Ronny Gabriels Photography

For the first time this racing season it was raining on Sunday morning.  Since I have been postponing buying a rain cape for my camera and lens this left me with a bit of a predicament.  Was I going to get stopped from shooting a race by the most Belgian of weather conditions? Of course not! Enter my good friend the clear plastic bag.  I ripped a hole in it were the lens went through, screwed the lens hood on and pulled the bag over my lens and the entire camera.  Problem solved and on we went.

The first BTCS race started in the rain and for about 2/3s of the hour and a half race, the rain kept coming.  And then it stopped.  The track quickly dried up and it turned out to be a pretty good day at the races.  What I liked about the rain though is that it got me some new kind of shots.  OK, they were still pretty basic, but the rain gave them a whole different feel. Shooting on a clear day is nothing like shooting in the rain, so the resulting photos are not going to be the same either. At the long end of 400mm is quite hard to autofocus in the rain because the camera is caught of guard by the water on the track, the lights on all the other cars and finally by the spray the cars leave behind.  So concentration is key to getting good shots in these conditions.

Kia Pro C’eed in the rain 

As I said before, the rain stopped for the final half hour of the BTCS race and never came back.  So I hiked along the Zolder track discovering new places from which to shoot at the circuit during the VW Fun Cup race that followed the BTCS race.  It got me some great shots and a lot of good ideas for further races at the Zolder circuit. 

VW Fun Cup

During the entire day, the paddock was filled with animation with a stunt show, a miss mechanic “sexy” show and a tuning show.  I went to see all three events, but it wasn’t really for me.  The stunt show with motorbikes was pretty cool.  It was too crowded to get shots though.  The sexy show was, … funny actually and that is not what you want with a show like that.  We’ll leave it at that.  And finally the tuning show.  Well I know “tuning is not a crime” but what they do to some of those cars should be.  I’ll never get why you buy an Opel Corsa and spent thousand of euros to get body-kits, engine tuning, exhausts and so on for it.  Just buy a decent sports car and have fun with that, plus you don’t look like … well I’ll let everybody fill that in for themselves. I just will never get it, sorry.

After the VW Fun Cup followed the second BTCS race and with the positional scouting I had done during the VW Fun Cup race, I got some very nice shots from that second race, if I may say so myself. 

BMW M3 in the second BTCS race

They are of course all on the website, so just go and have a look.  They can be found in the “Photos” menu under the “Racing Season 2009” subcategory.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

On the 10th of May, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit was filled with the roaring sounds of the Le Mans Series.  After the F1 Grand Prix and the 24h of Spa, this was maybe the third most important event of the racing season at Spa.  It’s hard to describe what makes the Le Mans Series so attractive, but for me it stands a lot higher than F1.  Sure F1 is impressive, but with 20 cars on the grid that all look and sound more or less the same, it gets boring real fast.  I think that’s where the Le Mans Series have the edge.  Not only can you see a lot of the incredibly impressive machine that are the LP1 en LP2 cars (bigger and heavier sounding than F1, except for the Diesels when it comes to sound) there are also a lot of GT cars in the mix, so even after hours of racing, boredom is not something you think of.

The day in Spa started of misty and damp in the morning for the race of the European GT3 and GT4 cars. Basically this was a race of the Belgian GT extended with some cars from the British GT championship.  The conditions were less than optimal especially for taking pictures.  Sad surely, but in the end this day was not about the GT championship.

Audi R8 GT in the mist

By the end of the GT race, the skies and the damp cleared and it was time for the Formula Le Mans.  A championship contested by a lot of LP2 prototype cars prepared by Oreca in France.  It’s supposed to be a springboard to the actual Le Mans Series for young drivers.  In my opinion it’s the best opener for the Le Mans Series you could think of.  A lot of young eager drivers in some awfully fast machine make for some very exciting racing.  By then the sun had also come out in full force and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day at the races. The cars glistening in the sun gave for some very nice crisp shots that you can check out at the website of course.

 Formula Le Mans

Finally it was time for the big boys.  The Le Mans Series took the stage for a 1000km race, or 143 laps around the most beautiful circuit in the world.  With the two Lola Aston Martins from Aston Martin Racing (in nostalgic Gulf orange and blue) and the two official Peugeot Diesels the field was pretty well equipped for a dry test run of the actual 24 du Mans.  Sadly the new Audi R15’s were absent because for reasons beyond any European racecar fan, the only test in the American Le Mans Series.  Nevertheless, the race was on.  And although the racing was interrupted by several safety car procedures, the race was very exciting the entire afternoon.  The sun was burning, literally, and the racing stayed pretty close right up to the end.  I got some fantastic shots out of it and although I had sunburn on my face and arms, I got to go home knowing that I had seen one of the big events of the season. 

 Lola Aston Martin

The photos of that day are now finally up on the website, so have a look (Photos menu and subcategory racing season 2009) and let me know what you think!  And check back here later this week for a report of the BTCS Zolder star festival last weekend in Zolder.

It has been a little quiet here hasn’t it?  I know and I’m sorry.  The last two weeks have been a bit hectic.  There were some photos that had to get priority in post-production and publication.  This means I now (including the ones I shot yesterday at Zolder) have about 2500 photos to go through for post-production and publication.  And of course I want to write a small blog post for all the shoots I did over the last two weeks.  Luckily in Belgium, this week has a holiday in it, so I hope to be up to date again by the weekend. 

What can you expect this week?  A report on a shoot for a first communion party.  The pictures of this are online, but are password protected due to the private nature of them. Second a report and photos from the Le Mans Series race at Spa-Francrochamps on the 10th.  Some of the photos of this race can already be seen on my Flickr page, but check back here or on the website for more and high-res photos.  And finally, there was the Zolder Star Festival yesterday at … Zolder of course.  So photos and a report of this event are also coming later this week.

Hope to see you back here soon. 

As mentioned in the previous post, the Belgian GT started their season on Zolder this of the 26th of April with the Belgian Race kick off event that not only featured the Belgian GT cars, but also the Benelux racing League, the Belgian Historic Cup and the Dunlop Sport Maxx Endurance cup.
Although the the day didn't pass without a hitch (again see previous post), I did manage to get some nice shots from the Belgian GT, the BRL and the BHC.

Flaming Aston

As I was a little late with this post, I’ll stop talking and just let you enjoy the photos.  Check them out on the website under the photos menu and the Racing Season 2009 subcategory.