Getting your action camera properly mounted on your car is critical to getting footage that is stable enough to use, yet interesting enough to hold people's attention.
Mounting Hardware
Rule number one, don't use a suction cup mount on a performance car, unless you want to capture your camera's final moments like this...
Suction cup mounts just can't tolerate the vibration of a high performance car, and the forces from cornering and braking which will eventually rip it from the body. The above shot was delivered after only two laps of an autocross circuit.
Mount your camera using a strong bracket, firmly attached to a structural member or a solid piece of bodywork. You can buy or make your own clamps which fasten to part of the roll cage.
Getting The Angle
Roll bar mounting locations have the advantage of offering a great angle on the action. Here, the camera was mounted on top of the roll bar looking forward and to the left. This angle provided a dynamic view of the driver's actions combined with plenty of what was going outside on the race track...
In this case the camera was mounted upside down, hanging from the roll bar, for a more intimate view of the cockpit...
Rear facing angles can be very cool. They will tell the story of the people on your tail - and the lens will stay clean! Tony Drews mounted two cameras, with the second one hanging from the roll bar and facing backwards. He made sure that part of his own car was in the shot to give context to the action...
Finally, there are some less orthodox places for cameras, especially if you are mounting a few of them. I placed this one on the side of the Huffaker TR8 looking over the driver's shoulder. It gave a great feeling of speed, and a more track focused view of the race while still capturing the essence of the driver's actions...
I hope this inspires you be creative with your camera angles. To see how it all comes together check out my production of the 2019 Kastner Cup...
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