There’re a heap of things that you learn when you become a friend’s media team: the physical, mental, emotional and chronological aspects. And that is just the start.

Physically motor racing is a very demanding sport for not only the driver but for the support crew and the media or in this case me.

Why physically demanding if all you do as media is take photos and videos?
That’s easy! You are travelling to the track wherever it is; state or interstate, you are always on the move. On top of this you have to prepare gear; charge batteries, wipe memory cards, charge phone and iPad then pack cameras, chargers, power boards, laptop, tripods, clothes and anything else you need for usually four nights and three days away from home. Adding to this is all the bags you will be lugging around into cars and through airports. 

A car is easier to load as the gear can be easily packed in the boot or piled on the backseat, a plane is more difficult as you are pushing the envelope with all your gear in two carry on bags (camera equipment usually is uninsured so the airline will hate putting it in the hold and damaging it and having to pay for it, or so I’m told same goes with laptops) and a suitcase stuffed with nearly no clothes and the bulky equipment and all is heavy and can just slide under the 20kg mark. 

Once trackside you will have to lug around all said equipment that you need (two cameras, a video camera and possibly go pro or two and variants, tripod and flashes) as the car will either be parked a long way from the garage allocated to your driver. If you are luck and find a spot not claimed by the driver’s mechanics, race car and resting spot that is out of the way PARK YOUR GEAR THERE! 

It makes lugging gear so much easier. And by lugging gear it means you will have to survey each track and find the spot to shoot from or several depending on the track size, you also have to set up gear and make sure you follow the shooting rules as well as walk to and from said spots, garage and car. Once practice, qualifying and racing are all said and down and you return home you start the hardest part of the shoot, sorting photos and editing videos. This tetters on the mental as well as there is only so many things you can watch or look at before hair is pulled as something isn’t working. 

Mentally the job is demanding. Before you even get trackside you are thinking about everything “Do I have anything important that I have on instead of racing meets (weddings, funerals, birthdays, social events or urgent matters)?” “When is the next round?” “Is the weather going to allow me to shoot trackside?” “Am I dressed for the weather?” “Did I pack the right gear?” are just a few of these thoughts.  

Once trackside you are forever going through scenarios in your head “If I shoot from here will it look good or do I shoot from over there?” “Are the cameras on the right settings?” “Is the correct lens on the camera chosen?” “Are the batteries fully charged?” are just a basic ones. 

Once off the track and everything is prepared for editing your mind is still racing with questions “Did I get the shots I want?” “Is the client going to like the shots?” “Did I film too much?” “Is the footage ok or over exposed?” “How am I going to edit the films or photos?” each is a challenge to deal with and it can get emotional.

Emotionally shooting at a track is a rewarding experience but it does have drawbacks. Half the time you will be happy that you get to spend three days at the hallowed places of speed. Other times you’ll be angry as the perfect shot has been ruined by overexposure, movement, wrong zoom setting and a host of other things. Then you’ll be anxious as your subject might be having a bad time going around the track. And then there is the whole day of boredom as racing has only two rounds that are a long wait between both. Which bring us to the chronological aspect.

Racing is all about numbers: times, position, date and time. The dates of racing are varied from year to year but usually around the same time, which is a good way to plan by. Always make sure that you know your calendar front and back as if you miss a family wedding or birthday or any other important event you will be shunned as you turned your back on:

1. Your family so you can go to the racetrack 
   
2. Everyone else that can get time off their work
   
3. Your family to be at a race that someone else can shoot for you, right?
   
4. An event that only happens once in a life time while you’ll be at the track for X amount of times in a year
   

When you have your calendar down pact can you proceed being in racing media and not be hated by you family. 

When trackside all it comes down to is the least amount of time it takes to get around the track and the position of where the driver is on the track, for you it is a little more complicated. There is the time of day for shooting is important as your lighting might be inadequate and your settings will have to change in the morning compared to the afternoon. Then there is the tedious wait times between races, even after getting food and talking to the crew you do get as tired as the driver as the waits can be for several hours. 

