Rig Photos!

Being a motorsports (and automotive) photographer, I have wanted to try my hand at shooting with a “Rig” for a really long time. After several years of putting it off, I broke-down and purchased the needed equipment… and decided to hang several thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment at the end of a 12-16′ pole attached to my car!

Ok, before you call me crazy… this is not as strange as it sounds. I am not the first person to think of doing this, and after reading hundreds of pages of commentary on the subject, what else did I have to do at 4am? Also, the results are well worth the risk!

The advantage of using a rig, over a car-to-car or panning shot, is that you can get results that look like the car is going much faster than it actually is… in a space that would never allow for those speeds. For example, all of the shots done here were shot at vehicle speeds less than 1mph in a small drop-off area of a school. The rig allows for very slow shutter speeds (in this case, between 1-2 seconds) with little to no movement of the camera relative to the car. This results in a photo where the body of the car is very sharp photos, yet there is lots of motion in the wheels/background (like with a panning or car-to-car shot).

The rig is then removed from the frame during post-processing…

After some experimentation on my G8, I was able to convince another brave owner to let me mount the 16′ pole to his car!

After the session was over, I told the owner how nervous I was about damaging his car… he couldn’t believe that I’d put such valuable equipment at the end of a pole.

This was my first experience using a rig, and I learned so much as the morning went on. I learned that the Neutral Density filter that I was using (to block out light, allowing for longer shutter speeds) was causing the photos to have a magenta hue to them. I also realized that I had been sloppy with my exposures (not looking at the histogram like I should have been), resulting in skies that were more overexposed than I would have liked.

Right now I can hardly wait to get out and shoot some more photos with my rig!

Demon8Designs A-Pillar Gauge Pod

Being away from home for so long has resulted in a smorgasbord of modifications to my G8 in the past few days. Today I did a test fitting of my new Demon8Designs A-Pillar Gauge Pod!

The gauges are not yet hooked-up to sending units or power, but so far I’m really liking the way the A-Pillar gauge pod looks. I had it custom made with two gauge pods mounted just a little higher, so that I would still have a clear view at the DashHawk. Eventually the gauges will be connected, allowing me to monitor Oil Pressure (critical in those high-G turns) and Wideband A/F Ratio.

Maverick Man Carbon Fiber Hood!

After a year of planning and waiting it has finally happened… I am the proud owner of a Maverick Man Carbon Fiber Hood!

Two years ago when I purchased my Maverick Man CF Spoiler, I knew I was in love with the way Carbon Fiber looks with the MGM body color of my G8. I wanted to get something for the front of the car (to balance out the spoiler), and a hood was towards the top of the list. Unfortunately, no one produced a CF hood for the G8!

After some persuasion Maverick Man agreed to attempt a CF hood, but first he needed a stock hood to make the molds. I had been looking for a good quality used G8 hood on eBay and other websites, but was having a really hard time finding one. Eventually I was able to track down a hood from a G8 owner (who had just finished a Holden front-end conversion) and had it shipped to Maverick Man. The shipping process was crazy (have you ever tried to ship something as large/heavy as a hood across the country?), but it all worked out in the end.

A couple of months ago Maverick Man released a few teaser photos of the hood, and it sparked huge interest from the G8 community. Fortunately, having been involved with the creation process, I was at the top of the list to receive a finished hood. Unfortunately, when the hood was ready to ship… I was on travel for work!

Well, there was no way I was going to pass-up my chance to get the hood, so I made a few calls and arranged for someone to receive the hood while I was away. Not only did they receive the hood, the even did a test fitting on another G8 to get some photos that I could share with the G8 community!

During the test fitting on the other G8 it was observed that some modifications would be required to get the hood latch to fully close. When it came time to install the hood on my G8 a couple of minor modifications were made to the hood latch mechanism such that it could be mounted ~ 1/4″ higher… and after that, the fitment of the hood is just awesome!

One of my favorite features of the hood is just how subtle the CF looks compared to the MGM body color. From a distance, or in anything other than direct sunlight, you can hardly tell that the hood is not stock… but when you get up close, you’re like “WTF, is that Carbon Fiber!?!”

Now I just have to get my act together and install the matching Maverick Man Kidney Grill Surrounds and Lower GXP Grill Surround!

Tilden Park Pre-Cruise

Next month the NorCal GOATs are having a Picnic in Tilden Park, and before the event there is a cruise. This year there was some debate if the cruise route should be changed, so a few of us headed out in the morning on Father’s day to Pre-Cruise the route.

Having been away from California for so long, and not one to shy away from a “spirited” drive through the hills, I decided to take a Pre- “Pre-Cruise” -Cruise of my own.

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The Pre- “Pre-Cruise” -Cruise was nice. This was the first time I had driven Redwood Rd. since performing the modifications to my G8… and it was a little disappointing. I was not disappointed in the car, rather in the driver! Pushing the car to what I felt was a safe speed on the road, I didn’t even make the car break a sweat! I’m sure I was going at least 5mph faster in the corners than the past, but it just didn’t feel like the car was working hard at all. What kept me from pushing any harder was the risk of cyclists on the road and blind corners… I guess I really need to get this car to the track!

Five of use met in Martinez and headed out on the route towards Tilden Park.

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While I have driven many of these roads before, I had never taken the trip around the reservoir on Alhambra Valley Rd. and Castro Ranch Rd. While not as fast/sweeping as taking Bear Creek Rd through the reservoir, it was very enjoyable with rolling hills and lots of great views. It really reminded me why I live in California!

After the Pre-Cruise we headed down Wildcat Canyon Rd (which was fun as always), over the reservoir on Bear Creek Rd, and into Concord for some lunch. Unfortunately we got stuck behind some slower traffic, but it gave me the perfect opportunity to test out the new brakes with some repeated 60mph-0 stops… There is nothing like the feeling of having your eyes thrown through the front of your skull!

In Concord we got lunch at a local pub, and talked about all sorts of car related things. It was really great to hangout with some NorCal GOATs, for the first time in a long time, and I can’t wait until July for the actual Cruise and picnic in Tilden Park!

CHC: Gene & Jude’s

Well, it was the last weekend for me in Chicago where I would be able to hang-out with the guys from the Chicago Holden Connection. Over the past several months has been really great to get to know another group of G8/GTO enthusiasts. I know I’ve had a bunch, and even picked-up some mod ideas!

After some hot dogs and fries from Gene’s & Jude’s (you don’t want to ask for ketchup!), we headed off to a local park for an impromptu “show & shine”… followed by a cruise and some donuts. I put together another teaser video for the CHC guys, hopefully I’ll have some time soon to work on the final video from all the events I went to!

I really have to thank all of the Chicago Holden Connection members for allowing me to be part of their club for the past few months. I’m sure people wondered what the heck an SUV (my rental car) was doing hanging around with all the G8’s/GTO’s!

CHC: Tsukasa of Tokyo

Another week in Chicago, and another meet with the Chicago Holden Connection. I seriously have no idea what I’d do with my time if I didn’t have a group of car guys to hang out with on a regular basis… especially being stuck in a Ford Edge rental car!

This week everyone met for a cruise around the country side, followed by lunch at Tsukasa of Tokyo. Not only did we get some great food, but also a great show (and some singed eyebrows!).