In 1999 while leading in the season points championships in the PS2 class during a weekend of sprint and endurance racing at Laguna Seca a professional photographer took this photo. It was taken while I was coming thru the world famous Corkscrew which is the most photographed corner of any race track in the world. Later he sent the photo to me and I was truly amazed by the quality of photo but it had one major flaw that had to be touched up. See if you can spot what was repaired. (Will and Charmagne are not allowed to help.)
35 comments ↓
Shelby thinks it was something below the redline sticker, but I’m voting for the Blo Me sticker!
Nope. Try again. If you look hard enough it will be obvious once you see it.
Is there something wrong with the drivers head? Is this Alex Roy in his younger years?
Ok Michael - I have it.
It’s probably going to ruin it if I tell though…
Ok I’ll hint - it’s something to do with one of the sponsors - something about the car suggests that they were becoming ‘fatigued’.
You’ll know what I mean!
Although I have heard people say they thought something was wrong with my head but in this photo I am wearing a full face helmet and no, I’m no relation to Alex Roy. Try again.
Looks like the PS2 was added after the fact, but without a bigger pic it’s pretty tough to tell!
Maybe the rubber side wasn’t down in the original?
It’s a Nissan 240SX front bumper on an RX7 body!
Nope, The body is all original RX7.
By the way, regarding the drivers head/helmet, that is a red mesh widow net that gives an illusion that area may have been changed but that’s not the case.
Its above the PS2, its been chopped. what was there?
The “Toyo Tyres” has been mis-spelt?
It reads “Toyo Tires”
You’re going backwards through the corkscrew.
Nope… In the U.S. we spell tires that way, going the right direction in the corkscrew (even though we have been known to run some race tracks in reverse), Nothing chopped and PS2 was always there. However, it’s funny that someone mentioned, “Maybe the rubber side wasn’t down in the original?” Very warm. LOL.
Either that’s some really fast film, or that car isn’t moving…
Fast film and a fast car. Try again.
I was thinking that the shadows don’t look quite right. Let me take another stab…the shot was taken on the pre-grid and then shopped into the corkscrew?
Nope, the photo is real, the car is real and it is in fact at speed on the track in the corkscrew. Let me give you a clue…
Once a mechanic picks out what’s wrong with this photo he will realize how obvious it was.
I can’t tell from the small photo….is there a wheel nut missing?
Both wiper blades are there, there doesn’t appear to be anything else hanging off the car…
There is no lug nut missing but you are so close it’s not even funny. It’s right under your nose.
Street tires?
It’s tough with this resolution
The actual tire make has been blacked out, no?
I know, I know. The number on the car is 44 but the REAL number was 45!!! That’s too easy.
This is too much fun. LOL. Nope, they are real Toyo slicks and it is a family tradition of having the number 44.
Hmm, those look like Miata wheels, are they the right bolt pattern for an RX7?
the wheels almost look like they’ve been cloned. Is that it? something was wrong with one of your wheels and he had to clone the rear onto the front?
The wheels do look identical and in the same position. Did you lose a wheel?
Also, I think they are panasports, not oe miata wheels.
The /real/ thing wrong with that picture is that it’s not this one: http://www.californias-best.com/images/gallery/11.jpg
Which shows the same wheels, all attached to the car.
Wait, no those ARE different wheels in the Coca Cola picture.
Now we are getting somewhere! Congrats der5er. Earlier in the day while racing in the Pro Sedan class which encompasses all kinds of class’s a Nascar truck had lost a sound trap off his exhaust which came across the track and blew out my left front tire. We had used all of our Panasports up during the weekend so we had to use a stock Mazda mag. Needless to say in the photo it looked really ugly and so my daughter who was a manager for Wolf Camera Corporation had the rear wheel copied and moved to the front and the shadows adjusted as well. If you look at the center of the front wheel, instead of a wheel bearing cap you see the end of an axle like the one in the rear. After all these years there was one guy who spotted it in a second. As for the wheels on the Coca Cola cars…. I used the exact same wheels on all of them and we had 9 identical cars all painted the same. Only the decals were different other that some of them were 1979 models and the others where from the 80’s.
PS, where did you see the Coca Cola car?
I didn’t see it in person, but the Google is my friend. Google found the photo gallery at http://www.californias-best.com, so I just linked to that.
PS. Did I win anything?
I think it’s the numbers on the side of the car. Looks like the 44 was photoshopped in.
Well, I had my money on a RX-7 with a push..who knew….on a totally different note, I’m not convinced its the corkscrew for a couple of reasons.
1 - I don’t think in 1999 there was a curb that far up on the far side.
2 - The top of the corkscrew is reasonably flat, yet the photo is from an elevated position..maybe a ladder?
3 - see here from 1999……
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.zanandkate.com/images/corkscrew.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.zanandkate.com/historics.htm&h=600&w=800&sz=80&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=puhFIEuW0w56UM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLaguna%2BSeca%2Bcorkscrew%2B1999%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den
Russ,
Anyone who has ever been to Laguna Seca would recognize that corner in a heartbeat. As a matter of fact that exact spot was the very spot where “The Pass” was made that actually caused the passing rules to be re-written. You can watch that famous pass here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBthxGThBkc and while you are at it pause it at 4:42 and then compare the photos.
The photos you are looking at are taken at the upper portion of the corkscrew in 2002 and the one of me is at the exit portion in 1999. If you look at the photos you referenced again you will see they were taken in 2002.
But if that’s not enough to convince you then take a look at this photo and you can see not only the berm but you can see the same sign framing used to display the Historics signage that is in the photos you referenced.
That GT350 in one of the other photos you refferenced belongs to Forrest Straight, a friend of mine for many years. If you look closely at the black numbers on the side of his trailer you can see how many original shelbys and cobras he owns.
PS; Russ, the corkscrew sits between two semi steep hillsides (a valley of sorts) so from either side of the track you can get a great angle shot looking down on the track which is where mots photographers shoot from. (Without the use of a ladder.)
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