For every automotive enthusiast on the planet there is one place that holds an almost religious type of appeal. It’s a space that unites us, and places us all on level ground. It’s a “discrimination-less” temple that encourages the kind of behaviour that the Police and public loathe. For decades it was a site where families and friends could bond over cheap food, under fast cars. The Race Track. Argue all you want about which shape of track is best, but I’m willing to bet that wether you find your peace on a long left hand curve or a slick strip that’s only a quarter mile long; the feeling is all the same.  

The summer months in my hometown were sweltering hot, but the heat was all but ignored for weekends at the track or for events, like the Knox Mountain Hill climb. Growing up, the Hill Climb was a once a year raging weekend filled with race fuel and burning rubber. That event will always hold a special place in my heart; as one spent with family in the stands learning about all things automotive. Oval tracks from Pentiction to Vernon encouraged kids and high school students alike to literally build their dreams Monday to Friday, and then bash limiter in them over the weekend. King of the Hill events allowed any disputes you could possibly have with those around you to be settled. Once and…until the next track day. 

The atmosphere at the track is an extremely unique vibe that ignores who someone is and where they’ve come from. Religion, colour, gender identity and sexual orientation are entirely ignored at the track. The only thing that matters, is race. And no, not the snowflake “I’m not from America I’m from Canada” kind of race. I’m talking “heads up, foot down zero sandbagging, let the cars do the talking” kind of race. I’m sure most of you have heard Jermey Clarkson’s sound clip (from the 2009 film “Love the Beast”) thats reappeared recently on TikTok with images of custom built cars splashed on the screen of your smart phone. It’s the one that tries to explain to non-car people exactly what it is that they very simply, do not understand. Find a quick snip from the film here.

Now as much as I whole-heartedly agree with that quote - I also believe that the track is a space where they can learn. It’s why people rent ATV’s and Motorcycles in Mexico. It’s why people visit Vegas and spend obscene money on hot laps around a small track. It’s fucking thrilling. The connection to that rubber and steel those “normies” feel in those rare moments of exhilaration on vacation is the same connection car people experience every time we get behind the wheel of our vehicles. Get it now? Probably not. And thats cool. Do you. I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say that people who aren’t into cars probably have something they enjoy just as much. It’s just not as cool! (IMO).

I think I saw a meme that has some value here. It wasn’t the funny “make you laugh while you poop” kind of meme, but more like the “make you think while you snack” sorta deal. It was called “The Circle of Street Racing.” Put very simply. 

1. People street race.

2. A track is built somewhere out of the way - allowing racing to continue in a far safer (and legal) environment.

3. Developments expand and homes begin to pop up near the race track. 

4. The people who purchase a home don’t like the noise caused by the vehicles on track. 

5. The track is shut down so as not to impose on the “American Dream.”

6. People street race.

From there it’s pretty easy to see how the cycle begins all over again, and more tracks are built, and even more are shut down. I’ve personally witnessed three local tracks be closed for good because of sound-scared civilians who believe peace and quiet is more important than passion and sport. I’ve genuinely always wondered how it’s possible to go looking for a home and fail to notice that right behind the space you want to settle down in is a 55 year old race track. One that was built while you were figuring out how to stand up without the assistance of the couch. In my head it’s the same as living near an airport and complaining about the noise caused by Cessna 182’s for sky diving. Can I sign a petition to shut down my local airport? No. And I wouldn’t. At some point don’t we need to just accept that different people enjoy different things, and let them carry on with their enjoyment?

Maybe this has all come off as whiney, and that was far from this blog entries intent. Maybe I’ll even come back and re-write this in the future; hopefully from my own home, nestled close to a local race track. But who knows? It’s my blog, and you’re all just living in it… or reading it I suppose. At the end of the day, the only thing that is hurt by the existence of a space to race near your home are the tires spent from putting in flat out laps. (And I guess your local retiree’s ears.) Support your friends. Support local racing. We all deserve a safe space. 

Think with me for a moment; What do we know about the dark ages? Almost nothing, right? Except that there were some really talented painters, a bunch of wars, and probably 17 strains of Covid that they couldn’t do anything about. Aren’t we lucky to live in the era we do? Seriously; think about it. You’re sitting on a toilet right now (66% chance anyways), reading a blog post about a time we know almost nothing about. And if you care enough, you can just research it and learn everything there is to know about it. Never in human history has information been so accessible. (Humour me - we’re getting there.) Now think of what would happen if ALL the power went out. I don’t mean BC Hydro hit a snag, or a bad driver took out a power pole. I mean genuine catastrophe, game over, lights out, canned food and boiled water, rebuild will take decades kind of crash. As unlikely as it is, there is a non-zero chance of that happening. Where does the information stored on our hundreds of billions of hard drives go in a situation like that? The internet, and all its contents disappear in the blink of an eye. This also means your backups fail too, and you lose all your precious facebook memories and snap streaks. 

