MotoGP at Indy

One of the great advantages of living in Indianapolis is the big race track on the west side of town. ; The last weekend in August was the second visit of the international MotoGP series to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I'm not really a motorcycle person, but I like exotic racing machines and have great respect for those involved with them. ; This was my first bike race, and I was really impressed. ; Even the little 125cc bikes were amazingly fast around the IMS road course.

The Speedway (as we locals call it) opened in 1909, and the first race was a motorcycle race. ; Marking the 100th anniversary, the timing & scoring tower is sporting graphics of its predecessor.



Here's veteran Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha.



Can somebody please explain the physics of going 150 mph on the side of your tires?







There are a bunch more on my flickr page.

 

Yes, both the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 are held there. ; You might find this view a little more familiar:



They built an infield road course about ten years ago so Formula One would come to town. ; (Man, I miss them!) ; They tweaked it a bit for the bikes, but kept most of it intact.

 

Thanks for the compliments. ; Here are a few more:

Dani Pedrosa



Jorge Lorenzo



Chris Vermeulen



Letting it all hang out

 

I believe they were approaching 200 mph. ; Just to give you an idea how fast they were, the first shot of the bike and the pagoda has motion blur at 1/1000 sec, and that was taken at the beginning of the back straight!

Thanks for the tip. ; I didn't do any cropping on most of the shots; I'll try your suggestion on the next batch I put on flickr.

I learned panning at the Speedway. ; Somewhere in the files I even have some shots taken during practice for the 500 in the early 1960s, taken with my Kodak Instamatic.

 

I did a little cropping on these, per Scott's advice.

Gabor Talmacsi



Another of Valentino Rossi for goofy101's son

 

Thanks. ; Most of my pans are of relatively fast-moving vehicles. ; I somehow get the feeling that panning slower things might be harder. ; It sounds like fun, though.

 

Ever since I saw Justin's fake model (tilt-shift) shot of the Tomorrowland Speedway (see More of miniature Disney World - Tilt-shift style), I have wanted to try to duplicate it using the real Speedway.

I finally got around to processing one of the shots taken during MotoGP practice. ; What do you think?

 

Very nice Dennis! ; If I didn't know it was a 'shop, I would have complimented you on your model making skills!

 

Thanks, Roger. ; I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do this. ; (Unless, of course, you pick a picture that has a tall pylon in it.)