I have always been fascinated by pit stops. The efficiency and choreography is a pleasure to watch requiring the levels of skills and strength that can be the difference between winning and not. Auto racing where the timing of what lap to pit is a major strategic challenge.
Pits stops are a contrast in motion as one team works while another streaks by
For Formula 1 racing the benchmark for a successful pit is 3 seconds. Here is an overhead shot that I found of the 20 people, excluding the driver that are used to change all four tires, add fuel.
Nascar is considerably slower where the benchmark is 13 seconds are only 7 people are allowed ‘over the wall.’
As you would expect things are different at the Isle of Man for the SuperBike, the Senior TT 6-lap races, they pit after the 2nd and 4th lap and take on fuel and get a new rear tire.
For the 4 lap events SuperStock and SuperSport 4 lap events, they pit after lap two for fuel.
As with most things at the TT, it is racing is its rawest form. A crew of four is allowed over the wall, fuel is loaded via gravity feed (no pressurized filling), and 1 person to change the rear tire.
Here is local Manx hero Dan Kneen, riding for the Penz13.com BMW team coming in for his first pit stop.
Rolling into the pits – time: 14:37:27Dan stopped on his mark – time: 14:37:28Fueling begun – rear tire jacked up – time: 14:37:29New visor and tear-offs – time: 14:37:32New visor and rear wheel off – time: 14:37:42Wheel on & chain on – time: 14:37:52Fueling continues – clean windscreen – time: 14:37:58Fueling continues – clean windscreen – time: 14:38:01Fueling continues – wheel down – time: 14:38:05Finishing fueling – time: 14:38:08Push start out – time: 14:38:17Rolling out – time 14:38:18
I cannot get an exact time of the stop based on the images, but from rolling in to being pushed out is 50 seconds. I am sure it felt like an eternity for Dan Kneen. For some others, the pits meant they were either on or off the podium at the end of the day.
Sunday morning it was almost a surprise when at sunrise, there was actually sun. The forecast wasn’t great but the first Superbike Race was set to go!
Although there is a law that always the government to close down the roads for an event, this is rarely done on a Sunday and like today, the roads weren’t closed until afternoon after people had gone to church and returned.
I have been up at the Grandstand / Paddock area several times but the energy is different for race day. There is an excitement, a nervous energy in the Parc Ferme. The mechanics are making final adjustments, the pit crews in their Nomex suits are filling the gas tanks and others are bringing tools and tires to the pits.
Fuel is loaded manually by each rider’s team.
In practice riders are sent out in pairs. On race day they go one at a time at 10-second intervals. There are numbers on the grid for teams to stage their rider´s bikes. Many of the drivers do not appear until the final moments, trying to avoid the ITV4 TV reporters roving through the grid with microphones.
#1 awaiting Davo Johnson on his chrome Norton 1000Motos 6, 7 & 8, wait for Michael Dunlop, Conor Cummins and Guy Martin
Davo Johnson is #1 on is the crome Norton Superbike, patiently waiting for the start of the 2017 Isle of Man TT. The top 20 positions are pre-assigned based on prior performance. Numbers 21 and beyond are based not the weeks qualifying times.
Davo is reving is engine, the starter’s hand lifts from his shoulder and he is off! The 2017 TT has finally begun.
The 2017 Isle of Man TT is finally under way.
One by one they roll up to the line, pause a few seconds under the hand of the starter and then the Superbikes roar to life.
The nervous seconds on the way to the line. Dan Kneen, William Dunlop, Steve Mercer & Martin Jessopp.
Today’s 6 lap event is 226.4 miles and requires 2 pit stops. Once all the riders are off there is a strange silence over the crowd in the grandstand. There are no big screen TV’s for the crowd to see the race, there is no electronic scoreboard and there are no beer vendors in the stands yelling Beer Here!
