Unlimited Class - Speedball Alice

For racing purposes, the Unlimited Class has generally been populated by stock or modified WWII fighters with the P-51 Mustangs, F-8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Furys being flown most often. The Unlimited Class flies in speeds exceeding 500 mph.  Basically, as long as it has a prop and two fixed wings, it is legal. 
Speedball Alice is a Mustang P51-D, powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin Engine built by the Packard automobile company during WWII.  Around the internet, there are images of a WWII era aircraft in the European Theater with this name.  The P51 was built to cruise around 360 MPH, with a max speed of 440 MPH.  The aircraft is famous for flying bomber escort and allowing the bomber mission to succeed.
Fast forward to the races.  Mustangs are modified to go a lot faster.  Or not.  
There are a lot of Mustangs, a lot being defined as 7, at the races this year.  Some are very modified and very recognizable such as Miss America.  Some are fairly stock such as Speedball Alice.
For purposes of this year's race, Alice's highest qualifying speed was 348 MPH - which was good enough for 6th place.  For reference, the tops qualifying speed was 417 MPH.  The long term prospects for Alice aren't very good, but the smile on the pilot will still be there.   It is still good enough to be in the Gold Race.  More than I can do.  And I'm OK with that.  Really.

Speedball Alice:

Prior to the final Gold Race for the Unlimited class, all the aircraft in the race line up in front of the stands and are introduced.  This is a parade.  As mentioned before, the Unlimited Class is the reason the races started years ago.  They are without a doubt, the center piece.  

For the warm-up, I wanted to capture the prop blur.  That's the point of the picture.  The timing had to be just right, trying to catch the rotation as it is powering up a bit to taxi with the shutter speed of 1/50 second.

Speedball Alice Warm-up

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

285 mm, 1/50 sec, f/14, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL, Mode, Size DX, CPL

This is one of my favorite photos from the week.  The bank is just right and the backdrop is just right.  The prop is blurred.  And I didn't screw up the focus.

Speedball Alice in a Bank

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/400 sec, f/8, ISO 560 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL, Mode, Size 1.3

This is not Alice's finest moment.  She is being lapped here by the eventual winner, Dreadnaught.  Alice was pushing 240 MPH - Dreadnaught was pushing 403 MPH.  But it can be said, Alice was going faster than any NASCAR event.

Speedball Alice and Dreadnaught

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 125 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL, Mode, Size 1.3

One of the issues I have with the races as a spectator and photographer is we get plenty of belly shots, not much of the top.  Most of the fast racers are always in a bank.  PPPFFTTT.