Photographer: Andrew Gail

Static shot of a stunning Candy white VW Golf  taken at a Scottish VAG Day at Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife, Scotland.

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Photographer: Andrew Gail

Static shot of a VW Corrado taken at a Scottish VAG Day at Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife, Scotland.

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Photographer: Andrew Gail

Static shot of a VW Lupo taken at a Scottish VAG Day at Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife, Scotland.

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Photographer: Andrew Gail

Static shot of a MK1 VW Golf taken at a Scottish VAG Day at Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife, Scotland.

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25/02/2009 Update: I’ve added Adrian’s gallery to the article, track shots are still to come.

Scottish VAG Meet

ScottishVAG had a huge turnout presenting us with loads of great photo opportunities. But of course the meet had a more well meaning purpose, the meet was in aid of the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland with the proceeds of a raffle being donated to Rachel House in Kinross. As we wandered round the paddock area I was eager to test out my CHDK card in my Canon IXUS 860IS, the CHDK firmware patch enables a whole host of extra features, greatly extending the functionality of the point & shoot camera. However all I used it for was its ability for taking macro HDR shots. I used this, a tweaked script and a gorilla pod to take shots with 1EV either way. When merged and tweaked in Photoshop the results were pretty impressive:

My brother was looking forward to using his Sony A200 digital SLR a little more and trying out some of the filters he’s collected. Its a bit of a learning curve in comparison to his previous Fujifilm FinePix S5600 but once mastered it should give excellent results. He’s yet to upload his photo’s but I’ll post them here when he’s done. My brother has begun uploading his shots, they’re trickling in tho as he hasn’t much time for processing. This gallery will continue to update as they’re added.

Our pal Scott casually took snaps with his Sony Ericsson mobile, I’ve never used my mobile camera for anything other than small MMS photo’s but was pretty impressed with the quality of his photos. At full resolution with no processing there’s a fair amount of noise, but they’re probably good enough to make decent regular sized prints.

Speed Sunday

Action on the track was pretty good, but as per usual we were almost always at the wrong end of the track when something good happened. I made an attempt to get some decent shot of the on-track action with the panning technique but even then only a 3rd of my shots came out ok. All I can say is thank god for digital cameras and the delete button!

I’ll update this section with our photo’s once my brother’s uploaded his and I’ve whittled out all my duffers.

Further Information

Knockhill Racing Circuit
ScottishVAG
Adrian’s Flickr Page
Scott’s Flickr Page
My Flickr Page

Highlights

Whilst there were a number of other races on the day; the Mini Cooper Cup; Scottish Legends; XR2 and Formula Ford Championships. We were there primarily to watch the Sports and Saloons Championship races although the Classic Sports & Saloons were enjoyable too. The sports and saloons race first race was a little disappointing. It had been cold and wet in the morning but both Andy Gallacher and Charlie Shaw had gambled on the track drying enough for them to run slicks. Unfortunately it hadn’t and it was evident that neither Andy Gallacher nor Charlie Shaw (driving Andy’s old white Ford Focus) could get sufficient power down on the wet track. Andy Gallacher’s blue Ford Focus retired after the first lap with a broken drive shaft and with Charlie Shaw struggling to make his Focuses superior power count he only managed a 4th place finish.

The 2nd Sports and Saloons race of the day saw Andy Gallacher returning (having fixed his car during the break); however he was now starting at the back of the grid. As it turned out this wouldn’t matter, Colin Simpson in his blue Marcos Mantis was unable to start the second race due to a gearbox failure sustained in the first. This meant the only real competition left for Andy Gallacher on a now mostly dry track was Stewart Whyte in his ex-BTCC Accord and Charlie Shaw in Andy’s old white Ford Focus. When the race started the brutal power of Andy Gallacher’s Ford Focus was immediately apparent; passing four cars on the starting straight and continuing to pass cars till he was in the lead. Charlie Shaw also started well but seemed to slow to a point where it seemed he was just cruising round the track. I assume he picked up on a problem and decided not to destroy the hard work he put into the engine on the first meeting of the season. Andy Gallacher finished first with Charlie Shaw eventually finishing last.

Gallery

More Information

Further details on Andy Gallachers 670bhp Project Focus build can be found here:
Andy Gallacher’s Ford Focus (registration may be required)

Full race results for the day at Knockhill can be found here:
MyLaps.com – Knockhill SMRC 30/03/2008

An extensive collection of photo’s from the day can be seen here:
Photo’s of Knockhill SMRC 30/03/2008 (courtesy of Adrian Gail)

A video of the 2nd race featuring Andy Gallacher’s monster can be seen here:
Andy Gallacher’s Ford Focus

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