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| Ticks, Snakes And A Thunderstorm |
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Not your typical garden path
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Andrew S. Hartwell
We started the day at beautiful Lime Rock Park with an early morning fog resting lightly upon the fields, trees and roads that led us here. Our lights were on, but there were many others on the road that seemed to forget the value of being seen so as to avoid the noise of being heard, as in when the crash occurs. No, these dim bulbs' were slicing their way through the fog with careless abandon. Perhaps they thought the sun was shining just around the next corner?
When we turned that final corner that took us to the entry gates, we found the skies had in fact become visible. Blue and white are such a welcome sight. Perhaps the locals know something we don't?
One thing we do know is that the blue Connecticut skies have now given way to a tremendous thunderstorm that pelts the roof of the media Tent as we type this. Concerns of a porous roof have thus far proved baseless, but a betting man might conjecture that we are, in fact, a few pelts away from penetration.
And penetrating is the sight of the prototypes that are running here this weekend. The Acura's and the Porsches bring a bright and welcome splash of color to contrast the rather utilitarian grey and red that dresses the Audis. Not that the Audis aren't attractive in a laboratory filled with stainless steel appliances sort of way. Actually, they do look the part of magnificently engineered products of Germany.
During practice we chose to photograph these sleek demons of speed in the area of the uphill chicane. It was a wise choice, save the path through thick underbrush - home to ticks with a bent on hitching a ride with any large animal that passed - that we had to travel along to get to the shooting area. At the morning's photographers meeting one sage of the Connecticut forest cautioned all to watch out for rattlesnakes'. We watched with the widest possible eyes.
We managed to get in our lens time without meeting any of the locals residing along the path. I suppose one could argue we were fortunate to have been allowed to pass unbitten. Perhaps the ticks and snakes had already had their fill by the time we took up our journey.
The rain has abated now and we have just been given word that qualifying has been cancelled and instead a one hour open practice session will be held. Grid positions will be determined by the times set in this morning's practice.
With that news, and the reemergence of the blue skies above, we are packing away our rain slicker and heading out to turn one - Big Bend - to try and capture some of the color that is the American Le Mans Series. I wonder: do I need to wear a white lab coat to photograph the Audis?
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