#3 Audi RS3 LMS at Indianapolis Motor Speedway


Welcome to the 3rd post of this series, in which I tell a little bit of the background story of a photo I took and what makes it special. This time a not-so-common photo at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at night, starring #55 Gou Racing Audi RS3 LMS.

The year 2023 was the return of IMSA to Indianapolis after nearly 10 years. As usual, the Michelin Pilot Sport Challenge raced along the Weathertech Sportscar Championship, and it seemed that they were testing the waters for a possible endurance round there (which happened, because from 2024 onwards the race belongs to the Endurance Cup). The race ran late in the afternoon and into the night, which allowed for some nice photos.

Indy, as it is, has no lighting for night races so they added light towers on the main straight and some parts of the circuit. I was sitting on the Oval T1, looking down the straight, when the sun started to set on the circuit, and the lights turned on. As the sky started to turn from a light orange to a dark blue, some weak light shafts could be seen across the main straight. I had a vision, the lights created some nice contrast with the cars and the track. I thought that if I could pull it off it would be a nice photo. With the sky still somewhat lit, the contrast of the light, the cars and the asphalt was clearly visible. I knew my idea worked I just had to wait for the sky to go pitch black, which happened shortly after.

As the cars went by, I shot one after another, I knew brighter colors would work better. Not only that, but the glowing exhausts and the complex tail light designs added to the drama. After some time I called it a day and watched the race end. I knew that I had a couple of worthy shots, specially the vertical ones, which had many more light shafts in one image. Later that night I checked the images. The one that caught my eye? The bright orange Gou Racing Audi RS3 LMS. The car partially lit on one side, appears to float between the patches of track illuminated by the towers. Quite a dramatic shot, only possible by someone's idea of racing at night in a track with no lights.


Nikon D7100 - Nikkor 70-300 - F5.6 1/160 ISO2500 250mm