster than the bikes I typically shoot. It was overcast and fairly low light, but I was using my Canon 1Dx Mark II and a 100 to 400 lens. Just because I was practicing, it didn’t mean that I had to practice with every lens! I shot at 2000 ISO and I knew that if I couldn’t get the shots with this camera, it wasn’t the camera’s fault, it would all pilot error.

I tried a few different locations, partially up a tree, behind a stone wall, but mostly I was behind a wall of orange-vest marshals.

After so many years of racing, some of the locals prefer just to ignore the motos and the noise.

My view from behind the stone wall. The riders were slowing for an uphill right turn, but still that wall seemed pretty close and certainly unforgiving.

Hoping that a slow shutter speed can provide some of the illusion of what the driver’s see at high speed.

Every time I see the sidecars race, the theme song to Stars Wars plays in my head.

The sidecar ‘Passenger’ is a critical part of maintaining balance and speed.

Plate for the Van parked next to us. Since Guy wasn’t there, it must be a super fan.

Now this is a classic side car!

I wrapped up the day with some proper fish and chips!

We are all hopeful the weather will clear tomorrow.  My morning plan is to find a spot on Bray Hill to shoot for tomorrow.

I have also been invited to shoot some behind the scenes activities with a couple of the teams, it will be fun if it works out.