A beast -the AMG-GTS

It was the monthly Pie in The Sky lunch meet today at the road cafe in Cowan for a chat,a pie and a car perve. In the last few months the car roll up has not been special but today was different.This AMG-GTS Merc rolled in early in the proceedings.One of the first on the road here in Aus.It is a big beast.It dwarfed my little 911 -see photo above.
The race version was unveiled at the Bathurst 12 hours last month -see below.That graphite look is a wrap. Apparently they are not allowed to race the car in that colour.Not sure why not-maybe a visibility issue. No visibility issue with the road car seen today.

The Door

I've put this photo up especially for a friend who bought a Leica X1 but now says that he can never find anything interesting to photograph with it.
It's a back door into a garden off a lane in the inner city suburb of Glebe in Sydney. What a great piece of improvisation and recycling. Not a square corner on the door or the frame. I walked past it regularly for years when I lived in Glebe without ever seeing it and then a few months ago I was back there and I saw the streets from a different point of view and I spotted it.

A little piece of paradise

The photo of the camels on the beach in the previous post has been so well received with quite a few emails commenting on the scenery and the photo that I have been prompted to post two more photos from my recent trip north up the coast of New South Wales. This time both were taken on the ground.

Firstly-above,Little Bay,in the Arakoon National Park near North West Rocks.
It looks like an exotic cove in some remote destination in a travel magazine but this little slice of paradise is not so far off the beaten track. It really is a special place particularly as behind me as I took the photo in the middle of the day were dozens of kangaroos and wallabies snoozing in the shade of trees in a clearing.

The second photo -below-was taken from Crescent Head looking south and shows another spectacular beach heading off into the distance.Beyond the first headland there is another beach stretching kilometres to another headland and so on south. The beach is totally empty apart from three SUVs driving south. One is just visible as a black dot in the middle distance.
The SUV drivers would be camping and fishing on the beach.The beach is unpatrolled and whilst it is very good surfing the sea can be very treacherous for swimmers with strong rips and currents.

Both Leica X1 photos.

From above

Camels -Lighthouse Beach,Port Macquarie,NSW. Photo taken three weeks ago from a floatplane which gives scenic flights out of Port Macquarie Harbour.
After the first world war there were hundreds of surplus military planes in the US and discharged pilots bought them for a few hundred dollars each and then flew them around the country "barnstorming"-giving acrobatic displays and taking locals up for joy flights for a few dollars. Charles Lindberg,the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic made his start in aviation in this way.

Now all aviation is tightly controlled and barnstorming is long gone.The floatplane on the Hastings River at Port Macquarie is a reminder of how informal flying used to be. A plane,a basic pontoon,a pilot,a canvas gazebo for shade on the shore,a ticket seller and a deck hand to tie the plane up.Check in time 2 minutes before flight departs. Fill in the form giving personal details,put on the flotation device,climb aboard,listen to the emergency procedure,do up your seat belt,put on your headphones,hang on and watch out for dolphins on the "taxiway".  Enjoy the flight.

I only had my Leica X1 with me when I took the flight. A longer lens would have been useful but I am pleased with this one shot. I am surprised that the resolution on the photo is so good as it is a big crop and it was taken through the perspex side window of the plane.These Cessnas and Pipers invairably use Lycoming or Continental horizontally opposed 4 cylinder engines which are very reliable but not at all smooth. So you need to ensure that the camera and your hands/armsare not touching the window and to use a very high shutter speed-I used 1/2000th-so as to minimise the effect of vibration. You also need to ensure that the camera is not trying to focus on the window. Using manual focus is one way to avoid this.

The camels in the photo give beach camel rides.There are tens of thousands of feral camels in the Australian deserts. They were originally introduced in the 19th century for desert transport and they came with their Afghan handlers. The Afghans have gone but the camels stayed and bred. Now Australian camels are prized for their genetic diversity and are even exported to the Middle Eastern Gulf States for camel racing .

Floatplane Hastings River,Port Macquarie

Bernie on the state of F1

Wonderful quote in today's Guardian from Bernie Ecclestone.
Ecclestone has recently described F1 as “the worst it’s ever been,” adding, “I wouldn’t spend my money to take my family to watch a race. No way.”
I could not have put it better myself,Bernie.We agree for once.However let's not forget who got it into this state.

To read more see State of F1

A sunday morning drive

A Sunday morning Porsche drive to cafe Tractor 828 at Ebenezer on the Hawkesbury River today. Of course it rained-just a few showers-but enough to make the roads very slippery in parts after weeks without rain. I covered just short of 300kms-including three ferry crossings- on the round trip and kept up a fair pace on some very winding roads particularly on the run back to Gosford from Wisemans Ferry. I was in my 2.2 and as the ambient was over 30ºC and the humidity very high I was wringing wet by the time I got home. A good long morning drive.