Now let me try to make this a little more personal. What if your hard drive dies. What if you lose every piece of information you have saved? Granted the first few things you’ll likely do is head to a repair store - but what if they can’t recover the data? What happens to the hundreds, or thousands, of images you have saved of your family, your friends, your memories and your experiences? I’ll rip this bandaid off for you. They disappear. Now i’m not after a “woe is me. the world is ending” kind of vibe here, but honestly; if you lost all of that information, would you be upset? 

Of course you would; and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. 

What is the solution then? Well, seeing as we’re in the 21st century, the practical solution is backing things up to the cloud - or another hard drive. Both of which mind you have the same chance as your first hard drive of failing. But what about print? Why not print things every year. Be realistic, you don’t need to have 10,378 photos hanging on your walls, but can you not pluck your favourite 12 off of Facebook and plug them into a $5.00 frame from Walmart? Absolutely you can. And i’ll tell you something wild. You’ll LOVE those photos. They will be the ones you see every morning on your way out the door, and every evening when you come home from a long day. That level of emotional connection is gone with digital. Sure you’ve got the option to do this with every photo I provide to you, but do you? Why not? Remember when that weird guy at work would pull out 15 wallet sized images of an ugly baby in a glamour studio? The overwhelming smell of formula and soft baby shit drafting up your nostrils as he shoves the entire album into your face at the water cooler? That is how it looks when you pass a digital album on your phone to another person, and tell them to “scroll to the right (flicking your finger for demonstration) until you see the cat photos.” Printing things gives people the opportunity to admire the art on their own terms when they notice the images on your desk or the walls. And let’s be clear here; it is just that - Art. 

I’ll pose a question to the married people here. How many times do you sit down and scroll through your Engagement photoshoot, even your Wedding photos? Probably less than once a year. Now answer me this - How often do you stop for a second in your hallway and look at the photo that is printed in a 4x6 from a night out with your girlfriends? That’s what I thought. 

Now, I should clarify, I am not speaking form a position of ignorance - I DO IT TO. Minus the engagement photos, because I don’t have any of those. One of the most satisfying things I ever started doing as photographer was printing a few favourite photo’s I’ve snapped in the year, and hanging them in my house. Not only do I get to relive some of my favourite moments, but I get the natural opportunity to tell new friends some of my most cherished stories. Like the time I was famished and wandered into a café in London. I wound up with a fancy meal, and the below image. - DM me if you want the dirty details, it’s a great story. 

There is one more huge benefit to printing images that I think is overlooked 99% of the time in todays world. It’s a physical object. A thing. You can unwrap it, touch it, smell it, hold it. It forces you to feel more senses than holding your iPhone 15 and ignoring your partner. It’s the reason kids love gifts on Christmas - they’re things! I’d even go as far as to comment it’s the reason your dating life sucks. You see a digital photo of someone on Tinder or Bumble or whatever is being used today, and then in person they are completely different. The emotion created by the digital image of someone and the actual vibes they give off are two totally different things. 

I pride myself in freezing time for my clients. For my family clients; they get to look back on a stage of their children’s lives that they may never get to relive again. But with prints, the emotion and memories are there, on the walls of their home, forever . For my automotive clients; I get to showcase a period of their build that they may never go back to. I know for myself there was a sweet spot in building my RX7 when everything just felt dialled. Shortly after that I bolted on performance parts and lost that feeling forever. I lost the photos of that point in time. They died on an old hard drive. I truly understand the feeling of “loosing the memories.” If I had have printed those images, I’d have a beautiful memoir of the perfect afternoon of driving backroads in a car purposefully built for enjoyment. It’s an afternoon I think of constantly, but I can do only that, think of it.  

Let’s try a little experiment. Go ask 10 people what their dream car of dream car is. I’m willing to bet that more than a few of them would bring up the Porsche GT3 as that car. for those of you non-car folk who happen upon the blog, (appreciate your exploring by the way) the GT3 is pretty much the staple 911 of the Porsche brand with everything you could imagine to get it as close to perfection as possible. It embodies every classic aspect of Porsche design and wraps it up neatly in a body dressed more prepared for an FIA event than a rural road. In today’s world of super/hyper cars the GT3 (this is my opinion) is understated. It doesn’t typically show up in the bright and outstanding colours like Rosso Corsa, (Ferrari Red) and it’s look has a very calm and composed aura to it, compared to something like say, the Huayra. What I’m trying to say is it’s the car your soul knows you want before your eyes realize it.  Supercars these days have an underlying need to display luxury and fierce style; and while that all has a valuable place in my heart, there is something to be said about letting the car speak where it really wants to. On the road. 

