Terminal velocity at the end of a run can be anything from about 170 to 320 mph depending on the class of car and the wind conditions. To slow down to a managable speed the cars deploy two parachutes.
Pictured top left: A parachute pack on the back of a car. The orange safety handle is removed before the race and the cable release left on. At the finish the cable is retracted and the chute releases.
Pictured top right: The cars pass under the results board. the walls turn red at the finish line. There is a light beam there through the little cube in the centre of the track. When the beam is broken the run time is calculated and flashed on the results board. You can just see the car has come in at a speed of 291mph. The run time is shown above the speed, just out of site in this photograph.
Second row down: About one third of a second before the finish the driver deploys the chute. It's in time to slow him down before he has to turn into the pits, but it's not going to slow his finish-line time. In this shot you can see the parachute as a black dot against the white far wall.
Third row down: The car passes the results gantry crossing the line. Both parachutes are extended ready to open.
Bottom row: The shot shows filled, open chutes slowing the car down for the pits.
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I love how you've captured all of these at the different deploying points. This has been a great series, and it was fun to learn all of this stuff about drag racing.
All oft hese race shots are very cool. Thanks for checking out my photos today - which led me to going through your 365 postings (I'll check out hte others too) and finding many wonderful pics and then remembering that I had seen some of them other places on the website, but hadn't yet stopped to check out your full postings. Faved several and look forward to following your work.
hey! I'm going to the Drags on Monday!!! I've been so excited for the last few days about it, cos' I'm dying to get photos!!!
any tips / techniques, camera settings etc you can pass on???
My favourite of these shots is the one second from top, cos' the Panning is perfect even if the tip of the front of the car is cut off just slightly...
Yes, it was irritating losing the front of that car in the shot. Unfortunately when you read the article you will realise that as it was alongside me the car and parachute would not fit into the frame so I had to sacrifice the front of the car in order to get the parachute deploying. However, I have lots of sharp shots where the whole car is captured. I took 1025 shots at this event so there has been plenty to work through!
If this is your first drag race expect that a lot of your shots will be indistinct. You will see from the article that you can have a panned shot in perfect focus but the subject vehicle is blurred. That is because the skill in panning is keeping the camera moving in time with the subject. Try and do some practice with ordinary cars on the road before you go and you will get much better shots at the track. Also the most exciting part is near the start. Make sure you spend some time there.
Drag racing is a great event. You will love it. I look forward to seeing your shots!
June 12th, 2011
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any tips / techniques, camera settings etc you can pass on???
My favourite of these shots is the one second from top, cos' the Panning is perfect even if the tip of the front of the car is cut off just slightly...
I did a short article on drag racing for my camera club. You can download the newsletter here... http://www.marlowcc.org/seasons/2010-2011/newsletters/May.pdf
Yes, it was irritating losing the front of that car in the shot. Unfortunately when you read the article you will realise that as it was alongside me the car and parachute would not fit into the frame so I had to sacrifice the front of the car in order to get the parachute deploying. However, I have lots of sharp shots where the whole car is captured. I took 1025 shots at this event so there has been plenty to work through!
If this is your first drag race expect that a lot of your shots will be indistinct. You will see from the article that you can have a panned shot in perfect focus but the subject vehicle is blurred. That is because the skill in panning is keeping the camera moving in time with the subject. Try and do some practice with ordinary cars on the road before you go and you will get much better shots at the track. Also the most exciting part is near the start. Make sure you spend some time there.
Drag racing is a great event. You will love it. I look forward to seeing your shots!