Hold the schnitzel Fritz

Last week I had a phone call asking if I would be willing to let Porsche Australia borrow my early Porsche 911 for the launch event for the 2016 911 in Sydney.They were actually looking for a SWB model so mine did not suit so it went no further. But this set me thinking why do Porsche want to put the svelte,slim 1971 911 in a line up with the fat bloated 2016 911 ?
I know the young Porsche marketeers are anxious to show the heritage and talk about the bloodline and the inherited DNA but in reality it achieves the reverse. It emphasises how big and bloated the latest Porsche is.
I recently saw a rear end shot of the 2016 911 beside a 1970 911. What a contrast. Obesity alongside an athletic taut frame.
And Porsche have recently released this photo of the new Boxster Spyder alongside its "relative" the 550 Spyder.
When I read a review of the Boxster Spyder I was very impressed but when I see this photo -which hardly flatters the Spyder anyway-my reaction is that all the new Porsche models including the Spyder really need to go on a diet. For a car with just two seats,minimal luggage carrying capacity and limited weather protection it is gross.
Of course none of this matters to the swoon brigade who "like" everything Porsche do and who will buy the fatty Spyder in great volume but for us purists it is rather tragic.

Bathurst 12 hours-pit and paddock

I have always enjoyed going into the paddock at motor races.In some ways I find the paddock more interesting than the racing. I used to love going into the paddock at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch and Silverstone but sadly those days are long gone and anyway there is nothing to see in the paddock at F1 nowadays. Everything is hidden away in massive transporters and "facilities".
Fortunately the Bathurst 12 hours is not yet like that. Last weekend I could see right into nearly all the pits although Bentley were playing precious with blocking screens.
One striking aspect of modern motor racing is how much gear and personnel the teams bring to the track. Much of the gear is electronic gear-banks of monitors,telemetry and communication equipment. When I put my head into their cavern Bentley seem to have more monitors and technicians than a full sized TV studio.
I do wonder whether all the personnel in the pits are really necessary. Many of them seem to be standing around most of the time. The cost of bringing them must be astronomical for the European teams. And again I find myself asking why do many of them have faces like they are permanently sucking on lemons? You are supposed to be enjoying it folks. There are people who would give their right arm for your jobs.
Anyway a selection of my pit and paddock photos.All Leica X Vario photos.

A Long Flat beer

Whilst I was up on the mid north coast of NSW last week I drove inland from Wauchope towards Walcha on the B56.The road is a great driving road-smooth,interesting,passing through wonderful country and with very little traffic. A great Porsche driving road. Sadly I was not in a Porsche but maybe next time.
Passing through the tiny isolated settlement of Long Flat I spotted these two drinkers enjoying a beer outside the Traveller's Rest Hotel - one of the oldest country pubs in NSW. I stopped the car up the road and I walked back and asked them if I could take their photo. After some witty banter they agreed and here it is. Now I wished that I had asked the guy in the blue singlet to remove his sunglasses but that's life. Anyway to my mind it's a very Australian photo and you don't see many characters like these two nowadays even in the bush.
They explained that they were having a beer at 11.15 in the morning because it did not take them a full day to do a full day's work.
Leica X1 photo

Bathurst 12 hours-another great race

It was the Bathurst 12 hour GT race last weekend.For overseas readers Bathurst is a country town about 3 hours drive over the Blue Mountains west of Sydney,Australia. It is also the home of one of the world's greatest motor racing circuits-Mount Panorama. It's up there with the Nordschleife Nurburgring. Better than Spa. And even better than Le Mans.Yes it's that good.
Every time I stand at the top of the mountain and watch the cars rocket across the top at Skyline and down the Dipper I just say wow-this is real motor racing.
One of the great aspects of the 12 hour race is that it is not expensive to attend and you have full access to the pits and the padddock on the general admission ticket. This may change in the future as the rapacious V8 Supercar organisation owned by private equity have bought 50% of the race and they do not have a good record of looking after any other interests but their own. Just like Formula 1. If they do screw it up it will be a great shame but money always talks and it is hard to be optimistic.
This year's race was cooler than last year's-thank goodness. It was hot in the afternoon but not heatstroke hot. And the race was just as exciting.There were 29 changes of lead in the 12 hours and five different marques made up the top five places-McLaren,Nissan,Bentley,Audi and Mercedes. And the winner set a new circuit lap record and won by just 1.8 seconds.
And the Stone and Wood draught beer in the Hotel Canobalas in Orange where I stayed tasted great Saturday evening and Sunday evening.
In summary it was a great weekend.
Some action photos from the race with some paddock photos in the next blog post.

The start at 5.45am.An early morning wake up as I stayed in Oprange -54kms away.

Dawn breaking,Brake rotors glowing at the end of Conrod Straight.

Porsche Cayman entering Caltex Chase in the early morning light

The winning McLaren setting an cracking early pace as the sun rises over the Blue Mountains in the distance

Fast food.The McDonalds sponsored Ferrari did not bring home the bacon.

Audi R8 powering up the Mountain

The second placed Nissan coming out of the Cutting late morning

The third placed Bentley

The fifth placed Mercedes SLS

Porsche class winner descending the Dipper

Winning Mclaren fighting Bentley for lead mid afternoon

Porsche coming down the Dipper

Porsche and Audi turning onto Syline at the top of the Mountain.

Fifth placed Mercedes coming down pitlane

Over Skyline and into the Dipper

All photos by JohnS using a Sony a7 and 90mm Zeiss Biogon and  200mm Minolta Rokkor lenses. Both manual focus lenses.The Zeiss lens is superb and gives beautiful results which barely need any processing.
The Minolta lens which I bought for A$12 off eBay gives surprisingly good results after work in Lightroom.
The irony is that I used to have a superb Canon 70-200 F2.8 lens and 2X converter but I sold all that gear years ago when I decided that my days of dragging a big lens and cameras around a race track were over. That was then this is now and at least the outfit I used on Sunday was light and small.