I’ve said this time and time again: Luftgekühlt is still my last holdout when it comes to an event I can’t let go of. I have to do every single part myself from beginning to end – the travel, the shooting, the editing, the publishing. An entire project carried through purely on my own vision.
These days, with the volume of projects I’m juggling, it’s basically impossible to dedicate that kind of focus to a single car show. But then Ultrace came along.
This is a show that feels like it belongs to our generation of car enthusiasts; one that genuinely rivals the beauty, curation, and setting that Luft has always delivered. It’s the closest thing I’ve felt to that same energy since I first started shooting Luftgekühlt back at their second event. That feeling behind the lens that’s hard to describe, but you know it when it hits.
Ultrace Germany was beautiful in a way that’s hard to believe. It’s rare now for me to look at images straight out of the camera and feel like they don’t need anything. But I found myself going through these shots thinking there was literally nothing to change. The location, the light, the cars – everything lined up.
I felt like a kid again, pushing as hard as possible, constantly moving, chasing angles that only exist for a split second. The show feels alive, like a living organism, and my job is to keep up with it. On the first day alone, I walked over nine miles just looping the venue again and again, searching for those moments.
At times, it felt more like street photography than a traditional car show. Waiting for the right interactions, watching people move through spaces filled with some of the world’s most historically significant race cars. And these cars just casually sit there, some without ropes, barriers, or any separation. It gave me the chance to blend two worlds that I love. And during the event itself, when the crowds are at their peak, you almost have no choice but to focus on the people as much as the cars.
Normally, load-in day is one of my favorite parts to shoot at an event, but we missed it this time. We were coming straight from the Forza Horizon 6 launch, making our way from Tokyo to Frankfurt as fast as possible. After landing, grabbing a rental car, and holding it flat out on the autobahn for over two hours, we made it just in time to catch the tail end of cars rolling in. Even then, I was already blown away by what I was seeing.
I had been to Ultrace in Poland a couple of years ago, so when the Düsseldorf event was announced, I knew I had to be there. This is the kind of event you document for the future, for the next generation of enthusiasts to understand what this era looked like through our lenses. I’m glad I made it happen.
Going in, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Germany’s tuning culture is heavily shaped by TÜV regulations, which usually limit how extreme cars can get on the street. Naturally, I wondered how that would translate to an event like this. But what filled that gap was something just as special. Some of the most historically significant, and in many cases priceless, race cars from private collections and manufacturers.
I’ve seen many of these cars before, but seeing them like this is completely different from seeing them in a museum setting. There’s something surreal about having a Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR sitting next to a Porsche 935, parked next to a Nissan S13, next to a Dodge Charger. That contrast, that mix of cultures and eras, is what makes it all work.
Enjoy these photos. I had an incredible time shooting them, and honestly, it reminded me why I fell in love with this culture in the first place. Seeing people come from all over the world to support Ultrace made it even more special. I ended up with over 9,000 photos, and these are my favorites.
