Aside from a few track days I can’t really remember when I last attended Time Attack at Zandvoort but I can tell you one thing, it felt good to be out there again. I was amazed by how many teams from abroad made their way to the Dutch track in the dunes. When Wangan Warriors was invited to become mediapartner for the European Time Attack Masters I was pretty excited and started brainstorming with the crew about how we would approach the event and how we would cover it.
I will not bore you with laptimes which you already know nor was I planning to write a story about which teams participated and which corner they made a mistake or hit the apex perfectly. I will try to give a little bit more photographical point of view and I will highlight a few drivers and their teams.
As always these days start insanely early with quite long drive for me since I live in the very south of holland. But a 2,5 hour drive with a complete weekend of fun and photography lying ahead is no punishment to me.
It’s always nice to know you’re able to shoot trackside instead of from behind barriers and fences. After I picked up my media vest I started lingering around in the pit area and on the paddock to see if there were some familiar faces.
Of course you always bump into people at these events and it’s nice te see teams and people returning to Zandvoort.
Simon Bradford was back to settle business in the dunes and I always have a big fat smile on my face when I see his R33 blasting through the corners. Again he came along with Bruce Morris and I believe these gentlemen are quite familiar with this track by now. Unfortunately Bruce ran into quite some trouble with his Skyline but I’m sure he will return in glory and show who’s boss.
On Sunday when the TA was driven I first took my time to see how and where I would shoot during the day. I got cought up in the nice scenery of the Dutch dunes many times in the morning but I had to snap back to reality and shoot side by side my fellow Wangan Warriors shooters Alex and Maurice.
We witnessed the various classes warming up and driving the qualification sessions.
After the warming up and the first qualifying sessions we walked around on the paddock and dropped by the DMPD booth for a chat.
We had a quick drink before we went into the pitlane to capture some driver portraits. The ETAM participants were lining up for qualification and the drivers were getting last pointers before they were unleashed. Perfect timing to shoot!
I was pretty satisfied with some of the results. Cor Euser was clearly concentrating before he went on track. I’m happy to capture moments like this especially when it’s a Formula three veteran who has been winning titles since the early eighties.
We continued our way next to the track and again I was more focussed on the scenery instead of the track or the cars. I saw two people enjoying the action and the weather and with a little bit of a backlight situation I captured this silhouette.
Luckily we were able to cross over the track in between qualifying sessions and Maurice and I walked to various places I’ve never been myself on Zandvoort. Lennard Wanders was competing in the ETAM as well which was a first timer for me to see. I think I only have shots of this guy going full lock through the corners. This wasn’t a bad sight either.
As we walked further we came to the conclusion that not many photographers shoot at places like this.
For me it’s one of my favourite spots by now. Next time I’ll need a longer lens. Any suggestions?
This weekend also made me aware to try and shoot more drift action in the future. I’m no regular at the NL drift series or other driftdays but photographs like these make me aware that I’m missing out on some amazing action.
Before the grand finale the drifters did a demo session which was awesome to see. Shots like this represent the ‘garage life’ which I mentioned before in earlier articles. Make sure you check in on our facebook page for some of the action shots we captured of the driftsessions. We will be sharing some more action shots from the ETAM weekend in the upcoming weeks.
Things got close between a few teams but I have to congratulate the guys of SVA with their amazing performance during the day. Winning the race was one thing but with a lap-record of 1:44.583 was unexpected. Well done gentlemen!
Last but not least another winner. Our very own Maurice Bergers who got media acces for the very first time at Zandvoort by winning a photo contest held by RPM Vision. It’s not the last you’ve heard of Maurice, I’ll assure you! I would like to thank Peter Schwillens for inviting us and hopefully we will meet again at the next event. I had a great time!
-Rens Adams