To cap it all off there is the time of getting to the several shooting spots you have allocated to yourself wether it’s the wall, grandstand, garage, pit lane or “that corner”. After you have finished up for the three day tour it is back to the computer to look at hundreds of photos and several hours worth of video, then you edit it all together and make it look good. The selection and editing process takes a lot of time as there is the culling of hundreds of photos, the cutting room floor for the unwanted footage and the hours of song searching and selection. Three days later you have a movie fit for YouTube and a sporadic album posting on the web and social media.

Fox

It’s been some time since “Hooly” and I have been to the track.   All racing has been suspended to rock climbing and fitness with several meetings thrown in.   All we’ve done was work on our business houndagency.com until the Supercars came to town.  

As a potential client is based at the racetrack and Dan is a member of the track, we got to wander up and down the garages that we’ve called home when Dan was racing.   All the garages had been taken over by the teams that Dan will hopefully one-day race for, with or against.   We braved the weather to see these big V8s in action.

As the sky opened up and the rain began to fall we looked for shelter as neither of us thought to bring an umbrella.  Walking up and down the pit lane Dan saw an old karting buddy.   Ushered in out from the rain we huddled into the garage standing beside the family and friends of one of the drivers.   Staying out of the way of the driver and the crew, we perched ourselves in front of the monitors of the weather, cars, times and race.

While talking with the family and friends, the heavens released a torrent of water.   Dan was explaining several sections of the track where people will spin out as he had in fact spun out there several weeks earlier.   With in seconds, several cars spun out on that section while plumes of water sprayed up over the competitors making visibility next to nothing.   We were informed it was the first wet race held in over three years.

After the race was over we wandered around as the rain had stopped.   While walking around the team trucks, Dan bumped into an old friend who owns one of the team.   After a chat we were ushered out of the rain and into the pits again of another team.   Dan and the owners talked and joked about the wet racetrack as the Porsches took to the field.   Like the V8s before, they to face plumes of water.

With the rain starting once again we left the track as we had a friend’s farewell drinks that night.   We returned to base to change and get pretty.   Once more we braved the cold and headed out, this time to opera bar.   Meeting with our friend who flew out the next morning at 5am, we lived it up making some new friends who also had an interest in racing.  

While talking about racing Dan had a brainwave.   As his racing team had done some promotional work for a couple of companies, he had scored some free experiences.   He gave these experiences to me as payment for shooting him at the track.   The sneaky bugger had organised this to be used at the track for a race experience day to give me a hands on view on what he does.

Well yesterday was that day.   I was to be strapped into a car and go around a supervised track.   We piled into Dan’s car and zipped off to the track.   With a hour before the race briefing and safety checks, I was ripped on by all the team of mechanics and drivers from the Anglo Motorsports who I’ve come to know through shooting Dan on the sidelines.   All had heard of the wager between Dan and I, a six-pack of beer to him if I spun out voided if I stalled.

Chatting to several people who had done the experience or had a friend doing the experience, I slowly sank into my borrowed driving suit praying that I wasn’t driving first.   Being known by the team it happened I would be first.   After the track drive I was strapped into the car.   It has been over ten years since I’ve been in a manual car let alone use a clutch.   My racing experience has only been on simulators and gaming consoles or on the track beside Dan who isn’t really the best teacher.

In the cockpit with visor pulled down I turned over the engine and… Stalled.   A magnificent stall that turned heads of the mechanics, drivers and everyone else there.   After restarting I was ushered onto the track.   Finding second gear, I pushed down the throttle and off I went.   Racing driver I’m not as I was lapped twice and slow.   I blamed the fear of spinning out and the damage of the car for my slow speed.

After a final ribbing of all the team Dan and I headed off to go karting.   Dan had set his mind to the fact that if I raced, he’d race too and dragged me along.   We drove over to Ultimate Karting Sydney and signed up for three 10-lap sessions after Dan had chatted with the owner (we saw him at the track during the V8s sparking Dan’s interest in dragging me along).   Once track side and nodded on by all the staff, we geared up and hit the track.   My kart was lucky 13.

I’ve seen Dan before a race, during a race and after race.   I’ve never seen him drive as a part of a race.   Technically, Dan race and me, seeing what it’s like.   It was foot to the floor and praying to the race gods not to spin or stall.   Dan sped away with me trailing behind concentrating on how to turn, not to spin and trying ever so hard not to drift.   

