Lacock Positive: Lacock Positive 27th February 2025

This evening saw two talks from two members of our club. The first was given by Jeremy Fox, about his trip to Tanzania. Images to follow.

Our second talk was given by Danny Wootton, about the 24 hour Le Mans race which takes place every year and is now 102 years old. The race is held on a combination of race circuit and public roads (which are closed for the event). The resulting circuit is 8½ miles long and the big difference between Le Mans and Formula One is everything is open to the public. On the Friday before the event, spectators are allowed to walk the entire course, and the pit lane is open - although teams sometimes don't like the public looking in to see what they're doing.

In previous years, maximum speeds were 250mph, but in modern times these have been scaled back to around 220mph.

Celebrations before the start © Danny Wootton

There are a number of classes:

LMH (Hypercars)
LMGT3 formerly known as LMGTE-AM, based on production road car models
LMP1, LMP2 (Prototyptes)
Garage 56, intended to test new automotive technologies

The ferry across from the UK has a number of "interesting cars" which are also making the journey across to the event.

Le Mans itself is a pretty medieval town, with its own wall and cathedral. These are photographically interesting in themselves. The racing event has a concert stage with bands playing throughout the race, together with a funfair.

Funfair at sunset © Danny Wootton

As the race is about endurance, the start used to be somewhat "measured", with competitors running to their cars. These days there is no running, the whole race being a flat-out sprint. The hypercars even get a rolling start.

Race start © Danny Wootton

Each category gets its own winner. Whereas each car used to have a single driver who would drive for 24 hours straight, these days there is a team of 3 drivers, with strict time limits on how long each can drive.

Car getting lifted off after a crash © Danny Wootton

There is fencing around all of the track, so many shots have to be taken through the fence. However, there are a number of banks which allow fence-free photos to be taken. Danny used a 400mm lens with exposure times of 1/125 or 1/300th second to freeze motion. Slower shutter speeds are obviously needed at night, and considerable panning skills are needed.

Signs are in English, despite the event being held in France.

At the end of the race, it is customary for the marshals to walk onto the track and congratulate the winner.

We then reviewed our "One Month One Photo" for January.

Caroline's picture prompted a discussion on why rainbows were brighter on the "inside" than the "outside". According to Google's AI, this is because:

the area inside the rainbow is illuminated by light that has been refracted and reflected back towards the viewer, while the area outside receives less light due to the angles of reflection, creating a darker band called "Alexander's Dark Band" between the rainbow and the brighter sky beyond it