It was a thrilling and unexpected honor to get a call from Ducati about helping out with the first international product launch the Italian company has hosted in the United States. Some of you figured out where I was a few weeks ago when, under full radio silence, we visited Austin’s Circuit of the Americas to do some test shots for the upcoming launch, which is going on this week.
Yesterday was looooong, as the four photographers here worked from morning to late at night, first photographing nearly 30 journalists, then sorting the images so they could be delivered the next day. What a learning experience! It has been fantastic to have Andrew Wheeler along for the company and always-entertaining driving to and from the track. It’s another honor for me to work with Gigi Soldano and Marco Campelli of Milagro, for whom this type of thing is old hat. They have a very complex process completely wired.
Many of the prep-shots we created over the past month are available in one place via Ashpalt & Rubber, if you’d like to take a look. The rest will be showing up in websites and in magazines in the coming days as the journalists who are riding the bike this week turn in their reports on the experience.
Nicky and Ben rode the bike early in the week, and not only got to try Ducati’s latest but also benefitted from a few laps around the newest MotoGP track. A lap before the one shown here, as Nicky passed by I’d decided to move to a different spot so I missed a big wheelie he’d done for me. He gave me another chance as he came around the next time. Glad I got this one!
It was very interesting to photograph the journalists, who as a group exhibit a wide range of riding skill and confidence on a borrowed, $30k superbike. Some of them really threw it around the track, a few even sliding it a bit in the long right-hander known as Turns 16-17-18. But Nicky was, as you’d expect, in another league.
During the test a few weeks ago, Ducati test rider Alessandro Valia was a pleasure to watch and photograph. Braking hard for the uphill entrance to Turn 1, he had the suspension at full compression with smoke rising from the rear tire. Revealing my naiveté yet again, I visited the same spot at one point while some journalists were out on track, thinking I might get similar photos. Um, no.
Can’t blame them, of course, no one wants to be the journo who crashes a brand new 1199 R at the launch. And in general I was impressed with how fast they were, especially given the situation.
Tomorrow the next round of 30 riders hits the track, including good friend Jensen Beeler of A&R. I’ve photographed him many times and it will be nice finally to have a rider out there I recognize! We try to get shots of each and every journalist, of course, and this is harder than it sounds. When shooting MotoGP, I know all the riders and can keep them in my head as I go. (Ok, got Rossi, Hayden, Stoner, so far. Need Lorenzo and Pedrosa next time around.) But when 15 riders I’m seeing for the first time come around, who can tell who’s who?
Finally, a word about working for Ducati. Many Ducati folks are visiting from Italy to join their North American-based colleagues for this important launch, and I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a group of people who so quickly and earnestly made me feel a part of the family. The culture at Ducati is fantastic. To all of my friends and fans who are Ducatisti, you support a truly wonderful company that’s comprised of amazing individuals. It was a pleasure to be part of this amazing team!
