It’s long name can be reduced to alphabet soup only car guys and girls might be equipped to decode, but Global Time Attack‘s annual Super Lap Battle at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, remains an unfiltered, full-strength, fan-friendly title fight for the heavyweights in time-attack competition. Rivaled only by the annual World Time Attack Challenge competition in Sydney, Australia, Super Lap Battle invites the world’s top time-attackers in four classes to an internationally recognized circuit (with world-class facilities) to set and reset radial-tire, production-body world records on a stage that gives their achievements relevance to racing fans against World Challenge, IMSA and even Formula 1 best efforts. International travel at this year’s event was stemmed yet again by pandemic conditions, but even so fans and racers in some classes came out in record numbers to compete. GTA’s decision to combine their time-attack competition with competition heats of Gridlife’s Gridlife Touring Cup (GLTC) wheel-to-wheel racing certainly added to that achievement, as did their collaboration with car-show purveyors Just/Vibes and TX’s Lone Star Drift. The Unlimited Class benchmark was set this time around by Kyle Schick in the no. 23 Nissan GTR of Lyfe Motorsports, with […]
Fun fact: Before and after she finished on the podium in at Global Time Attack‘s Super Lap Battle competition at COTA in Austin, TX, Mary Valdez drove her FK8 Honda Civic Type R 1,800 miles exactly as you see it here, to and from her New Jersey home. If that doesn’t rank her as “legit” in today’s age of street-class cars that are almost always trailered to and from the track, I don’t know what would. In an instance of more synchronicities than I could’ve imagined, I had the unique pleasure of shooting Mary and her car on the cold track of the U.S.’s only current Formula 1-certified facility (and where I shot my first IMSA race, a few years ago), for the car’s title sponsor and a favorite product-photography client of mine: Acuity Instruments. For starters, the car’s stunning retro livery was designed by my good bru and fellow motorsports shooter, Rob Wilkinson. As much as I admire Mary’s drive (literally and figuratively) I really dig her car. In addition to lots of Acuity parts, it’s got bits from my hometown friend Pat Linn’s PRL Motorsports, and wheels from Eddie Lee’s Titan 7 — some truly […]
In between race weekends and product shooting, a lot of my time behind the lens is spent shooting in tandem with other, usually larger productions for commercial campaigns. From pre-production to publish, I usually fill the smaller role of shooting behind-the-scenes, creating content for tandem campaigns across PR, digital, social media, print, or out-of-home channels. It’s work I enjoy but don’t often get to talk about, given specific usage rights or extended wait time between production and publish. But now that season 4 of Lexus’ “0 to 60: Engineered by Lexus” is in the books, I can finally share some snaps I took behind the scenes of filming their Episode 8 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. This was doubly fun for me. Driving instructors for the episode were none other than IMSA’s winningest driver, Scott Pruett, along with current IMSA / Aim Vasser Sullivan / Lexus IMSA GT-D drivers Townsend Bell and Jack Hawksworth, who I’d shot just the week before at Mid-Ohio. And if that wasn’t enough, the day included an enthusiast component headed by Super Street magazine and the one and only Sam Du. Scroll below for some […]
2020 was tough. But we were tougher. At the start of this year, I put together a promotional brochure (click here to see it) and mailed it to select race teams and agencies as a way to drum up new business. Inside was some of my recent motorsports photography, as well as a little insight into the value of quality photography and media exposure in promoting a brand and maintaining its image.
Club Racer Events — NDF Attack Challenge — Chuckwalla Valley Raceway — 10/11/20 Again — so sorry for the delay. I think I took on the equivalent of 6 months of work just in these past two, and I got pretty far behind with everything. Stupid COVID. Stupid lockdowns!! Fortunately, we have track days to get away from it all. Included with your entry fee to the 10/11 event are these lightly edited, web-res images that I shot throughout the day — free and clear, for you to use as you please. Please click/tap on any below, and save to your device of choice. Better-edited, full-res versions (sized up to 8K!) of all images are available! Simply email me and attach whichever images you’d like, and I’ll reply with details. Be sure to follow Club Racer Events and Narita Dogfight for the latest info, and please tag us in your posts! ClubRacerEvents.com Club Racer Instagram Club Racer Facebook Narita Dogfight Narita Dogfight Attack Challenge Narita Dogfight Instagram Narita Dogfight Facebook As for me, I’m @lukemunnell on Facebook and Instagram. And while you’re here, don’t be afraid to click around my site a little […]
Club Racer Events — Chuckwalla Valley Raceway — 10/10/20 Finally, right?? Sorry for the the delay. This is an all-new undertaking for me, and it came with some gremlins. But like most of you (zing!), this will only get better and faster in time. Included with your entry fee to the 10/11 event are these lightly edited, web-res images that I shot throughout the day — free and clear, for you to use as you please. Please click/tap on any below, and save to your device of choice. A similar gallery for 10/11 will be created and uploaded within a few days, and a link will be posted and sent to you as well. Better-edited, full-res versions (sized up to 8K!) of all images are available! Simply email me and attach whichever images you’d like, and I’ll reply with details. Be sure to follow Club Racer Events for the latest info, and please tag us in your posts! ClubRacerEvents.com Club Racer Instagram Club Racer Facebook As for me, I’m @lukemunnell on Facebook and Instagram. And while you’re here, don’t be afraid to click around my site a little and see what else gets […]
What a ride! The years from 2005 to about 2011 were some of the busiest I can imagine. From getting started with freelance photography and writing back East as a fun way to put my photojournalism education to use, to packing up and heading out West, and subsequently working my tush off for four years as an editor at Motor Trend Network (on Import Tuner magazine and others), sometimes I feel like I’m still catching up on missed sleep. But it wasn’t for nothing! Those were some of the most formative years of my life, and in case I need a reminder of how much was accomplished — or of my humble beginnings — I have these: my Tear Sheets. I’ve gotten a little laissez faire in keeping up with them lately, but I’m hoping to have the recent blanks filled in soon enough. Until then, have a look through some of my golden years and go easy on me! Not all of it has been worth writing home about. But it’s all been worth it.
What a year … In terms of workload, this year came in like a lion and went out just the same.
