Reno Air Races - photo thread

[havoc]

I'll kick this off, but I'd love to see what others have taken too...

(Mods: think this probably should stick in B,P&T, please)

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (3) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Display (5) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 MWillis Unlimited (57) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Formula 1 (12) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Display (4) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (35) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 T-6 (1) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 STOL Drag (8) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 T-6 (8) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 T-6 (21) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Sport (6) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (14) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (40) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (39) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (31) by martin-dc2, on Flickr

Reno Air Races 2023 Unlimited (24) by martin-dc2, on Flickr




Full set and un-squished images here in case anyone is interested:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48052912@N05/albums/...

[Simpo Two]

Can't fault them. Great work!

[Mogul]

Chapeau!

[DodgyGeezer]

excellent

[mikef]

Nice work. What bodies and lenses were you using?

[havoc]

mikef said:

Nice work. What bodies and lenses were you using?

For the closer-in stuff only a 5D MkIII with a Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 (old one, not the G). Low-light isn't perfect but otherwise it's a lovely combination...

For the airborne stuff a Canon R7 with a 100-400 IS f/4-5.6 (the old bellows-zoom one). Bit too heavy for airborne work all day (panning was hard work, esp. given the crossing-speed of the faster stuff - much harder than motorsport panning), but my 70-200, even on a crop body, wouldn't have had the reach I needed for some shots, and I wasn't going to go changing lenses in the middle of desert scrub.

[mikef]

Thanks - I also have the 5D Mk III with 24-70 (Canon). I must try harder, these are great shots!

[Krikkit]

Fantastic shots, did you have a press pass to get access on the ground? I'd love to go to this event, one for the bucket list.

[Eric Mc]

Krikkit said:

Fantastic shots, did you have a press pass to get access on the ground? I'd love to go to this event, one for the bucket list.

Not likely as this year's was the last ever Reno.

It MAY reappear at some other venue but I'm not hopeful.

Great photos.

[mikef]

Makes me doubly annoyed that I never made it to the races when I lived in San Fran. I flew into Lake Tahoe TVL for my mountain training, but never went up to Reno Stead RTS. Without a straight-out over the lake from TVL, it required a few thousand feet of circling climb above the airfileld, which was interesting when hot and high in summer

[havoc]

Krikkit - yes, I got lucky and ended up out in the middle of the airfield by the pylons. If things work out you may see my work in a month or so. Proper life-affirming experience, one I'm not going to forget in a hurry.

Eric Mc said:

Not likely as this year's was the last ever Reno.

It MAY reappear at some other venue but I'm not hopeful.

As I left the latest was they'd shortlisted 6 potential airfields for appraisal (both ways), but general thoughts from those around were that Reno was going to be hard to replace - the natural bowl of the mountains for one makes for a much better backdrop than just some flat plain, and the ready-made accommodation infrastructure in Reno itself.

[aeropilot]

havoc said:

As I left the latest was they'd shortlisted 6 potential airfields for appraisal (both ways), but general thoughts from those around were that Reno was going to be hard to replace - the natural bowl of the mountains for one makes for a much better backdrop than just some flat plain, and the ready-made accommodation infrastructure in Reno itself.

That's the problem. There are plenty of middle of nowhere airfields that you could hold it in principle, but there isn't any that are close enough to a large enough hotel and entertainment infrastructure needed to support the numbers of spectators and competitors for the week's long races...that Reno has, unless the USAF lets them hold it at Nellis, which isn't going to happen.

I'm sure they will consider all options rather than accept the end of the event, but I suspect that the event is dead.

[Simpo Two]

havoc said:

Krikkit - yes, I got lucky and ended up out in the middle of the airfield by the pylons

I did wonder what an accountant was doing out there when he should have been in a musty office counting out polo mints one by one

So Eric, if he can do it, so can you

[havoc]

Simpo Two said:

I did wonder what an accountant was doing out there when he should have been in a musty office counting out polo mints one by one

Day release...we'd run out of mints!

[Eric Mc]

I don't count polo mints for a start.

In fact, accountants do precious little "counting".

[Jake899]

I was lucky enough to attend Reno Air Races in 2014. It was everything I'd hoped it would be. Sadly I hadn't bought my decent camera but the vibe was just wonderful. We were given free pit passes and everyone was super friendly. Always hoped to go back with the Bigma, but maybe it will find a new venue, I sure hope so.

[havoc]

2014 was when they still had some of the seriously modified stuff - that looks like Precious Metal if my memory doesn't fail me.

This year only Bardahl Special, Miss America and Dreadnought were properly modified...and even then Dreadnought amounted to "find the biggest fking engine we can and shoehorn it in!"

[Jake899]

This was the last year of Precious Metal before she was damaged badly in a fire. AFAIK she still hasn't run since. I have to say Precious Metal was pretty much the headline item for me, but also there were five flying Sea Furies that year, Rare Bear, Voodoo, Strega, a Tigercat, though the Jet class was just L39s and L29s. I would have liked to have seen a Vampire take the pylons.

Edited by Jake899 on Thursday 12th October 13:41