By this stage I was used to being lapped so let the competitors lap me a couple of times as I tried hard to understand the kart, corners and lap times.   Not understanding any I just let myself go and had fun.   Keeping in mind the flags issued to my driving I still had fun cackling wildly as I pulled off turns that I thought were ok.

The racer in Dan was ever present as he viewed the results in disdain as he had come second a group of three by a tenth of a second or something like that.   I am used to this Dan as its what I shoot when I’m at the track.   As we watched children rocket around the track in kid go-karts, I prayed to the racing gods that I wouldn’t spin.   Then it was our turn again.

With several new contenders on the track, two kids and another adult, we powered up and sped onto the track.   By now I was really used to being lapped but unlike at the formula ford track, this was at speed and lower the to the ground.   Taking Dan’s words to heart “accelerate and brake the whole time” I tried that but it was different.   And it didn’t work.   All that I needed to know is that it was fun.

With another brief break from racing Dan chatted to the other racer who had beaten Dan by a tenth of a second.   They talked about go karting as a professional sport and the prices depending on which level is entered.   They both sized each other up as they were in for a final show down in the final session.   With the brief break over we re helmed and headed back to our karts.   Mine was now 19, Dan’s previous kart, and Dan had 13.

With a new kart that had been doing better times, I knew that I would make it go as slow as my previous kart.   Dan and the rest of the field sped off to leave me with an empty track to try and create a race craft while he tried to get the best time possibly.   Knowing what he looked like in full suit I tried to give the field more room until I cut fine on a corner getting in his way.   Dan bumped me several times while I cackled merrily and swore at him in Spanish.

With our final session over and Dan on top by a tenth of a second (I wasn’t really paying attention as I wanted to get my borrowed monkey suit off).   Wanting food as the only I ate all day was from eight hours earlier, we headed to the café but not before Dan’s rival collected lap times.   Dan, like a red rag to a bull, wanted to see his times on paper.   With lap times in hand and a place in fastest of the week, we finally got some pizza and talked about the day.   

We recapped the day of racing and how my understanding of motorsports athletes now increased as you have to be fit to throw a car around a track at high speed.  Dan’s documentary skills were tested too as he filmed me after my car lap.   This was liked by Dan’s racing hero’s son, as were the photos that I joked around with friends and family.   On the ride home with the tunes pumping, my respect of motorsport had increased immensely.  

You may think that driving a car that you do everyday is easy.   Try throwing it around the track.   If not your car, why not try a car shaped like a bullet that can go through a corner faster than a V8.   If that isn’t hard enough or too hard then try a go kart.   If that doesn’t teach you to respect a racing car driver as an athlete then you need to learn how to do it yourself.

A massive thanks to the crews at Anglo Motorsport and Ultimate Karting Sydney for letting me try and get my speed on.

Disclaimer: I’m not a racer an know next to nothing about it so bear with me while I learn about it from a master

For the past four days I’ve been stationed at Dan’s house as may things; a nanny, a friend, a business partner, manager, P.A., couch surfer, belayer, photographer, videographer, DJ, a driver and media consultant.   Why so many rolls in so many days?    That’s easy.   It was a race weekend.

For those of you who know and understand the racing calendar then you don’t have to read the next sentence.   A race weekend starts on Friday morning and lasts till Sunday night, this is three days of nothing but cars testing on Friday, qualifying and first race on Saturday and race two and three on Sunday.

Over the past three weeks Dan and I have been doing indoor rock climbing on Thursdays.   As always we trooped off to the centre and under strict orders, Dan was limited to three walls and a cargo net and no belaying.   Our other climbing partners who showed up destroyed the plan within minutes.   Both wanted to climb and both wanted to climb against each other.   Dan belayed one while I did the other, adding strain to his arms but all in all it helped out a little in his arm strength.   After a pub dinner we bid adieu and headed to Dan’s as race days start early.

Friday…

5:30am has always been a foreign concept to me as soon as I turned 11.   As always on race weekend we woke up at half five, showered, shaved, kitted up, packed up car and drove to track stopping off at a servo for a Portuguese tart and an Up & Go.   Unlike Dan, who sleeps like a baby while watching NASCAR, I was up almost all night clearing data from cameras, charging batteries, cleaning cameras, making posters and packing gear before embracing my bed at 4:00am so I wasn’t at my best making our way out to the track.

