BB, CD, and a Lamborghini

Perhaps one of the better phone calls to receive is the one asking if you have time to drive exotic sports cars around a closed race track.  On the other end of the line this time was Car & Driver magazine, and the cars were the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni and the Audi R8 V10.  We will speak about the latter in a different post.

Never have I been happier to have packed a good pair of driving shoes, as the photos went on they got a lot of use.  Overall the weather was not great for a standard car photo, so the call to take it to high-key was made, and holding the red to be prevalent over any other colors was my main goal.  Even at my lowest ISO and closed down to f/22 on the Nikkor 24-70 G, I was only able to drag the shutter to a 1/30.  To those not fluent in photo, it was insanely rough, undiffused, super directional light that we had to deal with.  The only way to get the needed action for the high-key photos… drive faster.

So now that the photographers are filled in on the photo details, you are probably wanting to know how the Lambo handled, aren’t you?

With many laps under my belt in both cars, I have to say that the Lamborghini was less impressive in the lap times than the Audi.  Where the Audi would smoothly turn in and pull out of the corner well, the Lambo had push (push = understeer = hitting the tree with the front of the car).  A more real world comparison would hold the Audi as a sophisticated cocktail party where one’s cuff links speak more of one’s family history than their style.  Whereas the Lamborghini is the guy that shows up to a college frat party with an off color shirt that tells of his last 3 meals, all while carrying his Diet Slice (because it’s a “lifestyle” choice) in one hand and the cell phone he clings to as a social life preserver when the general populace of the party fails to recognize him, or better yet detests his ever presence on the patio, but worry not, he will “fall” in to the pool.

…yeah…. enjoy the pic