Gallery - Projects..
A friend of mine is Steve Bell, the BRITCAR racing driver. Steve and his regular co-driver, Simon Leith (winners of the 2007 BRITCAR Championship), entered the Silverstone 24 Hour race. I spent 72 hours with the Geoff Steel racing team covering their entry in the event. The project resulted in over 1000 images documenting their behind the scenes work during the 24 hour race. Here are some of the photos...
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Drivers (L to R) SIMON LEITH STEVE BELL GARETH HOWELL MICHAEL SYMONS |
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Simon Leith on the left and Steve Bell on the right |
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Part way through the night, the engine suffered a catastrophic failure as one of the pistons decided it didn't want to go up and down anymore and tried sideways instead, straight through the engine block. The car was recovered and brought back to the pits. In just under two hours, the old engine was removed and the spare installed and the car back on the track racing again. An amazing feat undertaken by Geoff Steel's team of engineers. As a souvenir, I still have part of the piston recovered from inside the engine. |
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Top: No 43 recognisable in the dark thanks to the blue lights fitted to the pit radio aerial. In the early hours of the morning, mist descended over Silverstone and the cars just became a noisy blur of headlights appearing out of the mist. As the conditions deteriorated, the race was stopped and a strange stillness with muted sounds filled the pit lane.... and ghostly racing cars queued along the start finish straight waiting for their unseen drivers. |
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I would like to thank Geoff Steel and all his team at Geoff Steel Racing and the four drivers, Simon Leith, Steve Bell, Gareth Howell & Michael Symons for their hospitality, looking after me and letting me document the whole team... in both good and bad moments. Thanks - Simon |
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