Can a photographic challenge be greater than this? A 400m race and such unlikely participants: F16, F1, Kawasaki Ninja H2, Lotus, Aston Martin, Tesla and Private Airplane. How to put them all in the same frame? With great difficulty! That was the first thought when I got this photo challenge in front of me.
Our host for this amazing race was the New Airport in Istanbul, which was just before it’s opening, which meant we had full freedom of movement, and therefore our photographic capabilities were increased.
Great atmosphere and great athletes have certainly contributed to putting everything we envisioned into the work with perfect communication, and I can also say with perfect planning.
Several test races before the final and most important one have helped us a lot to understand what will happen, how fast it will things move, and what positions the participants will have and all for the purpose of making the best possible photographing plans.
In the end, we certainly managed to get what we wanted, and history was re-written with another unique and worldwide project behind me. Whether the challenge was big … it certainly was, have we enjoyed it … definitely!
Three supercars, a superbike, a Formula 1 car, a private jet and a fighter jet went head to head at a tech festival in Istanbul. Five drivers raced alongside each other on a 400 metre runway as the fighter jet and private jet took off next to them at Istanbul’s new international airport.
The monumental race took place as part of the aviation, space and technology festival which is being held at the airport ahead of its official opening in October.
The vehicles included a Kawasaki H2R motorcycle, Tesla P100DL, Aston Martin New Vantage and Lotus Evora GT 430 – and there was a very close finish.
Although the Red Bull Formula 1 car gave him a run for his money, ultimately Supersport World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu, from Turkey, rode his Kawasaki H2R motorcycle to victory in the epic race. This top-of-the-range Kawasaki bike has a top speed of 250 mph, a 998 cc engine and is actually the cheapest vehicle of the lot at £42,000.
The 2013 V8-powered Red Bull Racing Formula 1 car driven by British Formula 1 driver Jake Dennis, came second.
It was followed by Solo Turk’s F-16 (with it’s top speed of 1500 mph) jet in third place. The Tesla P100DL, driven by Emma Kimilainen, came fourth.
Yagiz Avci drove the Aston Martin New Vantage, and Toprak Razgatlioglu raced in a Lotus Evora GT 430.
Winner Mr Sofuoglu, who became a politician in Turkey after retiring in May, also took on a special jet Challenger 605.