MotorGP 2008

Written by KC
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Please click here to view 66 photos taken by yours truly (KC).

It takes a lot of guts and having the nerves of steel to ride a motorbike on a racing track. When negotiating corners, the motorcycle was slanting at steep angle, and the knee of the rider almost touching the ground. With a little more incline to the ground, spark would flare due to friction with the road.
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Don’t get me wrong. I am not advancing from Duathlon (riding road racing bicycle) to motorcycle Grand Prix. And I am not the rider of this motorcycle racing on the track. I am merely holding the camera taking this photo at the Sepang F1 Circuit on 17 November 2007.

On that Saturday afternoon, I followed my friend Shukri, an avid photographer and an avid fan of motor sports, to Sepang F1 Circuit to witness the trial run of 2008 motoGP (Motorcycle Grand Prix). He is very familiar with the venue as he has been there many times. He never missed the yearly Formula 1 car racing events!

Shukri's camera and lens: Equipped with a 300 mm lens attached to his Nikon dSLR, the unit looked like a bazooka.

The weather was superb that day with an overcast sky and not raining as in other days.

That day was my first time putting my footsteps at Sepang F1 Circuit. Though The Circuit has staged many world-class events, I was always watching the live coverage on TV as I could not get the ‘kaki’ to go together.

The roar of the machine is deafening

While we were walking toward the Mall Area of the Main Grandstand, I could hear the roar of the engine. The sound was deafening but exhilarating to acknowledge. It was as though a few aircraft were taking off at the Sepang F1 Circuit. We walked slowly from the entrance to the other end of the Main Grandstand, which is 900 meters apart.

Constructor

At that moment, only two motorcycles were racing on the track. A few minutes later, we could see another motorcycle in blue was been ridden out of the Constructor Box. Shukri could even tell me from the colour and the sound of the engine. That was really pro. He could tell me which one was Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki. As for Honda, there was one model of 2007 and another newer model for 2008. An interesting point to note was that though the sound was loud, the motorbikes were of 800 cc only. Most of the constructors or mechanics were either Japanese or Orang Putih.
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Taking Photo

It was really challenging to take photos of fast moving subject. Used to taking runners and Duathletes in action – which are much slower – the motorcycle there was much, much faster.

At the straight stretch adjacent to the grand stand, the motorcycles were speeding at a blistering speed. Facing a straight road, we have to start aiming at the motorcycle when it was arriving at 2 o’clock direction. We must click the shutter button when it reached 1 o’clock direction. Once passed, it was just not able to frame the subject.

Turning

Negotiating sharp corner at fast speed was most difficult and required a lot of precision skill. From maximum speed, brake was applied when going into the turn. That was the time the engine gave a louder VROOM. The riders actually leaned their body almost parallel with the road to negotiate the bend seamlessly and effortlessly. Once the motorcycle has completed the bend, it was time for full throttle ahead. We could hear that each shifting of gear was done in less than two seconds. And within seconds, the motorcycle has sped off.

Out of the usual speeding and turning action, to our big surprise, one rider lost control while negotiating a not-too-sharp turning. He was seen flunk out of the motorcycle and both the rider and the motorcycle were landed on the sand pit. Immediately, the workers rush to his rescue.

Next Race

It was really exciting watching the racing live. I actually missed the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix 19-21 October 2007, a month ago. The next racing event is the A1 GP World Cup of Motor Sports Malaysia on 23-25 November 2007, which starts from this Friday. Click here for the website.

Shukri

Yours truly (KC)

Posted by KC