My first experience with the GT3 was on a race track in the states with a team of car enthusiasts travelling for the SEMA auto show. As part of a “thanks for taking a billion photos in the desert” the team purchased us a few hot laps in a supercar of our choice. It’s important to note that in 2016 I was somewhat of a snob with vehicles, and believed that Porsche was an overrated “mid life crisis” kind of car. (Dear lord was I incorrect). The team knew I wasn’t at the time a fan of the Porsche brand and as a joke they set me up in a GT3 for my time on track. Walking towards the car is when my mind slowly started to change. The wide hips of the GT3 compliment the tires needed to get all 469hp to the ground effectively, and the lines perfectly pull your eyes to the wing. It wasn’t overbearing or out of place either. It felt like it deserved to be there, and was ready to serve the purpose of a functional spoiler. I opened the door of a quiet white coupe and was met with black racing seats, and a bright yellow “IDGAF” seatbelt. Don’t ask me why I was obsessed with the fact that the seatbelt was yellow and stood out on a rather standard coloured car; It’s as if it was letting me know it is at it’s core - a race car; and you will need this belt. By the time I was around the circuit once, and had heard a 3.8L Flat 6 engine scream at me like a drill sergeant after I made my bed wrong, I was hooked. After setting the second fastest lap time of the day I immediately went to work on finding out why I was such an asshole - for lack of a better term - about Porsche for as long as I was.  Lots of internal and difficult reflection followed my time with that absolute monster on the track; and I’m proud to say I have grown up, and am now another certified Porsche fan boy. 

As a photographer there are many moments that friends and family want my lens to be present for. Vacations, Engagements, Weddings blah blah blah. As an Automotive photographer who has grown into a healthy obsession with the Porsche brand, there are no moments I’d rather capture than a friend enjoying their newly purchased GT3 on some Vancouver Island backroads. We are truly spoiled to live somewhere with winding roads along the oceans shores that dip in and out of literal rainforests as they please. No car is better equipped for pure enjoyment in that setting than the GT3. What I meant before about the style seeming less obnoxious than the typical supercars of today just means one thing - The GT3 is for car people. For drivers, and not for the faint of heart. It will do exactly what you ask it to, while maintaining its refined German precision and style. The dual clutch (PDK) gearbox snaps you into the next gear the second you tap the paddle next to the steering wheel. The engine roars back to its 9000rpm limit thanks to the help of titanium connection rods and forged pistons. The rear wheel steering makes tight corners feel effortless and smooth as the tailored track ready suspension soaks up the dips and bumps that come with open road driving. As you transition from the forested back roads to the ocean side towns one thing is obvious. People are staring. The overwhelmingly exciting downshift is quick to grab their attention but as you cruise by in a low gear you’re forced to feel the jealously as people use their feet for anything but mashing the throttle into the floor as hard as humanly possible. Empathy with the passerby’s is short lived as the road narrows and winds back into the forests and they are left with nothing but the echo’s of an engine they wish they could enjoy for more than that moment. 

Pit stops for ice cream and photos are met with jealous eyes as we parked the GT3 in some interestingly original locations, and while we typically do our best to remain out of the way as much as possible, people were clearly watching us everywhere we travelled that day. Parking at a small pub on Cowichan lake for chicken wings and burgers may seem standard, but they day feels entirely different when the view is obstructed by a car which fills the parking spot to its brim. Some vehicles are able to create a small and zippy feel ducking in and out of traffic, but few manage to create such a large presence lane to lane. The highway feels like a racetrack when sat behind the suede steering wheel and hugged by the bucket seats which are expertly embroidered with the iconic GT3 logo in the headrest. Porsche has done a phenomenal job generation to generation, of brining the  timeless “bug eye” front end forward throughout the years to maintain a futuristic yet classic appeal. The sleek rear end with the wrapped taillights could be my favourite on the 991 generation ever. Their subtle aggression and bright LED red create an impactful and stylish brake light, while keeping the lines of the rear end consistent. 

Sunsets, although highly overplayed, are gorgeous - always. Putting the 991 in front of one as dynamic as the one we witnessed, felt like the perfect end to the perfect day. It’s something that people who are not into cars just will not understand. (Read my Open letter blog below for more on that). The excitement from shooting and driving such a fantastic car carried into the night - loading the photos and editing them just to relive the entire afternoon. I will leave you with this. The 991 GT3 does everything; just a little bit better. It truly is one of the greatest cars in existence in my opinion. Somehow, it manages to settle into a style and design that is timeless - All the right inspiration from it’s deep rooted heritage with a modern and futuristic feel, without trying to make you feel like you’re in a spaceship. It’s a car. A drivers car; and a damn good one.