Some 2 weeks ago, The Mitsubishi team rocked Kuching by staging a 2-days carnival roadshow in Kuching, featuring a 2-time Dakar Rally champion — Hiroshi Masuoka.

The two-days carnival showed no shortage of excitement. The organizers offered mud-splashing fun, as well as a mini live concert staged at night. The highlight for this event is surely on the Dakar Rally experience with Mr. Hiroshi Masuoka.

Flying Mud! (Cropped from original shot)

I was there two days, went through both the dry and wet condition. I took the ride on Pajero Sports the first day, but didn’t take any action shots. I returned the following day despite the rain, however, I was a little too late as the registration was closed. There was no ride for me on wet condition. I think it should be awesome.

Both the Pajero Sports and Triton used in the rounds have not been modified at all. The specifications in the cars used are exactly like those that came out straight from showroom or assembling plants. The only change made was on the wheels. They put on the sets which are more suitable for the challenging off-road terrain.

Panning shot of the Mitsubishi Triton in action

Also, these cars are of automatic transmission. That’s all about the automobile. As a matter of fact, that’s all I know about cars. I’m not a car person. So I’ll move on to the photography part of the entry.

Mr. Hiroshi Masouka looked on as he prepared for swapping into a 'fresh' car.

Since it was cloudy on a wet weather while shooting these series, I had to change the WB on the camera in order to get a more interesting image color. If I were to shoot on AWB mode, the image would be pretty pale, as the AWB tends to favor cooler color at such condition. Therefore, I opted to go for between Cloudy and Sunny, which would give me a temperature between 5200k (Sunny) and 6000k (Cloudy).

The Mitsubishi Triton drifting.

I only had EF 70-200mm f/4L USM mounted on EOS 50D for this shoot. I switch between aperture priority mode (Av) and full manual mode (M). For panning shots, I dialed my mode to manual mode to gain full control over on my camera. I had my aperture set between f/6.3 to f/11 depending on the lighting at the time. I had to push towards high ISO sensitivity for the weak available light on a cloudy day, and it was around 6pm at the time of shooting.

Call for rescue. The Triton was stuck on the muddy track. They had to send out a rescue team to retrieve the vehicle.

I also had mix of AI Servo and One shot focusing while shooting the action shots. With EOS 50D, I find it challenging to do AI Servo tracking with just 9-point on the camera.

For the rest of the images, you may click on the FB album on my personal profile.

It was a great experience with both the ride and shooting the actions. Now I wonder if I should post the video I recording with my mobile phone while I was in the ride.