The Austin Healey Sprite is an old British sports car which you don’t often see around. One place I was definitely not expecting to come across one was Warrenton in Virginia. Sure, Northern Virginia is near to the DC metro area so probably has a fair few people that might be interested in an old car like this and have the cash to restore one, but Warrenton is some way out. But there it was as we went to have some lunch. It looked in great condition.
The Red Bull RB17 was one of the cars at the Festival of Speed that was attracting the most attention. I watched as it was put back on its display stand after it had been out on a run. It really is an amazing vehicle with complexity of aerodynamic design that makes the heart of an ex-aerodynamicist sing.
They needed to move it onto the stand sideways, so it was put on dollies to move it into place. I was able to get a few shots of it but there were technicians everywhere taking care of it so there was always someone in the shot. The stand had the RB17 on the base and a Red Bull F1 car mounted inverted on the roof. I went to the front to get a head on view of this combination.
During our first visit to Exbury Gardens, we happened to have chosen a day that coincided with a gathering of steam powered vehicles. While we didn’t change our plans for walking around the grounds to see them, we did encounter a load of them in the grounds. There was a steam powered car that a chap was driving around but the majority of them were miniature versions of the old-fashioned traction engines.
There wasn’t a chance that they were going to sneak up on you. Steam engines do tend to signal their approach even if the operator isn’t blowing the whistle. A blast from that will definitely get your attention. They were all planning to gather up at the house around 2pm and we didn’t go to see how many there were. However, while we might have been a fair distance away in the grounds, we could definitely hear them all when they were whistling together!
When I lived on the west coast of the US, I came across Waymo a few times. They were operating in LA and San Francisco and were starting up operations in Seattle around the time we left. I never got to try them out although I was quite interested in giving it a go. Recently I have seen a few self-driving cars in London, most of which belong to Waymo.
They use Jaguars for the programme with plenty of sensors around the outside of the vehicle. One was passing my in Tavistock Square and I grabbed a few shots of it. I’ve seen a bunch more since. I will have to look up what their plans are for starting service. I have also seen a different configuration vehicle with the name Wayve on the side. Know nothing about them!
When you look at any modern car, the aerodynamic design is always going to be advanced since reducing drag is key to fuel economy. However, you will also see a bunch of stuff that is designed to look like it is aerodynamically important, but it is really just styling. Vanes that look like they do a lot are common but the one that is always there is a diffuser. The shaping of the underside of the rear of the car is designed to look like it is there to increase downforce. The underside of the rest of the car is hardly tailored for downforce, so this is really a styling cue.
There are cars, where the aero is significant, though. The Festival of Speed at Goodwood included an Aston Martin Valkyrie. This is a car where aero really does matter. In these two shots, focus on a couple of areas. The rear of the car has quite a diffuser and this one is definitely functional. A combination of flow route either side of the centre of the vehicle combining and expanding to enhance the downforce under the car. Then look near the front wheels in the wider shot. The wheels are isolated with the flow coming around them and then back out of the sides. So much effort went into this design.
The panorama merge function in Lightroom is usually pretty good. It can have some odd quirks, and the three different projections can produce very different results at times but, on the whole, I rely on it for my pano creation. Every once in a while, though, it catches me out. At the Festival of Speed, I did find myself using a longer lens to get elements of a shot with the intent of stitching them together later. Partly, this was because the crew was working around the car and I took shots when they were in different places to aim to have an unobscured car in the final shot.
It was the Red Bull RB17 where I was playing with this. When I went to stitch the images together, Lightroom gave an old result. Instead of either having the whole person or no person, it managed to have parts of them only in the shot. I decided to use Photoshop’s photo merge function instead, but it gave the same results. However, it did this by outputting layers with masks which were then editable. I was able to go into the shots and get rid of the bits I didn’t want while bringing out the bits I did. Some of the blending is not perfect in the revised versions but, for a quick solution, it works fine. If I needed to do more with the images, I would fix the flaws with more care.
A sunny Sunday in late April found me out in the countryside on a photo hunt. As I was walking back to the car, I saw a vintage green Jaguar pass by, and I didn’t have the camera to hand. I was a touch disappointed, but it wasn’t the end of the world. A short while later, I saw a red MG heading towards me and this time I was prepared to get a shot. Stopping off in New Alresford about ten minutes later, the Jag came by again and I did get a shot. I guess, if you own a convertible old car, you get it out as soon as the sun appears. I shall be watching for plenty more.
Anyone who follows the details of Formula One is familiar with the endless efforts that go into the design of the aerodynamics of the car. Anyone that knows me knows that I love the aero side of things. The designs will be updated throughout a season to try and maximise the downforce on the car whilst minimising the drag penalty from that downforce. Taking a look at a Williams F1 car at Beaulieu gave a bit of a hint of the tiny details that are included in the design. There is a good chance that this car was not even an operational example and the aero features might not be representative of an actual racing set up, but they are a good approximation of what is involved, and the reality is that it is quite amazing.
There was a parade of old cars as part of the Festival of Flight at the Shuttleworth Trust. It was a very hot day so possibly not ideal for cars that were designed a very long time ago. Sadly, one of the vehicles found the conditions not to its liking. The driver had to hop out and see what could be done to sort it out. There didn’t seem to be an immediate solution as, the last I saw of it, a bunch of people were pushing it away. I hope it was nothing too serious. I suspect owning a car this old comes with regular moments of this type.
The run up to Christmas brings with it the annual Woodinville Cruisers Car Club Christmas Light Parade in our town. This might be an annual event but it isn’t something we had been to before. The evening was looking dry so we decided to pay it a visit. We didn’t have any idea what to expect but, as we drove down towards the town center, one of the cars for the parade was ahead of us. It wasn’t hard to know where it was going given how many lights were on the outside of the car. (We did spot it in the parade later.)
We went in plenty of time because we didn’t know how crowded it was going to be. This proved to be unnecessarily cautious as the town was still pretty quiet when we arrived – a Sunday night is not hopping in Woodinville – particularly when there is a Seahawks game on TV. We killed a bit of time but as it got close to the 6pm start time for the parade, plenty of people started to show up and, once the cars started rolling, lots of spectators were out.
A firetruck from the local fire department started things off. Then the cars came rolling through. We had no idea how many there would be so we were curious as to whether we would soon be back at home. We needn’t have worried. There were loads of vehicles coming through. Some were vintage vehicles that were interesting in their own rights. Others were modern cars but adorned with tons of lights. Some looked like they had barely bothered to prepare! I was surprised how willing some of the owners were to tape a ton of lights to their paintwork!
I would say that the parade took about half an hour to roll through. There was plenty of pausing as things backed up but there were definitely a ton of different vehicles. Local businesses also took part with their trucks decorated or, in the case of the local balloon pleasure flight business, they had a basket on a trailer with the burners providing a blast of heat and light on a regular basis. A local Facebook group had someone questioning whether there was a fire downtown!
The whole thing was a fun time and we were really pleased to have made the trip out. It far exceeded what we had anticipated and everyone seemed to be having a good time – particularly the kids grabbing the candy thrown from a bunch of the vehicles. There didn’t seem to be any left where we were. Thanks to everyone that took part for making it such an enjoyable event and congratulations to the organizers.