The awesome crew at Anglo gave their usual cheering greetings with Dan replying with cheek and myself with tired grunt.   As Dan’s P.A. and photographer, I get unrestricted access to be in the garage to help Dan out as well as shoot the interaction with the team and crew.   Unlike other photographers at the track who shoot amazing action scenes, I have the job of telling the stories of how the car “Cherry” gets from the back of the truck to the race track as well as what the driver and the mechanic do.

As Friday was test day, Ricky the engineer and Dan banter about the car set up and catch up about the test day held at Wakefield on Monday.   As I have gone with an hour of sleep and a couple of stolen minutes from Dan’s G-up in the car and the “Racing Tracks” playlist, I needed caffeine.   The boss man who runs the show, Tim, had set up a coffee and tea station which was severing black teas and coffees to the crew who didn’t want to wonder off to the café and buy cappuccinos and flat whites.   Tim = LIFESAVER!

Being an open wheeler, the formula ford is but with its lesser cousin the formula vee to enable the most track time available.   This meant six practice sessions over 10 hours beside the track.   Now those who don’t know racing see four different types of cars that look the same rolling down the pits to wait then start their laps.   For those who do know racing see four different classes of cars waiting for practice laps.   The classes, for those new to motorsport, are Duratec, Kent, Historic and Vee.   Duratec are a small field that have a 2005 ford fiesta engines.   Kents are a large field with a Ford Escort engine from the 80’s.   Historics are older versions of Kents with a small number of cars that give all a race for their money.

On top of all these cars on the track there were tin tops (roofed race cars of various engines, makes and models), super karts (go karts with two stroke engines) and radicals.   With all these cars came the weather of a wet and overcast day.   This would be a challenge for all those who were at the track.   The crews had to prepare their cars for a wet track, drivers had to prepare mentally for a cold track and photographers had to steel themselves from the drizzle as they picked spots out on the track or headed to the roof with the crew to watch from the gallery.

Shooting like a fly on the wall, I was able to find vantage points out of the way from crew and drivers alike.   Each shot taken, apart from the several gestures from the crew in jest, told the story of the silent driver, his brave and noble mechanic and the beautiful beast.   This happened all day with no problems.   All in all a great test day followed by an African feast and much needed sleep.

Saturday…

The gods of thunder and lighting praised us with only rain on a cold, wet and windy qualifying and race day.   Waking up to the rain is hard, waking up with an alarm set at 5:30am to the rain is harder.   Loading the car with merchandise and ourselves, Dan drove for his tart and liquid breakfast while I picked the tunes.   Unlike Friday, I was able to speak without grunts.

Dan has a unique ability to move faster in the wet than the dry, which is weird as it was the opposite in go-karts.   Dan waited in his steely silence as his team mates stretched and jumped into their cars for scrutiny.   Driving through the pit to the booth is always a funny experience as it is done in caps or bare heads but with the rain it was helmets and mechanics holding umbrellas.   Once the cars were checked over for weight, height, width of wheels and a few other things I’m not sure of but make sure the car is not breaking the rules, it was back to the pits for the short wait before the qualifying started.

Armed with cameras, it was time to head to the gallery and shoot the start and a few other little bits and pieces on several corners.   Sticking close to the crew helps as they have the times of in hand of their drivers.   Dan’s times were good as were his teams although a little slow compared to the wet it was the long wait till the race.   Unfortunately this wasn’t going to be a good race.

Although the rain died off a little bit, the track was wet and spinouts were expected.   Once more the team left the garage and headed to the marshalling area.   With engines revving and umbrellas out, they waited for the track to be cleared before lurching out into the drying track to begin the first race.   With a great start Dan headed to the front.   That’s when things went wrong.   From the inside, over the grass, came a historic hitting Dan’s left flank.

Unknown to me who couldn’t see the crash from the standing area, Cherry limped into the scrutineering area.   Dan was ropeable.   Ricky had to drive a wounded cherry to the pits and Dan marched himself to the medical centre.   At the medical centre Dan was poked and prodded as a precaution for sustaining an injury that would disqualify him from racing.   The medics gave him papers that needed to be cleared by a doc before he could drive again.   The problem was Dan was not allowed to drive to the medical centre to get cleared.

