The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

The biggest event on the Thai racing calendar is the Thailand Festial of Speed held on the streets of the beach town of Had Bang Saen, about an hour's drive from Bangkok.  The mayor of Bang Saen had the brilliant idea of closing off the streets, putting up barricades, and hosting a road race through town.  Brilliant.

Highly trained track officials were recruited from among the local population, crating a boost in revenue and employment.  Brilliant.

We arrived early in the morning on Saturday just in time to see this race dog get red flagged by the highly trained track officials.  You do not want dogs on the race track when the race cars regularly exceed 100mph.  Brilliant.

The first race was the vintage Mini class.  The cars were very fast and mostly well-prepared.

Where's the Mini?  Oh I see, it's camouflage!

There were many hundreds of race cars in the pits representing many classes.  This Lotus Class racer had plenty of cameras mounted on his racer, no doubt for posting on the Internet.

There didn't seem to be as many spectators as last year . . . but those who were there displayed great creativity in their ability to get the best view of the race track.  I should point out that the race is absolutely free for spectators:  you just walk in and are free to sit in any of the many grandstands spread aground the track.

There were more race cars this year, and they were better prepared . . . this led to lots of close racing . . . very close racing.

My friend Peter and I attempted to walk around the whole track, but encountered a stretch of track not accessible by spectators.  Every now and again there was a break in the safety fencing that allowed us to rake some nice photos of the many beautiful racers.

 After having a delicious banana roti, we settled into a spot just after the starting line where the track took  a 90 degree corner.  There was lots of action here.

There were several "racing incidents" that we somehow missed getting any photographs of . . . . but the Safety Officials were very photogenic, don't you think?

What any well dressed track emergency worker is wearing this season . . . . 95(f) heat and 90% humidity!  This guy must have been roasting . . . but those shades are definitely cool.

The Buddy Club Honda race car sponsored by the Vegetarian Society. "Love Us, Not Eat Us!- All Lives are Precious." was emblazoned on the hood.

These guys really threw their race cars into the corners . . . . notice the left rear tire is off the ground!

FIVE WIDE going into the 90 degree left-hander . . . . trouble's a-comin'!

The Race Officials were not always visible . . . . literally.  Some Thais do not want to get dark skin . . .  a weird aspect of pervasive, and prevalent, classism in Thailand.

There were lots of race girls, but unfortunately I changed camera bags and had only one 90% used-up battery with me.  Oh well.  I had just as much fun. I will not be at the Bang Saen race next year.

One of the really cool things you can do in Bangkok is to have an old car restored -- cheaply.  If you happen to have an "overseas contract" with a corporation or embassy you may also have the benefit of shipping your car over to Thailand, and shipping it back at the end of the contract.

If the car you ship to Thailand happens to be a rusty old classic 1965 Mustang convertible, and the car you ship back is the same car but fully restored, so much the better.

I really like my friend's Mustang restoration.  He used the straight six cylinder engine and four-speed manual transmission, but with a racing cylinder head and Paxton supercharger.  Very nice.

A big valve, large port, aluminum racing head with a matching camshaft for the supercharger.  The supercharger and 4-bbl fuel injector throttle body were removed for shipping -- a one-barrel carburetor was rigged to get the Mustang in and out of it's container. What you can't see are the hand-fabricated stainless steel headers and duel exhausts.  Nice work.

The interior is all new as well.  Various patch panels were butt-welded in here and there.  Very good work.

New chrome bumpers and trim items, along with a new vinyl convertible top finish the rebuild.

Bangsaen, Thailand is a sleepy little seaside resort town about two hours drive from Bangkok.

Normally people come to Bangsaen to sit under the parasols to eat sea food and maybe frolic in the water.

Beach chairs and a view of the Gulf of Siam.  Nice.

Bangsae is organized to receive many, many seasiders.

Perhaps take a dip before . . . .

. . . . before having a snack of fried grasshoppers or grub worms, maybe even some . . . . . .

. . . . or even a "five foot stick" (although it looks shorter then that).  It's great to be at the beach.

