MotoGP at Indy

ddindy

ddindy

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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.

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Here's veteran Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha.

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

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There are a bunch more on my flickr page.
 
Awesome shots Dennis! ; Unbelievable how those guys lean into their turns. ; Is that the same place the Indy 500 is held?
 
"Paul" said:
Is that the same place the Indy 500 is held?
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Yes, both the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 are held there. ; You might find this view a little more familiar:

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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

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Jorge Lorenzo

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Chris Vermeulen

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Letting it all hang out

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Nice, Dennis! ; How fast did the big bikes go down the straights?

I would suggest you crop them so there's some leading space in front of the bikes for those that are perpendicular like on the FIAT sponsored bike in the set above this message. ; Very nice panning job on those, btw.

That last shot really shows how low these riders get when going through some S curves.

Can somebody please explain the physics of going 150 mph on the side of your tires?
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I'm not a tire engineer but I bet it has something to do with friction, balance, and speed. ; These guys must really trust those tires!
 
"Scottwdw" said:
How fast did the big bikes go down the straights?
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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!

"Scottwdw" said:
I would suggest you crop them so there's some leading space in front of the bikes for those that are perpendicular like on the FIAT sponsored bike in the set above this message. ; Very nice panning job on those, btw.
Click to expand...

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

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Another of Valentino Rossi for goofy101's son

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Nice work Dennis! ; All of those pans reminds me that I need to practice my panning a little before I shoot the harness racing and antique tractor at the county fair in two weeks.
 
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.
 
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.)
 
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