We abandoned the track post haste to get Dan clearance.   Armed with three GPS enabled units, a map to the medical centre and Ricky’s knowledge we made our way to get Dan cleared.  After half an hour we saw a Doc.   The Doc wanted Dan to get an X-ray but the radiology department was closed and as time was not on our side a frantic search was underway to find a radiology department anywhere open so get Dan cleared.   During the search, Dan got a call from the team boss saying the medics track side had overreacted and all we needed was clearance by a doc to say he was ok to come back to the track.  Racing back to the Doc with this news, we were dejected as he still wanted an x-ray to clear Dan.

After a few more phones calls, we left for the hospital’s emergency department.   Here we waited to be called up for an x-ray.   Joking with other in patients, we progressed through the wait, got the x-ray and clearance as all Dan had was minor muscle pain that painkillers could fix.   As the track was closed by now we headed home planning to get an early start with the clearance.

Sunday…

Sunday rolled around and we were back at the track with a newly medical fit Dan rearing to race.   Race two started with no problems for both car and driver.   After race two during the wait, we headed to the café bumping into Jimmy Vernon and his family reminiscing on old days of racing and Jimmy’s own crash.   Many lessons were learned from this little talk that Dan took to heart.

Race three pulled up and once more I watched with the team as Dan did his thing.   From the wall I shot him race past before sprinting to the garage for the debrief.   While waiting for the slip of paper we reflected on the weekend as a whole.   Two races finished and one DNF would hopefully not overly affect Dan’s standing in the top ten.   With the cars squared away we left behind Sydney Motorsports Park for the last time this year.  

Meeting my friend Dan was an experience I will never forget.   He was a ladies man through and through and hooked up with one of my new drinking buddies that I met through an old school friend.   They had a brief relationship but remained close friends due to his physique and use as a creep deterrent from unwanted male attention.   Dan had somehow slipped through the net was able to entertain this female friend and he too established a brief relationship with her.  We talked at the bar finding little in common other than we lived in the same area.   As the night drew to a close I never thought that this loud-mouthed guy would be such a close friend.

Several weeks later it was my female friend’s birthday party.   I attended with a couple of friends as did Dan.   Unlike our bar sessions I was drinking, as I was usually the designated driver on bar night, and got into conversation with Dan on his normal level of sobriety.   He told me he raced go karts was a winner of multiple championships and one day go into cars or radio which he was studying.   This fascinated me as an old electrical engineering friend raced cars before I lost contact with him.

Unlike the bar times, we exchanged numbers with the promise of lifts to and from the bar.  As Dan liked a drink on non racing weeks I had to drive more.   This wasn’t as bad as you would expect as he knew the bouncers of nearly every bar in North Sydney which made clubbing so much easier without waiting in lines or paying for a meaningless membership.   For months we were nearly inseparable as on top of his radio study, I was helping his background in social media and subconsciously managing him.

For a time we were able to use “This is my manger” “He’s the next big radio personality” routine to entice the ladies.   Also being a go kart racer helped too.   Because of the motor racing in his blood, Dan began to invite me to his place to hang out and watch races which I used to decline until I was basically forced.   I met his brother and his parents and basically became a local in their house if I wasn’t doing anything related to advertising, capoeira or ladies.   I had told Dan early on in our friendship that I was an amateur photographer specialising in sport and action scenes with a little video experience.   He utilised this when he took me to the race track.

The race was the V8 supercars.   We filmed stupid things like the drive to and from the race at Homebush Bay, cars racing and interviews with racing drivers of different classes.   Unknown to me, Dan rubbed shoulders with the elite drivers of Australia as he had raced with them when they were in karts or knew their families from kart days.  On top of that Dan knew some of the head of radio in Sydney and spoke to them while I vanished into the background.   Once the day was over we went back home and I edited his first few films and designed his logos for his radio show.

It was around this time when Dan began having trouble with his karting team.   His team leader wanted more money for the team and Dan supposedly had big pockets.   This lead to Dan quitting racing to focus on radio to the dismay of the team and go karting community as Dan had become the “Bad Boy Voice” that blessed everyone’s ears when he commentated.   He sold his racing gear and moved towards the radio waves.

