Le Mans 24 hours

Anthony Davidson, together with his team-mates Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene, drove a stunning race yesterday in France, when they came close to a podium finish in the Peugeot 908 HDi LMP1 car.

Anthony had led the race at one stage, but a night incident with a Ferrari, and then an electrical problem that took some time to fix, delayed them for awahile, until Anthony, in the sole surviving trio of team Peugeot's, was told to "push"... and "push" he did! Sadly what appeared to be a turbo failure with just 2-hours remaining, when Wurz had Audi under pressure for second place, ended their day.

Naturally there was controversy, when a back-marker GT2 car decided to visit the barriers in the Porsche Curves, and since Anthony was blitzing the Corvette driven by Emanuel Collard at the time, the commentators and forums provided some unjust commentary and statements.

Scruting of the TV footage clearly shows Anthony was not only very quick and setting fastest race laps, but he was also on the racing line, and on the inside of the Corvette as they went into the left-hander. As a journalist, I would have reported how the Corvette driver should have been aware of his position, and the fact he was being lapped again, but instead lost control on the 'marbles' and hit the barrier.

Anthony receved plaudits from his team for a superb effort, whilst others berated him for his supremacy on the track. "I'm a racing driver," Anthony said, "and I had to take a few risks." And racing drivers are paid to win, if necessary by taking risks, and are not paid to acquiesce with an 'after you...' mentality.

Well done Ant..!

The pleasure of photography comes from having a good subject (or subjects), and delivering a result that makes a client happy.

I had the pleasure of doing such a job this week, where the two sons of a proud mum wanted both indoor and outdoor (a glorious sunny day in the beautiful contryside outside Bradford in West Yorkshire) photographs taking.

Having to handle a camera for a living can be such a hard life..!

David Sutton

One of our leading lights in motor-sport, David Sutton, a former British kart champion, accepted an offer to race in a round of the Euro Max karting championship this coming weekend, at Wackersdorf in Germany, using an Alonso Rotax powered kart.

Our Dutch contact in Germany, Bas Kaligis, reported just how quick David was in practice as he prepared for qualifying, where David had in fact set the fastest time of the week so far, until a fateful session yesterday.

On what is probably the slowest corner of the Wackersdorf track, David was struck by another driver as he overtook the slower kart, which pitched his own kart into a roll. David's mechanic Ben, who was out with him, felt if the accident had happened on a quicker part of the circuit, David would probably have been OK. As it was, the kart flipped on top of him and this has caused a lot of physical distress to the British ace.

Reports this morning from the hospital in Germany, would suggest that David is unlikely to be allowed to leave until Monday at the earliest. He has broken ribs on both sides of his body, what appears to be a fractured shoulder, a broken wrist, and air on one lung that is being monitored. For a lean, strong, and tough driver like David, who looks the 'racing driver' part, he no doubt owes his fitness to not being in worse shape.

Get well soon buddy!

Karting greats Past, Present... and Future..?

Round 4 of the WSK Series at Genk in Belgium over the weekend bore witness to one of the greatest kart drives, when the 15-year old future champion of Formula 1, the little Dutch ace Nyck De Vries, dominated the mighty of the 'blue riband' Formula SKF category.

The 1993 British Formula A champion from 1993, Mark Rose, of Mark Rose Motorsport, who now runs Hazz Truelove in Formula KF3, is happy to claim that De Vries is the greatest kart driver he has ever seen... and Mark's driver selections over the last 20 or so years have been rarely wrong.

See with Mrk above is Nyck, together with the two Truelove brothers Matt and Hazz, who finished a fine 8th overall in his own final.

Hairy stuff in Genk..!

Lucile Cypriano of France provided early action in the opening laps of the final Formula KF3 heat in Genk, Belgium this morning. It is good to see that despite being airborne and rotating left, she has the presence of mind to have full left lock on the steering to try and control her direction..!

Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver Nicolas Beer though is controlling this class at the moment, and after another heat win this morning is now in a good position for this afternoon's main final.

WSK Euro Series - Genk, Belgium

Gloomy and overcast conditions started the weekend for the penultimate round of the 2010 WSK Championship Series, but this did little to stop a good start for the British contingent, when Ben Cooper won the opening heat of the Super KF formula.

Driving for the Kosmic Racing team, Ben took his Kosmic-Vortex to a solid win, crossing the line unchallenged for the first of his three heats. He currently lies in sixth place in the Series on 45 points, and all is not yet lost, although it will be a hard task to close down on the top 3 who are quite a few points ahead of him.

York Railway Museum

It has been many a year since I last visited the York Railway Museum, and must be one of the best 'free' places to visit in Yorkshire.

The 'Duchess of Hamilton', from memory, was not in residence the last time I was there, but images of this sleek, streamlined steam train was needed by a customer, who also wanted to be in the final pics. As those are of a personal nature they are not shown here, but I liked the view of the 'Duchess' from the front, which I felt gave a striking and dramatic impact.

A trip to the York Railway Museum should be on most people's list, and not just for the railway enthusiasts.