Chute-Poppin Photos from 2013 Bonneville Speed Week
Somebody get me a longer camera lens!
I’m not a professional photographer…. I don’t have a super long lens… like this guy:
I could sit around and whine about what’s fair, but instead, I decided to experiment!! I’ve been going to Bonneville since 2009, so I’ve seen alot of the great white expanse. I haven’t, however, spent too much time near the end of the track. The Bonneville race cars speed by at 200 to sometimes 400 mph, so you don’t have much chance for photos! I tried my Nikon 18-200 anyway and here’s what happened… Chute pops!
This #507 owned by Dan Aleshire running in the B/GR (roadster) class.
We were standing near the 5 mile marker (as you can see in the photo below). The “long course” at Bonneville was 5 full miles of race track. You can set a record in any mile, or you can slow down and exit the track anywhere as well. Only cars running 175 mph or higher are allowed on the long course and the faster cars will use every bit of the 9 mile run-off to slow down. (Especially Mr. George Poteet in the Speed Demon streamliner!)
Both cars in these pictures were travelling over 200 mph!
When their parachutes open, especially when they’re still coming towards you, there’s a fascinating delay between when you see the chute open and when you hear it… like counting how far away lighting is… one thousand-one, one thousand-two… then you “POP!” It’s awesome!
Dan’s roadster above was running about 211 mph when he passed me in the 5 mile and had an exit speed of 217 mph! That means he was still accelerating! In a short (and no-doubt unstable) roadster, that’s hallin it! The record in B/GR is 232 mph, so no red hat for Dan…
Then here one of the fastest Mustang’s you’ll ever see!
This is Ed Voss’ C/PRO Mustang dropping laundry at 217.590 mph. The record in this class is 234, so he’s still got a ways to go…
I’d love to hear from some pro-photog’s to see what I did right and how you do it… with a big-time lens and a faster body, what kind of shots do you get?
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After my first trip to the salt last year, I was truly amazed ! Driving past the pit area and then a little farther, I looked down and realized we had driven 9 miles from when we first entered the salt ! The cars, the people, the sounds are just awesome. All your pictures bring back great memories. Excellent pictures and the ones you took with the cars at 200 + mph are great, especially with a “small” lens . Thanks again and keep those great photos coming !
Nice to hear from you Bruce! Many more pictures coming from me and other friends on the salt like Mark Jacobs… posting those now. -pikesan
Sure is cool to see pictures of my roadster at speed. We only ran 3 times best run was over 227. This year was new motor in b class we have the c record and red hat, great pictures, thanks