Remember the video we showed you a few weeks back of the Porsche 918 Spyder traveling at 217 mph through the Australian Outback? In addition to the vidoegraphers on site to produce the spot, Porsche hired automotive photographer Easton Chang to document the event from inside the car and above.
The all import top speed shot
We tracked him down to get his thoughts on what it was like to participate. Here’s what he had to say.
How The Shot Above Was Captured
Even in my line of work as a car photographer, this is a dream come true. An open speed section of road in the middle of nowhere, a helicopter with a talented pilot at the helm, a world class driver at my disposal and the incredible Porsche 918 Spyder.
Being based in Australia, I don’t often get the opportunity to shoot hyper-exotics as often as my colleagues do in the northern hemisphere. I have to make the most of any opportunity that comes my way.
There is an unrestricted speed section of road in the Northern Territory in Australia, this road is part of the Stuart Highway. The aim was to see how fast the 918 could safely move, and my job was to capture that moment in the car as it happened.
It took days of scouting and low speed runs to find our perfect stretch. It had to be dead straight, dead even and dead quiet. They never aimed to achieve a particular speed goal, but rather to allow race winning Porsche Carrera-Cup driver Craig Baird to explore the potential of the 918 Spyder under these unique conditions. We knew it was going to go quick, but we never knew by how much.
Before the run, I took my time getting in as safe and as comfortable position I could in the passenger seat to photograph the dash at the right moment. Craig and I discussed at length what was going to happen and what we were going to do. I wanted to get the shot, but I needed the both of us to be safe. I wouldn’t have entered the car had I not been fully satisfied with the safety and expertise of the driver, the crew and the Porsche 918 Spyder.
The world looks remarkably different when blaring past at 350km/hr (or 217mph). The fastest I’d been driven previously in a car was 260km/hr, a record now literally destroyed in a blaze of German fire.
On a road, I doubt I’ll ever experience anything this fast again.
Look At The Chase Cars
A lot of the photo shoots and video productions we see are shot/filmed in a controlled environment with the cars going at set speeds around a track or other open area. In those instances, especially when shooting video, the crew will use specially rigged camera cars like this Porsche Panamera. They’re great for speeds up to 150 mph or thereabouts. However, what do you use beyond that?
As you can see from the pictures above and below it requires both air and ground support. In this instance that means a helicopter and two super fast cars (a 911 GT3 and a 911 Turbo)
As a Porsche fan, I would have loved to stumble across this pack on the road.
Easton was kind enough to share his shots from that day with us. You can see them in the gallery below. If you want to see even more pictures, or read additional details about the shoot, just head on over to Easton’s blog.