These Porsche Club racers are coming out of a chicane, or "S" curve at one of the races during the Festival of Speed Racing weekend at the Auto Club Raceway in Fontana, California.
Chicanes are designed to make the track more challenging, and safer at the same time, because the cars must slow down to negotiate these parts of the track. Drivers are coming as close to the inside of the curves as they can to keep the best "racing line" possible. This can be a tricky situation, because if their inside wheels get onto the kerbs (the zebra painted bumps along the inside of the curves) they will lose speed, put undo strain on the car's suspension and could lose control of the car.
As racing photographers, we walk around the track a great deal during a race. Sometimes shooting from the outside and some from the inside, most major tracks have tunnels and bridges to go from the outside to the inside of the track.
In this image there was no fence between me and the cars, just a low concrete barrier, but the cars were not very close, still, one has to be very aware of what's happening and at the same time look through the camera. The very high level of noise, and the use of hearing protection can also add to the danger.
We use fairly long lenses, in order to bring in and isolate the action, also for safety reasons. My all time favorite lens for racing action is the Nikkor 200 to 400 f4 zoom.
Location: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, California.