Fast and furious, the dangerous world of contact motorsport
Motorsport was made for photography. It's fast, furious, and at its best can be a spectacle ripe for capturing through your lens.
Photographer Dan Giannopoulos has been shooting short-oval circuit racing this year, having grown up watching it at Arena Essex Raceway in the late 1980s and early 1990 with his father and brothers.
"I remember the deafening sound of metal ploughing into metal and the smells of disintegrating tyres, of petrol and burning clutches," he says.
"I would battle to see to see the action through half-closed eyes because it was the only way to keep out the grit and dust that billowed in large plumes from the dirt-oval track just metres from where I was."
Short-oval circuit racing is a world away from the glamour of Formula 1. Race meets consist of a series of events in a number of different classes, from bangers and stock cars to stock rods. Some races are contact based, with the last driver still running taking the title.
"My experience growing up watching it was that it was a vibrant and highly competitive scene, that was exciting and dangerous," says Giannopoulos.
"Those who took part did it not for financial gain or any kind of celebrity status, but more because they had a passion for it and the culture that surrounded it, And it was also a good laugh."
The action is non-stop and there is usually open access to the pits so you can get close to the drivers and teams when safe to do so.
Giannopoulos says: "Over the past few months I have had nothing but positive responses from those that I have photographed.
"The majority of racers - male, female, adult, child - have been warm and welcoming and proud to be taking part in the sport.
"There is generally a very close and friendly atmosphere free of pretentions at race meets."
Of course there are dangers. "My experience of short-oval racing is that it is an incredibly dangerous sport," says Giannopoulos.
"The drivers I have met and spoken to are fully aware of the risks that they take. They seem to revel in the danger and appear devoid of any fear on the track."
"On one occasion during a race at Wimbledon I watched a driver get T-boned, flipping his car over onto its roof.
"He crawled out and after helping the marshals right his car, he walked to the centre of the track with a proud grin across his face.
"Between his car flipping and the race restarting no more than three minutes had passed."
"During the first heat of a big van bangers event at Arena Essex back in August this year, the entire front end of a large American-style Winnebago was torn off in a violent collision with a repurposed police van, leaving a very crudely constructed tubular frame to protect the driver of the Winnebago."
Here are some more of Dan Giannopoulos's pictures.