Salles involved in fatal accident

[Griff]

HI MUZZA
Very thought provoking post
many thanks
GRIFF

[djb]

A few thoughts.

If true, I see the issue of this fellow being in an area he was not supposed to be in the crux of the incident. It goes without saying that a fatality is not the sort of affair I want to belittle, but I would like to share my opinion on personal responsibility and judgement.

When I was a newcomer at this summers ALMS race in Trois Rivieres Canada, there was a specific track position that as an accredited photographer, I was allowed to shoot from. During practice sessions with cars generally being spread out, I shot from there getting good, more or less head on shots with a nice blurred background of the straight behind the car and a "Quebec" sign back there as well for track placement. The cars were probably over 225kph and going flat through a slight kink in front of me. I chose to stay and get some shots, but come race day, with a busy track, 3 or 4 different car classes-ie, frequent passing and squabbles between GT guys while an Audi or Panoz squeezes by- the little voice in me told me it wasn't worth the risk. To top it off, my commonsensometer was reinforced by one of the marshalls showing me how the single layer of armco between us and the cars was rather loose on its moorings (and had no fencing on it.) Yes it allowed my some great low down shots, but in my judgement, it was just too dangerous, you didn't have a proper out if anything happened, and the time to react was just too little, throw in the iffy protection and it was an easy decision. It may have been poor timing, but I never saw any other photographers there during the two days I was wandering around, so I'm inclined to think the others felt the same way.

All this is to say that on top of respecting the areas that one is supposed to shooting from, one does also have to use your motorsport knowledge and judgement to calculate possible tradjectories, the protection you are offered and escape routes.

djb

[JustinDawkins]

Picture is horrible, but excellent Post Muzza.

Same with me, If "the IF" ever happens, which hopefully it won't, please carry on.

[Super Tourer]

Brilliant post Muzza.