But two week-ends a year the streets of central Bangsaen are closed off and barriers are erected to hold the Bangsaen Speed Festival. It was a cloudy day, not perfect for photography, but I did the best I could.

The race draws a wide variety of race cars from throughout Thailand and a few from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and a "V8 Supercar" from New Zealand.  The locally modified KE Toyota and Chevy race truck are fine examples of the race cars present.

Many of the race cars would be right at home on any race track in the world.  The workmanship and preparation of this EVO was outstanding.

There are many classes for racers to participate in.  My friend, Khun Mac (MacTec), qualified this car number one on the grid for his class - and won the race . . . but was DQed for being underweight.  Oops.

There is seemingly a class for everyone.  This bubble hooded EVO-powered Mini from Hong Kong was a little work of art.  It looks like a '57 Chevy pick-up front end.  Nice.

Some of the cars had very big budgets, but most were locally made using a lot of used engines with a few racing upgrades, like this Toyota.

The pit area was quite large, and always full of action.

One of the most popular classes is the "One Make Class," where identical Toyotas or Hondas race together, under a set of rules that govern the extent of modifications.  The racing is very close in these classes.

Another One Make Toyota Class pit.

The bucks up teams looked very professional.  This is the Toyota tent.

A lot of ingenuity went into this home-built SuperCar class racer, although I had to be concerned about some of the safety features . . . . that went missing.

What would a car race be without the race girls?

The Big Cola race girls were particularly noteworthy.

Walking through the pits I spotted this model . . . and she looked familiar.  I remembered her as one of the Volvo models in the beautiful big wolven hats I photographed at the Bangkok Mortor Show. She couldn't believe I remembered her! Her name is Alita.

Like at races everywhere, there were features between the races, like the parade of classic cars.  This 1958  Fiat was immaculate . . .

. . . . as was this classic Toyota pick-up.

But tight class racing is what Bansaen is all about! This is from a "Modified Vintage" class race.

A nicely prepped Toyota KE 4-door.

Some drivers were better than others.  A sideways Toyota.

My friend Peter and I scouted the best photo angles and locations.  I got lucky with this wheel up Rothman's Mini.

I even managed some accidental art.

The One Make Toyota race was tightly contested.

We had a good location to shoot the cars going around a double apex curve that gave a lot of the drivers problems.

As over 50% of all motor vehicles in Thailand are pick-up trucks, it only figures that there would be road racing trucks at Bangsaen. The pits and track were still wet from an earlier sudden splash-and-dash thunderstorm.

There are three classes of racing trucks: vintage, standard, and modified. These Modified Truck Class racers were very fast and agile through the twisty bits.

There was a fair amount of bumping, nudging, and pushing between the race trucks.

 A race truck at speed.  Very cool. The race trucks are all turbo diesels.

After a long day we headed home . . . but fortunately NOT in this local Bangsaen bus with the big stereo!

New Egypt Speedway, New Jersey.  "Thunder in the Pines"

Ah!  I love the smell of race gas in the evening! The fencing is there to protect the race patrons from large chunks of dirt and mud from being flung into the stands, but the small chunks fly right on through and onto the assembled race fans.

New Egypt Speedway in New Jersey is a classic, small town, 1/4 mile "D-shaped" dirt track. The Modified Sprint cars are light, over-powered winged, sideways, and very loud.  Fantastic! 

Turning right to go left!

700+ horsepower on dirt.  It doesn't get any better.

I was at the BIRA Circuit outside of Pattaya, Thailand on Saturday to cheer my friend, tuner, and sometimes driver, Khun Mac.  He was the #1 qualifier, s usual.  We have been discussing ways to make more horsepower on his (class restricted) 1500cc engine.  The results can plainly be seen: the tall injectors which brought in a ton of extra torque above 7000rpm.

Khun Mac leading the field on the first lap.

A leaking head gasket kept him from winning . . . but he was still on the podium at 3rd place (and qualified for Sunday's big race). See more on my Khun Mac at BIRA Circuit blog page.