We are now well into our Australian adventure and as I sit here in the press room at Eastern Creek I can’t help but look back at all that Charles, Casey, Matt and I have covered over the last few days. Since landing in Sydney at the crack of dawn on Monday morning we haven’t wasted one minute, in true Speedhunters fashion. We will have some pretty unique and impressive cars to show you in upcoming weeks, but for now I think it will be fun to focus on the behind the scenes stuff that goes on during these kind of trips.
Transportation is always an important factor, and with four of us, tons of camera equipment and luggage, one car was just not going to cut it. Charles flew in a few days before us and managed to organize a couple of cool cars for us to drive around in. This would allow us to not only split up and shoot at various shops and locations but also to have some fun on the side…not that this is something easy to do on Australian roads, but I’ll get into that a little later on. Nissan were kind enough to lend us this metallic blue 370Z, a fun car to drive around but not the most practical for photographers…
…but then again we also have this 2011 Lexus ISF, a creamy smooth sports sedan that has so far swallowed up all of our camera bags, suit cases and miscellaneous items we have thrown into it.
Thanks to Lexus PR we were also able to get the opportunity of a lifetime and shoot the only LFA currently in Australia, a masterpiece of Japanese engineering that I’ve personally been waiting to shoot ever since seeing it up close for the first time at the Tokyo Motorshow in 2009. More on this soon.
Since Charles is from Sydney and someone that truly appreciates great cuisine, he has been the perfect guide to the city’s best food joins. Check out this Aussie bacon & egg roll from Bite Cafe, a great way to start a day of Speedhunting!
Coffee of course is a mandatory requirement.
Here we are checking into our Hotel in Sydney.
Might look like a regular hotel room but this doubles up as an office after a day’s worth of shooting. After a quick dinner it’s always straight to our mobile offices to dump all our pictures into our laptops and begin setting up posts. It’s not all fun and games unfortunately; there is some work involved too!
We have a lot of Speedhunters stickers to hand out so if you see any of us at Eastern Creek this weekend make sure you come and get one, but don’t forget to give us the required password: “Sydney Speedhunting” 
Some fun in the Scorch Racing pits with the Option2 guys!
One of the most enjoyable parts of these trips for me is always the driving part. I don’t care what car or which country we are in, getting behind the wheel is one of the things I look forward to the most. It’s been so much fun alternating between the ISF and 370Z, great but very different cars. You can expect a couple of features on both so I won’t go into too much detail now.
I forgot what a stressful experience driving in Australia is. Just like last year when Rod and I where in the R35 GT-R, I haven’t stopped looking at the speedometer during the whole time we’ve been on the road. With strict variable speed limits enforced throughout the Sydney area (I can’t say if it’s the same in other parts of the country, I certainly hope not!) it seems the authorities here spend more time and resources chasing after the average motorist than those that actually commit real crimes. It’s a pity as it really makes it hard for real enthusiasts to enjoy what they love the most. In fact I’ve noticed more speed cameras and tons more red light cameras compared to last year!
So we have all tried to be good boys and stick to the speed limit, much like the locals, which in many occasions drive well under the speed limit to stay on the safe side of the law. Looks like the authorities have done a great job of instilling a sense of fear in motorists. Very sad to see.
Still it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy getting some cool snaps of our rides!
The streets of Sydney are a great place to grab the occasional driving shot.
Charles knows everyone in the scene here in Australia so it’s been extremely easy to hit the right places and check out the latest cars that have been built.
Matt flew in from NZ to help us cover the event. Here he is shooting away at a cool Evo we will be featuring…
…along with “Mr. Tight-pants” Casey who has been doing a poor job of keeping his shirts tucked in.
Here we’re patiently waiting for one of the coolest cars we have shot since we’ve been here. I’m not giving anything away but it’s one I’m sure you will all appreciate.
I would be lost without navigation systems!!
Yonas Liu from JDMyard grabbing a few shots of Charles in the ISF.
After buzzing around Sydney and its outskirts it was finally time to hit the track yesterday and begin getting some action shots of all the awesomeness that has shown up to WTAC this year.
Time attack is great but there is plenty of dead time during set up sessions as cars pit frequently, a great opportunity to either change location, check your shots or play around, as is perfectly demonstrated by Casey here. He wanted to see if he could beat Linhbegh at his own game! What do you guys reckon?
The closed practice session ended with a short drift test for the drifters competing in the Tactaloy event so we moved to the last corner to check out the action. We spotted a couple of familiar faces, Alexi of Nori Yaro and Mark Boxer from Hoon Media.
Inevitable screwing around followed. I think Alexi has perfected his levitation techniques, while Mark has got the superstar pose down pretty well…check out that fence lean!
We caught up with Mad Mike who was really happy to finally be drifting in Australia. His FD sounded nuts out on track!
It’s always fun to drop by the Scorch Racing pits. I was relieved to hear they managed to find the necessary part to fix the Hollinger sequential in the S15 so look forward to finally seeing the car out in action today.
A familiar face, Sasaki-san, who if you recall did a driver blog with us last year. He is back behind the wheel of the Pan Speed RX7 and going for some serious times. Anyway I’ll stop here for now as I want to get out on track and check out what is happening. Stay tuned for more soon…
WTAC 2011 Coverage on Speedhunters
-Dino Dalle Carbonare