[Ash_vtec]

Practice safe spotting

Our community has a guide on how to spot exotics and distinguish them effectively, but not safely, so i thought i'd take the liberty to pen a few thoughts about safe “spotting”. I am neither a supercar owner/nor spotter but i have observed a few things on the road when i see the hunter and the hunted.

I guess one can say super car spotting is as good a hobby as any. It is extremely fulfilling, involves a lot of patience and skill, and investment.

There are numerous famous super car spotters like NM2255, Marchettino, Shmee150 etc but so far they have all existed outside the sovereign territory of India.

Supercar spotting in India is a little different.

Things are not so safe and sterile as other countries and there are innumerable variables. Let's just say some people cant imagine commuting in these conditions, now imagine someone balancing a camera while being ridden around by a friend just to get the perfect click.

Let's take a moment to appreciate all our veteran and budding spotters, without whom the general public and the owners themselves, wont enjoy such amazing pictures and videos of the cars in amazing quality. A lot of spotters are students & young professionals who, i imagine through a lot of effort get their hands on DSLR cameras and other recording equipment. And, with said equipment they get on their bikes /cars and brave the elements all to get a top spot. Then they head home and process and edit the same. Seriously, hats off to their passion and zest.

That being said, every hobby has a framework, that makes it more enjoyable and safer for everyone. With this growing passion in India… These are a few thoughts:

- Do NOT tailgate.You can still get that exhaust clip from a few feet away… Most of the cars that spotters chase can stop on a dime and often do so to negotiate broken roads, speed breakers. Maintain safe distance, and add another 10 ft if its a supercar.

- Anticipate a supercar to crab (move sideways) over a speed breaker and ride/drive accordingly.

- Do NOT touch, lean, (or allow a friend to do so) on parked cars. This applies to any car actually, but people get excited when they see an exotic machine and want to bump up their social media game by sprawling on someones parked pride & joy, or even worse letting their kid clamber on it. STRICTLY NO TOUCHING.

- Do NOT follow the owners to their residence or office or parking area. That information isn't relevant to you unless you are personally invited. Should you know it, do not share it either. Do not congregate outside owners premises. Don't use your 400 mm zoom lens to click the cars in private spaces. If the owner doesn't want his car/her car clicked, respect that decision.

- Owning a supercar in India has its own sets of challenges. Give them their space, let them enjoy it. Got your quota ? Call it a day.

- Do not drive recklessly in your commuter car to “keep up” with supercars on that empty stretch of road. Both cars may do the same speed but they behave extremely differently while doing so. Sure every car does 140 kph, but does your Swift stop as well as 458 ?

- Yes, when a passionate car nut sees a red Ferrari zip by, its tunnel vision and its all he can see. However when behind the wheel, drive responsibly. Its not worth injuring yourself, your vehicle and others and their property just to have a better look. Be wary of animals, humans, other cars/bikes who may not share the same zest you do.

- Blank out faces and license plates. Its just courtesy.

- This applies to any car. Do not squeeze past at a traffic signal. The owners already have their heart in their mouth. You don’t want to give them a seizure by making them look at your bike handle come precariously close to their chiseled wing mirror.

- Let the owners have their privacy. Sure some owners like the fan following, but some may prefer to stay out of the lime light. Click all you want, but if you can, ask before you share. And don't sell information that doesn't belong to you.

Let me also list out some of the benefit of spotters which i have observed. Some of the responsible ones at least !

- They block traffic for you while you crab/ negotiate terrain

- They try their bit to keep people off the paintwork when parked

- You get amazing pictures and videos of your car on the move which is otherwise impossible.

Supercar owners are human too and there may be good and bad experiences. Keep your opinions objective.

Here are a few of my favourites (in no particular order) Since i am based in Bangalore, these are the most relevant to me.

Manish Asrani, Anil Kapse, Sachin Nadig, Shivraj Shankar, Aditya Chikkola, Faizan Subhan, Md Ismail, Vipin Maben, Vivek Ravichander etc all have some amazing content they have painstakingly curated on their media pages.

Cheers.

[shyn]

A very neat write-up!

I respect, follow and preach the 'blanking/blurring out faces and registeration plates' rule, but was just wondering why the international carparazzi/car spotters don't follow it.
For instance, taking Bangalore as an example, whenever Manish Asrani clicks pictures of the cars in Bangalore, he does blank the plates out but when JayR posts them, he doesn't.
Just curious.

[Ash_vtec]

Originally Posted by shyn

A very neat write-up!

For instance, taking Bangalore as an example, whenever Manish Asrani clicks pictures of the cars in Bangalore, he does blank the plates out but when JayR posts them, he doesn't.
Just curious.

Thank you.

I can only imagine that its creative/artistic differences ?

Unless an edit is done perfectly, sometimes it ruins the final impact of the image to have some clutter in the licence plate area. Maybe different photographers prefer different styles, so unless a forum/page demands it should be blocked some photographers just leave it as it looks more natural ?

[A.K]

Originally Posted by shyn

A very neat write-up!

I respect, follow and preach the 'blanking/blurring out faces and registeration plates' rule, but was just wondering why the international carparazzi/car spotters don't follow it.
For instance, taking Bangalore as an example, whenever Manish Asrani clicks pictures of the cars in Bangalore, he does blank the plates out but when JayR posts them, he doesn't.
Just curious.

Correct me if wrong, I don't really think blanking plates is a big issue in the other countries as the only reason we blank plates is that coz one can easily go online to the RTO site and enter the registration number and get the details of the car owner while I don't think this is possible abroad. Correct me if I'm wrong.

That being said, talking with respect to Bangalore, we have a lot of cases here where spotters go and stalk supercar owner's residences. I won't name any here, but talking to the owner of a Gallardo / 458 in Bangalore, I learnt that they have had people jumping over their gates to see the cars. This is absolutely uncivilised. Again on last Sunday, when the Speciale was out on its first run, we had spotters camping outside the owner's residence. I really think this must stop considering that the owner and his family's privacy must be respected. This happens a lot in Mumbai too.
From what I hear, in Mumbai, they've had spotters on sea face jumping right in front of the cars to get pics. This is utterly stupid and dangerous I would say. Moreover, they go around telling that the owner friendly waved at then while he was annoyed and asking them to get out of their way.
Anyways, these stories are kinda never ending. Ash vtec, kudos to taking initiative to write this up. Hope this changes the spotting scene in India in some way or other other !✌🏻️

[Ash_vtec]

Originally Posted by A.K

Correct me if wrong, I don't really think blanking plates is a big issue in the other countries as the only reason we blank plates is that coz one can easily go online to the RTO site and enter the registration number and get the details of the car owner while I don't think this is possible abroad.

It was possible earlier. The Karnataka RTO had an sms service wherein one could find out all details with just a simple SMS, but it no longer works.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...e-details.html



Then came the BTIS service, also, which no longer works

http://btis.in/rto

Now its only possible to check driving offences (apologies for )

http://www.btis.in/fines

http://125.17.140.50/BPSFineDetails/BPSFinedetails.aspx



Needless to say this varies from state to state and hardly any exotics are KA registered.

[quickdraw]

Same applies to bikes as-well. Over the years I've had people chase me and try to race me all-the-time! There has been one incident that still haunts me when I was on the 600RR with 2 dudes on a CBZ following us who went straight into a bus stop filled with people because their eyes were on us and not the road.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by A.K

as the only reason we blank plates is that coz one can easily go online to the RTO site and enter the registration number and get the details of the car owner

We've had the number plate blanking rule in place even before the RTOs took their databases online.

Reason = Protecting owner privacy.