Wall of Death

Barber Motorsports Park is hosting their Vintage Festival this weekend, and it includes The Wall of Death.

The Wall of Death canopy/arena. This is the world's oldest motorcycle stunt show, with its roots going back to the beginning of the century. This particular track was built in 1941, right b/f WWII.
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Before the show, Rhett warms up the crowd with some in-place rolling stunts. As you can see from the front wheel, the bike is running on rollers and is not supported by anything - just like you're driving down the road. He's up on the pegs, no hands. Note also that the bike is a Harley 1200 with straight headers. LOOOOOOOUUUUUDDD.
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Pretty awesome balance. Standing on the seat one footed, balancing the running bike below.
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My brother inside the arena. As you can see, that wall is 100% vertical! It's 12ft high and 30ft around.
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Praying before starting his 1927 Indian Scout. Note the front suspension - leaf springs.
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/phot...28448_2720.jpg

Panning in there was extremely difficult because of his speed, extremely low light, and the constantly changing distance/angle. When I say low light, I mean these settings at 35mm:1/125, f/4.5, ISO1600. I tried a few pans with slower SS but for there was just way too much movement in too many directions.
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/phot...28450_3254.jpg

This is simply awesome. No hands, no feet; vertical.
http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/phot...28454_4337.jpg

Taking a dollar from this lady's mouth - remember he's moving ~25mph!
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And finally, taking a dollar from my brother's hand. This is probably the most challenging photo I've ever taken b/c he's only 3-4ft from me moving about 25mph. Manual settings at 19mm: 1/200, F/5.6, ISO 400, manual focus set at ~3.5ft.
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/phot...28459_5766.jpg


The entire album (23 shots) can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...291&id=7004397

Oh Im so glad you posted these! I will never make it off the trak t see this, I was wondering what it was all about. Great seeing you too, hope you had fun! I tool well over 1000 photos today so I willbe a couple days before I post any. Hope you make it tomorrow too! Stop by any time :D

Stunning shots Brad.:thumbsup:

I find panning hard enough in perfect conditions never mind the conditions you had to deal with. Well done

Good shots, did you use flash on the last 3 shots ?

I can only just remember seeing this when I was young at our local fair in Oxford, the sound in that tiny space was incredible.
Then on holiday at the seaside (wonder if I have any photos?) I found at the beach cafe they had an Indian like that as a kid's ride - you know insert coin and it rocks about a bit and makes noise ... well I could pretend it was the wall of death if I closed my eyes :)

Very cool snaps, especially the pan in number six. I got a tad nervous at first as I thought the "Wall of Death" had something to do with my mother-in-law. Whew! I'm glad these images came up instead!

Lori - Good seeing you yesterday and today. Did you get any shots of that nasty high side? Cage and I were waiting in line for the Wall of Death (he hadn't seen it) and I saw it happen. It looked pretty ugly, but those 80s 2-stroke GP bikes are absolutely infamous for doing exactly that. But anyway, Mr. Barber joined us for the 4pm Wall of Death. I didn't realize it until the end so I didn't get any shots, but it was easy to see he loved it.

Wull - Thanks! This is one of two shots that came out from about 40 attempts. Not a good success ratio.

Paul - Yes, flash on the last 3 shots. That's the only way I could get a shutter speed high enough to stop the motion of him coming directly at me. Pretty cool you saw a similar show as a kid; it's a pretty extreme experience with the speed, the unbelievable noise, the arena shaking, and how close the rider gets to you.

Fidgety - LOL!

Great series of images Brad! It is like preserving history when you photograph events like this. I think of so many shows and event back over the last several years that no longer exist and I kick myself for not getting more photos when I had the chance. Nice work, love that no hands no feet shot.

I think this is the coolest post I've ever seen on this site. Awesome. I do wish the rider was wearing a helmet, though :(

super sweet...:thumbsup:

I'm with PJ about the helmet...

Well done on the featured photo. :)

Well deserved:thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Photo-John

I think this is the coolest post I've ever seen on this site. Awesome. I do wish the rider was wearing a helmet, though :(

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Wow, that's quite an honor John, thank you!

As rider myself I wouldn't ever even think of getting on a bike w/o a helmet, nor would I advise anyone else differently. With that said, I think in this particular case it fits in with the vintage period theme of the show. Nothing in the Wall of Death is modern; vintage track, vintage bikes, vintage show. Of course that makes it no more safe, but it does make the presentation "right" for the vintage period.

Thanks for the feature!

Congrats Brad! Makes me wish I had stayed late to see the show now lol However I feel "vintage" after those 3 days :lol:

everyone else has summed it up so I will just add another congrat to the list Brad!!
Jimmy B

Those were awesome...... Great Job.....

Phil