Every round i'm learning so much about race-craft, about driving and about looking after a race car... and each round manages to be the most fun i've ever had, made possible by some great, friendly, inclusive people. Anyone wondering whether they should make the jump from track days or super-sprints to racing, do it! If you already trailer your car to track days, the difference is minuscule, but the smile's almost impossible to wipe off for about a week afterwards (seriously, colleagues will think you've had a stroke).
So awesome fun, learnt a lot, but it got me thinking - what do we do to keep the fun going between rounds?... Its got to be reliving the highs and lows of each others racing through our race videos. I'd say just about everyone has a GoPro or similar camera in their car recording the action from their point of view, but it's no good having it sit on a computer somewhere where only you occasionally look at it. I want to make a push for everyone to upload their videos of each rounds racing. Pick your best race or your favourite bits (if you've got a bit of editing know-how) but get them up there for everyone to see. It's not just a bragging rights thing, it helps everyone understand what the racing is like/about but also it's just really interesting to see what your race looked like from other peoples perspectives. I think its one of the best learning tools you could have for judging how you are racing, but also there are battles going on all through the field that you don't ever see because we're all focussed on the bit of tarmac in front of us. We don't have a TV coverage as such, but we can get the next best thing if everyone contributes.
'But I don't have the first clue how to upload a video to YouTube!...' Glad you asked.
Here is a link to a quick instructional thing about how to get videos from your GoPro uploaded to YouTube. It goes for about 8 min of your life and if you don't have a YouTube account, that'll take about another 2 min to set up. Its really quite simple if you sit down for 10 min and do it. And judging by the majority of content on YouTube, its been mastered by people a hell of a lot dimmer than yourself.
If anyone has any questions about how to do it (no matter how basic they might seem) don't hesitate to ask. Everything is simple once you know how.
Which brings me to my video.
I thought i'd try something a little different with my 'best bits' of the weekend. Directing TV and Video for a living, I felt a certain responsibility to do a little something special with my race vid. Short of doing a full blown production with multiple cameras I thought, what can I do with the 1 shot I have to make it a bit more interesting and tell the story better? So i've tried turning 1 shot into many to give it a bit more interest. I can't figure out whether its brilliant or irritating. Time will tell.
I've included the best bits that came up well on camera. There were some other great moments, but the action was in my rear-vision mirror, so I don't have a shot of it. I've left the mistakes and the short-comings in too, because that's how it was.
Enjoy. Look forward to your vids and bring on round 4!
Stu
