Return To RallyFest

Yesterday I posted a few shots from around Chirk.

Today and tomorrow I am returning to the WRC RallyFest at Chirk Castle with a selection of shots of different drivers and their cars on the limit.

From F1 to WRC

So its another testosterone fueled car fest for today and possibly again tomorrow depending on how I feel.

The title of today's blog is reference to the first driver on display in these pictures, Robert Kubica who made the transition from Formula 1 to World Rally Championship. He drove in F1 from 2006 to 2010 but his F1 career ended, ironically because of serious injuries sustained in a crash in the Andora rally in February 2011.

He was one of my youngest sons favourite F1 drivers of that era and so watching him race on Saturday was certainly one of the highlights for him and so I had to include the pictures in my blog.

WRC On The Edge

More from the Rally Fest and today's pictures show how hard these guys are pushing the limits of their cars and their skills as drivers. The drivers in today's shots are Elfyn Evans, Dani Sordo, Haydn Paddon and Ott Tanak.

Both Sordo and Paddon in the Hyundai were carrying some damage to the bodywork showing that both drivers had been right on the limit but damage aside they didn't hold back at all.

The fourth picture is of Haydn Paddon just off the starting line, earlier in the day we had watched the National Rally Championship drivers on the same course and while they drove around the course the WRC guys flew round and in this picture you can see him going sideways round the bend.

WRC Champion of the World

Some action shots for today (and probably over the next few days too) taken at Rally Fest at Chirk Castle yesterday.  It was a special stage of the WRC and the shots for today are of Sebastien Ogier (pics 1 & 2), Andreas Mikkelsen (pic 3) and Kris Meeke (pics 4&5).

Ogier wasn't fastest in this stage but won the rally overall and was winner of the World Rally Championship so congratulations to him. Mikkelsen finished the rally third and third in the drivers standings for the season.  Meeke finished second in the rally and fifth in the championship.

This was my second time spectating at a rally, I love the atmosphere, the sound of the highly tuned engines as the drivers power the cars around the challenging stages and I love how close you can get to the action. This the first time I had tried my hand at photographing such an event and it was a real challenge. The weather conditions were awful, the light was poor and capturing the cars at high speed  was especially difficult.

I will select some more of my better shots in the coming days and hope that even if the subject is not to your taste you will be able to appreciate the achievement.