The other point about Dottore's pics is the eternal issue of who gets good pictures - good kit really helps, but being there, being able to identify a good location and being alert to the moment e.g. the Ginetta fire, are all qualities of experienced and pro snappers that most of the rest of us seldom manage to combine on the same day! The Dottores of this world tend to get a passable shot even if they're using yer Granny's Instamatic! Must try harder.......
Getting the kind of pictures like the burning Ginetta is pure luck ... you just have to be lucky to be on that spot, just at that time, and then have your camera in your hands with the right lens on it. I think I have about 35 or more images of the burning Ginetta, half of them will be usefull, the rest is focussed on the wires in front of the grandstand. When the Ginetta got on fire, my camera was lying next to me, I just threw my drinks away (got lucky no one was sitting in front of me), picked up the camera and started shooting.
During the race I also had one of the Peugeots going through the gravel in front of T23, got it on photo but not the complete car (300mm), same with the Audi that went off at Virage Porsche, 300 mm + 1,4 convertor, half the car on photo, the guy next to me with his 300 without convertor had the whole crash (so I got a little pissed then
). At the Dunlop-chicane I saw a Ferrari and an LMP1 going off, no good pictures 'cause of the fence and too far away. The crash on wednesday at the Dunlop chicane isn't sharp enough, settings on 1/125 'cause I was taking panning shots ... This year I just seemed to be lucky with the incidents I had in front of my lens, there have been other years with none spectacular images at all.
Yes you have to be alert, and experienced and a good kit helps, but most of it is luck ... no more, no less ...
