Into Retirement

I worked late this evening, so it was very dark and wet when I was travelling home, so I was a bit stuck for a blip. So tonight I thought I would try a focus stack and commemorate the fact that my motor racing hero Allan McNish announced his retirement from sportscar racing yesterday.

Here we have two of the models of the cars that Allan has driven in an 8 picture focus stack.

I first saw Allan race in the 1000km race at Silverstone in 2005, and it was a very memorable day, it was my first visit to Silverstone and it's where my passion for sportscar racing was ignited, but also it was horribly wet day. Allan was driving an Oreca run Audi R8 sportscar and he managed to come from behind to win the race in the darkness. This is the car on the right of the shot.

Allan has been a very successful sportscar driver for the last 15 years, winning the Le Mans 24 hours race 3 times, and 3 American Le Mans Series titles, and this year he became World Endurance Champion, so he has decided to retire while still at the top of his game.

People always say never meet your heros as you would be disappointed, but Allan has always been approachable when I've seen him in the various race paddocks, and he always has time for his fans, and he seems genuinely interested in people, often asking questions about the pictures he is signing, and happily posing for pictures with the fans. He is a legend of his sport.

I will have a great number of memories from watching him race from the first time in 2005, through a stunning against the odds victory at Silverstone in 2008, and the final time I saw him race at Silverstone this year, where after a late race puncture which dropped him from the lead into second place, Allan hunted down and passed his team-mates car in the final minutes of the 6 hour race. It was mesmerising and stirring stuff.

Sadly I was never at Le Mans in the years that he won the great race, but I still have great memories from listening to races on the interent, including the victory in 2008 where Allan's car was at least 3 seconds a lap slower than the opposition, but his never say die attitude along with his co-drivers they managed to overcome this deficit and win in a classic race.

Thanks for the memories Allan and enjoy your retirement.