Loudon Classic - Motorcycle Weekend - 1985

In 1985 my roommate and I liked riding motorcycles so we decided to head north to watch the races in Loudon, NH.

Race weekend had a bad reputation.  The campground was a scary place.  No police, ambulance, or fire would go in.  Anything happened in the campground and you would need to be carried to the ambulance waiting at the front entrance.  

Up on Animal Hill we saw cars on fire, motorcycles on fire, lots of drinking, and guys jumping Harley's over burning bikes.  One guy went up a makeshift ramp, over a burning motorcycle lying on the ground, landed in the gravel and cracked up.  His arm, shoulder, and chest was all torn up. (no shirt or helmet)  They slowly took him to the ambulance.  It wasn't the safest place to venture. 

I wanted to take pictures of the racing and get close to the track so we headed in.  I took pictures at turn 4.  We were close had a great viewing point as the bikes came off the turn.  I am still scavenging to find more pictures.  No digital cameras back then.

 

Several years later they cleaned it all up.  NASCAR was talking about racing in NH.  It would mean tearing everything down and rebuilding the track, stands, etc.  If the track events and the track reputation didn't get more family friendly NASCAR would go elsewhere.  

The track was rebuilt, new stands, etc. and the events were cleaned up.  NASCAR now races here twice a year.  The motorcycle races are the last weekend of NH Motorcycle Week and much more family friendly now. 

I wish I could find the rest of my pics ...

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94th Annual Loudon Classic – Bike Week 2017

I enjoyed taking pictures at the Loudon Classic on Saturday with Kevin and Hunter.

 

 

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Loudon Motorcycle Races - NHMS

 

I have taken pictures during Loudon Classic motorcycle week.  There are other motorcycle race events during the summer so I decided to take pictures at another event.

I arrived before the races started to take pictures in the garage area.  When walking around I saw a few motorcycles I had taken pictures of in the past.

It was overcast all day with thunderstorms in the area.  Cloudy skies can make colors pop so I was hoping for some good color.  I felt rain drops mid-afternoon but nothing came of it.
 

There were 13 motorcycle races scheduled.  When the first race started I was in position and ready to take pictures.  As the different races progressed I took pictures around the track and infield then decided to head for the grand stands which I haven’t done before.  Several weeks from now there would be a couple hundred thousand people in the stands for the NASCAR race.  For now there were just a people in the stands. 

I found a couple locations by the track fence I liked and started snapping away.  It gives a different perspective.  I progressed from the first corner down the straight to the far corner stopping when I thought I had a good spot.  I also headed up

to the top row in the stands to zoom in on other parts of the track.

I took many shots from different angles.  I also slowed my shutter speed down and practiced some panning.  I should do that more as I didn’t feel fluid in my movement following the riders.  It’s called being rusty.  Sometimes when you experiment it can be unpredictable but can create some unusual pictures.

I headed back to the infield, over the pit wall, to the track wall.  I thought I would practice more panning.  I slowed my shutter speed down and played a bit more with panning.  It was more difficult than I thought as the motorcycles were pretty close, going well over 100mph when they were passing me, and they were accelerating as I was in the middle of the straight.  I tried to keep my camera movement level and was successful on some but not on others which created more unusual pictures.  It was fun to experiment and practice and I need do that more often.

Just when I was having fun experimenting and thought things are going well my low battery indicator gave the red light and shut my camera down.  Really … my battery died

 … no spare battery … I was done after race 7.  Nuts!!

I know zooming in and out wears a battery more quickly.  It happened to me at the AMA Hillcimb for the same reason.  Guess I should buy a backup battery.

I watched a bit longer then headed home.  Fun stuff … 

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