Derek Shiels burns out of the start gate.Daley Mathison on his BMW 1000RR
There is the announcer on the PA with the same broadcast as people are listening to Manx Radio TT, there is the score board where the times and positions are written by hand and hung by Boy Scouts and in the pits, tanks holding the gas are gravity feed. While the machines are high tech, this racing in the rawest form.
Dean Harrison in for his first pit stop.
The view from the top of the Control Tower shows there is a very fine line between speed and disaster.
170 mph past the pits at the end of lap 1, flying between the pits and the Douglas Cemetery.Dean Harrison, Ian Hutchinson and Peter Hickman make up the podium for the superbike race.This is TT title #15 for Ian Hutchinson on his Tyco BMW.
Being a new visitor to the TT can be a challenge. It is a long and complicated course and difficult to get around. Had it not been for the amazing generosity and willingness to help of the Manx, my experience would have been limited at best.
I did not arranged for transportation in advance. I didn’t even really want to rent a car, the thought of trying to find my way around the island in the midst of closed roads, right hand drive and not being able to pronounce the names of the roads I was supposed to follow would be more challenging than shooting.
I was and continue to be extremely lucky. I met some people the first day while I was walking around to introduced me to others and they were helpful beyond description. Also I couldn’t have gotten around without Rob Cummings, long time Isle of Man resident and former work colleague of my good friend Bruno Desrochers.
Rob gave me a tour of the course on his BMW and as a marshal, he took the week off from his day job and each race day he would drop me off on the course and then pick me up at the end of the day when the roads opened.
Monday, I wanted to go to Ballaugh Bridge. We had been there on our course tour, but I have to admit on Monday, somehow it looked different. With the overnight storms it was a challenge to get there. One of the main roads was closed due to an accident. This time it wasn’t some visiting moto tourist pretending he is racing, but during the storm a tree fell on a parked car.
Once the course is closed it is really closed. Even with photo credentials you cannot even walk across the street. Only between races and if they are willing, the Deputy Sector Marshal (DSM) can escort you across the street.
There were a few other photographers there when I arrived. I set up with David Traynor who has been shooting the TT for more than 20 years and knew every spot on the course. During the morning all of the photographers moved around on the same side of the course to get different angles of the riders lifting off over Ballaugh Bridge.
James Hillier landing hard and compressing his read tire.Most riders took flight on the bridge the sheep on the hillside seems pretty uninterested.Over the Ballaugh Bridge accelerate and then a sweeping left.
During the break between races, the DSM escorted David and I across the street and give us specific instructions. On the left, don’t go beyond the drain pipe and on the right go no further than the Ballaugh sign.
After shooting with my long lens to get shots of the sidecars lifting off coming over the bridge I moved to get wide shots. I was along the bridge next to the Ballaugh sign. I think it’s every photographer’s natural tendency to unconsciously move around to try to frame the shot and I am no different, but I kept glancing over my left should to make sure that I didn’t exceed what the DSM had told me.
You can hear the sidecars coming for at least 10 seconds before they appear. I would look up see them coming toward the bridge, count to 4 and then start shooting. While the Canon 1Dx autofocus is great, I don’t believe any autofocus is good enough to pick up something going 60 mph 10 feet from you. I set the focus to manual got it dialed in and shot!
I had lots of shot with nothing but bridge. But then sidecar #43, the Lawrance Brothers from New Zealand came be sliding along the wall. Miraculously not only did I get the shot but I got 3! In a truly remarkable moment, David Traynor who was still shooting long, decided to take a shot of me shooting.
David Traynor’s shot of me, well me AND the Lawrance Brothers.
Given the speed and movement of the sidecar, my guess is that the shots are within about 1/100 of a second of each other.
I didn’t flinch, I kept shooting and when I stood up the crowd on both sides of the street applauded. The DSM came across the road, put his hand on my shoulder smiled and said ‘bet that cleared up your constipation, eh mate.
I am sure there were a couple hundred people who saw it, a few showed me cell phone snaps of it. Someone offered to buy me a shot of brandy and a couple from the neighborhood invited me over for tea (I am sure it was TT Tea).
