After the previous day, the crowds were out in force. 

I ended up parking some way from the stage and walking through the mud left after the torrential overnight rain.  Glad I'd got my walking boots on.  Lots of others hadn't and they were finding the going tricky.  What would the cars make of it? 

I'd plenty of time, so walked up the stage looking for a vantage point that would serve up four or five different shots, ideally all with the sun in the right place.  After a bit of backwards and forwardsing, I settled on an initial shot from the top of a tall rocky crag - and I'd got it all to myself.

I soon found out why.  The wind was fierce - so much so it threatened to blow me off my high vantage point.  I was really glad I'd put a jumper over my t-shirt, and my windproof walking coat over that.  Cyprus in the Spring?  Ha - it was bitterly cold! 

To give the cold plenty of time to seep into me, the start of the stage was delayed for about half an hour. 

Apparently the doctor for the mid-point turned up late.  Yes - we're in Cyprus.  At least he came on the right day.

Eventually the action started - the first car through being the Citroen of Sebastien Loeb - at the top of the leader board after a great day's rallying the previous day and looking good again.

Annoyingly whilst the cloud was about 6/8ths cover, it seemed to be 8/8ths whenever a car was passing. 

After the previous day's experience I confidently dialled in ISO 1600 and shot the action.  This really could change the way photography is done if you can be confident of getting sharp pictures at such high sensitivities.

The only issue from a photography point of view came later.  For some reason the pictures all came out of the camera a bit cool - necessitating a bit of a warm up in Adobe Camera Raw as the RAW files were processed.  Must get around to reading the new camera's manual - it's the sort of thing that can be changed.

To see the pictures from the day, go to my picture Gallery of FxPro Cyprus Rally 2009. 

Also check out my post describing photographing Day 1 of the FxPro Cyprus Rally 2009.