The last Formula Drift of the 2022 season ends at Irwindale Speedway, CA. I'm going as a fan, and doing the Larry Chen photo experience, where me and a group of photographers shoot alongside the man himself. It's been awhile since I've gone trackside to take photos, but I was looking forward to getting back out there and enjoying this event.
After picking up my photo experience pass I headed out to check out the garages. It was awesome to see all the drivers, and fans interact with each other. The cars are fully battle driven with all the dings and scratches on them. Everyone here is hard at work to get their cars up and running for the next session.
Here's a few teams working, meeting with fans, and prepping for interviews.
These cars were amazing to look at up close. You could sense the raw power and see the different modifications of various parts on the car.
After an hour of shooting around the team garages and checking out vendors I headed to the media center where we would check in and meet up with Larry. I slapped on my 70-200mm, and we headed out to our first photo location which was located inside the track. There were about 15 of us all inside a small concert wall off about 400 sq/ft so shooting at different parts of the confined space was limited.
Even though the sky was gloomy, as daylight turned into night, Irwindale stadium lights lit up the track. When you combine that with smoke you can get some pretty dramatic photos.
I really enjoyed Formula D. The vibe, passion, and feeling of inclusivity of different cultures were really there. I feel like I missed out on all the other formula D events in the past, but I think I'll be attending them quite often now. I'm looking forward to the 2023 season. Thanks so much for the read!
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