David posted it on Facebook and it has been shared over 850 times. I guess that counts as trending somewhere.
I have never had a desire, nor any intention of being part of the story at the TT, but sometimes it happens.
I am still very much in learning mode here at the TT. Learning my way around, learning how to focus when something is coming at you at 160 mph and learning that you don’t ask for bug spray for mosquitos and flies, but you do ask for repellant for mozzies and midges. I am hoping as we get into race week I will not have to be learning quite so much each day. It’s been great fun everyone has been a great help. All in all everyone has been very polite and not once, at least to my face, referred to me as that Yank Photographer. Actually I think most are laughing at some of my questions and my accent.
From my homestay I had about a mile walk downhill to Quarterbridge. Easy walk, which unfortunately at the end of the evening the walk would be uphill. Except along the shore, I haven’t found many flat spots on the Isle of Man, you are either going up or going down!
Quarterbridge is just over a mile from the start at the grandstand and is the first turn on the course with a downhill right of more than 90 degrees. Roaring down Bray Hill at over 160 mph, braking, leaning hard and accelerating on to the short half mile straight to Braden Bridge and a quick flick on the round-about.
My plan was to shoot from Quarterbridge and then walk down via the back roads to Braden Bridge get a variety of shots and at the end of the session I would be able to walk back along the course on the way home.
Steve Mercer (17) and Ian Hutchinson (4) were the first pair to hit the course and some of the only drivers to couple a full lap before closure. Hutchinson had the fastest time of the night with 128.98 mph.Michael Dunlop (6) was the second fastest of the night coming at 127.23, followed here by Gary Johnson.Guy Martin (8) is paired with Aussie David Johnson on his silver Norton. Dean Harrison (9) looks through the turn and onto the straight toward Braden Bridge.My favorite race kit of the week is worn by Micheal Dokoupil
I had a great view of the first turn and a few minutes after I moved to the outside of the turn to shoot from a different angle, the session was ended due to rain and fog on the course.
Tonight’s practice is also a wash out, here is the current radar, with an appropriate massive green blog over Ireland and moving our way.
I am unsure about Friday’s schedule, also doubtful, but additional practices have been scheduled for Saturday and races on Sunday.
After a very dreary Monday and Tuesday morning, everyone was only mildly optimistic about having practice last night. By mid-afternoon there was still a light rain in Douglas and fog up on the mountain. And then – the skies cleared. I mean REALLY cleared not a cloud in the sky.
I headed up to the Grandstand area about 4:30 in anticipation of the 6:20 practice session. I had time to see a few friends, grab some coffee (the first order of business) and a bite to eat.
I asked more than my share of questions about where I could be and where I shouldn’t be. At one point one of the Marshals told me, the best one to ask about that is Paul Phillips. I of course said, but I am Paul Phillips. With a smile, he pointed to the other Paul Phillips, who is one of the main organizers at the TT.
It is only natural that I want to be close to the start. The question was how close? Well it was close enough that I could feel the exhaust on my jeans. I was in the grid area right before the individual riders rolled out to the starting line, where they were sent off on their practice run two at a time.
The grid was high energy, organized chaos. There were drivers, mechanics, officials and guests, all wanting a final word with or look at the riders. I wanted to see the look in their eyes right before the flipped down their face shields. I have seen that look before at the start of races. Trying to stay relaxed and yet, the intense concentration for what comes next.
Typically I see athletes before they enter the water for a triathlon, but here within a few seconds they would be reaching well over 100 mph, with the front wheel of their motos popping up as they shift gears and get more power.
After all of the first group of riders had left the line, I started to make my way down pit lane to find a spot to shoot. Ultimately, I was near the end of the pits leaning out, just a bit against the steel guardrail that separated the course from the pit lane. As the riders came by on their 2nd lap, I could feel the guardrail vibrate against my leg.
Although just a bit too late, I quickly put my ear plugs in. Being there was a total sensory experience. The colors streaking by, the sound and the vibration.