I had moved on with my life and gotten a full time job as a telephone help desk person.   We stayed in contact but were to absorbed into our lifestyles to actually be as close friends as we once were.   Around this time Dan was the top of his class as his show was the most popular in the area.   Unfortunately his partner on the waves wasn’t the nice guy Dan thought.   As Dan missed out on a radio gig in Sydney and didn’t want to move to Canberra where he would actually have a radio show, he went into promoting.  

I knew the promoting gig Dan got was an amazing thing but I didn’t know what it was doing to Dan mentally.  Dan was one of the club’s most popular promoters.  What he posted on facebook was liked in the thousands, what he invited was solidly booked, whatever the event people would be there.   The club loved him as much as the crowd but this stirred the weasels into action.

Several factions of the club’s lesser promoters saw an opportunity to good to pass up.   They knew Dan came from the north shore and that his ability to get an instant crowd was an amazing skill and this would lead to some big easy money.   Luring Dan into a business partnership, they  used his skills to increase their profits but as hard as they tried, they couldn’t pry open Dan’s Wallet.

Dan is a very controlling person and his wallet is very tight.   As he refused to finance these new friends’ habits and business requirements, they made his life hell.   Dan escaped into the booze and the women of the clubbing scene but that didn’t help but turning him away from that scene.   Dan quit and escaped from that world as much as I escaped from my dead end job behind a phone.

When we started talking again I was a freshly graduated graphic designer and Dan was working as a clerk in a office in the city.   Dan had escaped the sharks but they still were harassing his every move keeping him away from the clubs and also alcohol.   As a graphic designer I found this very funny as I had always been apart of the boozy creative culture.   I helped him through the hectic part of his life before getting him back to his normal self.   Dan had learned many valuable lessons the hard way as I had tried to teach him before living my own life which too was a total disaster before I was a graphic designer.

As he had a lot of money saved up from the promoting days, Dan returned to what he did best.   Race.

Dan signed up with a formula ford team and bought his own chassis.   He got behind the wheel and became his old self again.   His confidence was back and he was able to do what he wanted to do dramatically changing his surroundings.  

Dan went from being an annoying promoter into a person you could stand on facebook.   His pictures posted were motivational and a different side of him than before his clubbing days.

In March Dan took me to Melbourne to see the F1 at Albert Park.   Unlike V8 supercars, F1 had always intrigued me.   As V8 supercars and Australian Motorsport go hand in hand, Dan was able to talk his way into the V8 pits and talk to his friends who were now driving these cars when Dan took off two years to club.  I was in awe as nearly everyone behind the wall that kept spectators out, looked on enviously to a person that talked to their heroes as mere mortals.

When we came back from Melbourne Dan and I spent a lot more time together and when he asked me to come to the track to shot him in his new car that had arrived from France I jumped on that opportunity.

His bright red Mygale named “Cherry” was unloaded from the truck on Eastern Creek Speedway and it was love at first sight for driver and machine.   We both inspected the vehicle seeing if she had any flaws which she didn’t.   Dan took her on the track several times as it was an open practice day and handled her brilliantly.   Then it was time to go home to look at several hundred photos on and off the track.

As Dan was busy with his office job, I was being an intern in the city dreaming about bigger and better things.   Dan contacted me and asked if I could build him a website that was easy to update.   I jumped at it and did it while being able to use my photos that I took as a filler until I could get race day photos and footage.   I built it and showed Dan how to use it which he could effortlessly.

Several weeks passed when I got the call from Dan asking me to a race.  Three days of cars going around the track is not something many people would do apart from diehard fans.   My job was to make Dan look good behind the scenes.   Take photos here and there telling the story of what happens in the garage as the crew works on the cars and drivers.      It was amazing.

Being a shadow to Dan was a great way to get some amazing photos of interaction with the crew, other drivers, fans and more.    Learning the lessons from test day, I came armed with two cameras with different lenses to make for easy transitions.   Also this time I worked with the crew getting to areas that most photographers can get to only when they are decked out in media gear.   Taking photos and footage from three perspectives was an excellent way of learning how to shoot.

When the weekend was over I took a look at the several hundred photos on two cameras making the hard decisions of which makes it to the web.   Of these lucky dozen, Dan would select which would go on his website and social media feeds.   Here is where he got an amazing idea.   He wanted to go into business with me…