We still have a ton of photos from the Mexico trip.
I've been sitting here listening to Take Care and sifting through the images for the past couple hours.
We had met with Ducati and The ID Agency before we left and tried to get an idea of what shooting this race would be like but there are just so many random things that pop up along the way. The production conditions were nuts but we really just rolled with it.
Shane. Chillin in a cornfield. Whatever it takes to get the shot.
We took the rental SUV out on the track and hung out of the back to shoot stuff like this. A little risky but definitely worth it.
Tunnels in Guanajuato.
0484. All day.
It's hard to really convey how random the trip was. For example, the first day of the race, we left lunch and starting driving down the race route. A couple miles in, we encountered a few hundred local people who were protesting and blocking the road as part of a demonstration. They were stopping all traffic both ways as a means of gaining media attention. The entire race is scheduled and timed to the minute - so there are really no allowances for any type of detours or distractions. That's one of the reasons why everything is really intense and it all happens very fast.
So our driver spoke with some of the demonstrators and then suddenly told Matt to open the door and allow this 12 year old boy to hop inside our car. We don't really actually speak very much Spanish - believe it or not - so most of the time we were completely in the dark as to anything that was really going on. Apparently our driver Manuel had convinced these protesters to lend us one of their children as a means of navigation. We turned the car around and this kid Jesus helped direct us through some side streets toward an alternate route. The entire race - with over 100 cars - eventually ended up being re-routed and pushed way behind schedule. We dropped Jesus off and gave him a can of Coke for his help.
Really legit boutique hotel in Morelia. Thanks to Ducati for the killer accommodations.
One of the bikes was laid down in one of the mountain stages midway through the week. It looked bad on camera but luckily Roland, the rider, was fine. The footage will be in the recap video that we're currently working on.
Christmas shopping.
We had 2 production vehicles - a Toyota Tacoma and this rented Chevy Traverse. One day, one of our drivers mistakenly backed into this small ditch. We were all in the truck and drove around the corner and were sort of shocked to see this. We had less than 2 minutes before the next section of the race began - we had to either somehow get the SUV back on the road or we would fall behind the other racecars and there would be no more motorcycle racing footage for the rest of the day.
In less than a minute, we lifted the car out of the ditch, hopped in, sped off and kept shooting. None of us could really believe it but it worked out. I wish we had footage of the excavation but at that moment we really needed all of us to help lift the car and unfortunately there was no time to set a camera up.
Shout out to Arrick from Ducati - I stole this photo from him.
Hotel lobby.
The seventh and last day of the race finishes in Zacatecas. That night, everyone who participated in the race takes part in a walking parade through the town leading to the final night's banquet. Everyone is given these tiny clay pots to hang around their necks and a donkey leads the parade carrying jugs of bootleg Mezcal on its back. I took one shot with one of our drivers to thank him for keeping us alive all week. The Mezcal tasted horrible - it really burned going down. But I figured when is the next time I'm going to have the chance to drink bootleg Mezcal that came from the back of a donkey, right?
Anyway, more Ducati stuff soon.