Earlier in the day I had met prior TT champ Milky Quayle and asked what two bits of advice he had for me as a first time TT Photographer. Milky smiled and said:
Hold on to your hat; and
Buy a race radio!
Both were spot on advice. The race radio is one that only receives one station and has the live updates and is about the only way to know what is going on out on the course.
Even for the practice sessions the grandstands were filled. An estimated 40,000 visitors are expected for race week.The first riders off were the ‘newcomers’ signified by the orange vest. They were led around the course by a marshal for a controlled speed familiarization lap.Although driver Tim Reeves is a TT veteran, his passenger Mark Wilkes is new to the TT.TT favorite Micheal Dunlop chats with another driver prior to the start.Right off of the start line, the engine whines, the driver shifts gears and keeps his weight back for traction and the wheel pops up.As drivers enter the track for their second session the intensity does not diminish. Concentration and sweat!Guy Martin is known for his ‘look’ and concentration.With the course map over his shoulder there is little time for visuals when at 140 mph you are traveling at more than 200 feet / second.
As expected the evening ended with several riders exceeding 120 mph for an average lap speed.
Tonight I am off to the Quarter Bridge where I think they will slow down a bit for me, well for me and hard right hand turn.
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.
While my blog title is 100% accurate, the week, the island and the guys on the bikes couldn’t be more different.
After a winter of Minnesota hibernation, my race season began by shooting the Ironman Puerto Rico 70.3, a great place to start with a beautiful venue and many good friends. Two weeks later I was in Oceanside California for the 70.3, once again a great event, followed by Ironman Texas, the Get in Gear 10K in Minneapolis, yes I got to sleep in my own bed, then out to Ironman St. George 70.3 and home for the Medtronic Twin Cities 1 Mile.
Ironman Lanzarote was next. Lanzarote is in the Canary Islands and is a place like no other. Not unlike Kona, Lanzarote is a volcanic island. It is however more lava and much less vegetation.
At El Golfo about 29 KM into the bike course at Ironman Lanzarote
On Wednesday, after a very quick overnight in Dublin, I arrived on the Isle of Man. While not much different in size and population from Lanzarote, the Isle of Man is a speck in the Irish Sea between Ireland and England.
While in recent years, it has become know for off-shore banking, and of course Tour de France sprinter Mark Cavendish, aka the Manx Missile, the Isle of Man is the home of the World’s oldest and most dangerous motorcycle race and yes, I am here for race week.
Although I have been riding and shooting from the back of motorcycles since 2002, I have only owned one since 2011 and that began with a 70cc scooter.
From riding around on the scooter to enhancing my skills at the Zalusky Advanced Rider School and attending the California Superbike School, my fascination has not only been with riding but the visual and the movement of the machines, the colors and the speed. As I begin my experience here, I am can visualize what I want to shoot, my hope is that I can execute. Only time will tell. Time, patience and practice.
The normal island population is about 85,000, with the largest city being Douglas where about 30,000 Manx live. Over the next two weeks there will be 40,000 visitors, coming by air and by ferry.
I am pleased to have arrived a few days early to get a feel for the island, the village and the people, and have spent much of the time wandering around.
My first walk down to the Isle of Man Harbor.
For some reason, my Midwest accent makes me standout. At least so far that has been a good thing and I have made some great new friends. I have been able to connect with a local photo legend who was born on the IOM and Peter Bull was a wealth of advice and very friendly suggestions.
Des Conner and Peter Bull
I have had an offer of a course tour on Saturday and in the meantime I am checking out routes for the public transit system.
Although the Grandstand area is quiet now, by Saturday evening when the practice sessions begin, there will be a roar.
The IOMTT Grand Stand. Since this is a Road Race, there is normal traffic every day in passing by.
I also had a chance to be introduced and chat with Bruce Anstey, 11 time TT Champion.
Bruce Anstey – getting things sorted out as his equipment arrives.
I will be posting more as Practice Week begins and throughout race week.
Competitive Image 